Kicking it old school: Why these childhood friends never want to stop playing soccer together

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Victories. Losses. Injuries, career changes, moves, fatherhood.

Over their more than a decade on the pitch, "No New Friends" soccer players have seen it all, says longtime player and co-organizer Nick Pouponneau.

He attributes the 60-minute Ottawa Footy Sevens soccer league games to helping him and other players navigate life both on and off the field.

"No matter what happens, it's always going to be there for me, whether we win, whether we lose," Pouponneau said. "Soccer to me … it's a way of life."

Pouponneau decided to profile the longtime team and explore how the sport has shaped its members in a video for CBC Ottawa's Creator Network.

WATCH | 'No New Friends FC':

Decades later, childhood soccer friends still kicking it on No New Friends soccer team

"Everything's happened, right? There've been breakups, there've been new jobs, they've been marriages," said longtime player Dominic Goss about the team, which came together over a decade ago from a group of friends who'd been who'd been playing — or against each other — since they were boys.

"I mean, it's been life, right? [That] happened in the meantime."

When soccer scholarships and degrees wrapped, the childhood buddies found themselves back in the city, at loose ends and looking for a way to bring serious soccer back into their lives, said Pouponneau. The name references a Drake song from that era.

"We called ourselves No New Friends because we just had