“We go out there and say, ‘This is us. Let's see if we're good enough to play with you'"
By M. Wayne Clarke
When news broke in late October of 2016 that the Carolina Rapids would be joining the Elite Clubs National League beginning in with 2017-’18 ECNL season, the club’s massive sigh of relief was quickly followed up with a burst of anxiety.
While the Rapids boasted upwards of 2,000 female players across all age groups, inclusion in the ECNL girls program is no doubt next level – with much work to be done.
“There's so much more to this than just getting a talented group of girls together and playing,” explains the Rapids girl's Director of Coaching and Player Development. “That almost is the easy part. We had to build a culture. We had players that came from a lot of different teams and clubs, as well as two new coaches, that had to buy in to our way of thinking and playing. Obviously with a program with a national draw, it doesn't just attract top players, it also attracts top coaches too – and we were able to bring in Jeremy Weeks and Stephen Glass, who had a lot of previous success, to join our ECNL director."
Tasked with building the program from the ground up, the staff’s biggest hurdle was getting everyone on the same page in a relatively short amount of time. Not only was culture critical to the build, so was the player methodology - particularly with players coming from different clubs.
“Culture is massive for us as well as building a pathway to get everybody to buy in to our way of thinking,” explained the director. “We had to be open to thinking creatively and outside the box as we were planning this out. It was stressful and exciting to try and put it together.”
As word spread that the Rapids would be looking for the best and brightest to form their program, the Rapids staff – over a six-week span in January of 2017 – had ID sessions, fielding upwards of 200 players for the older age groups and close to the same for the younger ages later in the spring. Eventually, the club fielded six groups – U13 through U18 – totaling 90 players that would compete against teams throughout North and South Carolina, Wilmington, Washington, D.C. and Fairfax, Virginia.
In the first year, and coaches had tempered expectations. On one hand, they were happy to be in this elite pool but as competitors, they felt a need to show they belonged.
The results proved the latter, as three of the Rapids five eligible teams qualified for nationals play with two qualifying at the highest level.
The '04 girls were highlighted, who had a record of 1-3-2 in the fall but rebounded in the spring going 5-1-2; their journey perfectly encapsulates the entire program.
“They got off to a slow start,” said the ’04 group, which will travel to Seattle June 20 to 27 and compete against the top 32 teams in the country. “But we had a plan for them to follow, and they put together a great Spring and it really all came down to the last game where we had to beat the team that was in front of us to jump into the spot and we scored a relatively late goal. It was just kind of a fitting way for that group to finish off the regular season because [head coach] Jeremy Weeks and the girls had worked really, really hard to get there.”
Weeks, who had oversight of the ’04s and ’05s, said what might’ve looked like a rough start in the fall for the ’04s was really par for the course in terms of expectations. “We started out as a brand-new team – no more than three of these girls had ever played together prior to the year – so the whole fall season was about them getting on board with our philosophy and our culture,” Weeks explained. “Once that was established, it was about getting better together—individually and collectively as a group.”
While there isn’t a national championship for the 13s, they, too, followed a similar trajectory. The 14s, a first-year group for ECNL, along with the 18s, finished their respective seasons high enough to qualify for the top level of nationals. The 17s, meanwhile, will compete in a bracket that will allow them to be seen by college coaches from around the country.
“For the 14s, it's a whole new world out there. When you talk about big fish in little ponds, this is a whole big ocean out there where you go and compete against some of the top players and teams from the northeast, California, and Texas. For us, it'll be more another opportunity to see where we're at and measure ourselves up against the best and say, ‘Okay, here is where we are at, we'll keep working and get closer to them.’ Hopefully by the time they're U18, they'll be ready to go.”
The 18s might have a bullseye on their chest; they finished second in conference play behind a powerhouse McLean team ranked second in the country. “To be fair, they beat us twice,” the director conceded, “but [they] had three or four national team kids and were loaded with girls going to play in the ACC. They were just very good, but we go out there and say, ‘Hey, this is us. Let's see if we're good enough to play with you.’
“This is just the beginning”
This developmental process is nothing new for the Rapids, which has a strong track record with multiple players currently in youth national teams, and many more with experience in national identification programs in USYS Regional ODP and US Club Soccer’s id2 Program. The last two years in particular – on the girls side – have seen the steadiest growth, beginning with a U.S. Youth Soccer national championship from last year, a U.S. Club national championship in 2016, 50 players having committed to play at the collegiate level (2016-2018 classes) and four players fielding invitations to National team camps.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be here,” said Carolina Rapids Executive Director Thomas Finlay of the girls’ program and the ECNL, which was founded in 2009 to enhance the developmental experience of female youth soccer players around the country. “This league provides an unmatched player development platform for our top female soccer players and supports our holistic approach to player development both on and off the field. It also gives us as directors and coaches a natural boost to improve our level of service to our players. This is just the beginning.”
As for how Year One has come together, Weeks said he was pleasantly surprised at what can be deemed early success. “For us, it was a big shocker in terms of how quickly it all came together,” admitted Weeks, who started with the Rapids in January of 2017. “It’s a long journey for all the players and it culminates in that final year – that U18 year. That’s really the year we’re pushing for to qualify at the highest levels, so for the 14s, for example, to somehow find that level beforehand was a great accomplishment for the girls. Ultimately that’s what’s it’s about – about the players.”