USL Feature
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
BRANDON, Fla. – Getting in at the ground floor.
It’s an experience VSI Tampa Flames coach Joel Harrison has had before, twice building a college soccer program from scratch. This past Saturday, Harrison and his fellow coaches began the process in the PDL, hosting nearly 60 players for the first tryout of new USL PDL club the VSI Tampa Flames.
“It’s actually reminiscent for me,” Harrison said. “Obviously there are very similar things you’re doing. You don’t even have a ball to kick, you have to go and buy everything, so for me it’s exciting, and the future for VSI is unlimited.”
Across the country, the same process is underway for the PDL’s new teams that have swelled the league’s ranks to more than 70 clubs for the upcoming season. But for VSI, which in addition to its PDL team will also be fielding a Super-20 League and W-League team in 2012 and a USL PRO side in 2013, Saturday’s tryout, which saw VSI’s CEO Simon Crane and John Mitchell and USL National Technical Director Peter Mellor on hand to observe and talk to the players, was the first step in what they expect to be a long-term project to develop soccer talent from the youth ranks to the pros.
That concept, similar to the one used in Europe, is what appealed greatly to Harrison when he became part of the VSI Tampa organization.
“Because of our vertical integration from youth all the way to pro, I’m excited to be able to be involved with that,” the former head coach at St. Leo University said. “To be able to help young players move up so they can play for our PDL team, and then hopefully if they do things right they can play for our professional team, so I’m excited about being in on something from the very beginning. You don’t get the chance to be the first at something very often.”
One of the players who might benefit from that system most was the tryouts youngest attendee. Patrick Meehan is just 15 years old, but regularly trains with players older than him as part of the Flames’ youth program. While it’s almost certain that he won’t be a member of either VSI team this summer, Saturday was instructive for him as to what it could take to reach that level in the coming years.
“That first game was a little nerve-wracking,” Meehan said, “going against the bigger kids, but I think then I settled down and started playing a little better, started getting passes to my team and settled down, just playing the game.”
If Meehan is a potential player for the Flames’ future, then goalkeeper Mike Arnold could be a player for the present. A local soccer player who still lives near the Flames’ training complex, Arnold was an attendee at the 2011 USL PRO Combine presented by Umbro. Having played for a local amateur team for the past year, playing for the Flames would seem to be a perfect fit to continue his development and try to break into the pro ranks.
“I couldn’t imagine a more perfect fit right now,” Arnold said. “The coaching staff, I met some of the coaches beforehand and seeing them out on the field, it looked great and from what I’ve heard about Joel, he’s a great coach too.”
Harrison was certainly pleased with much of what he saw, and with the team looking to fill slots on both its PDL and Super-20 team his belief after the tryout ended was that there were players who would have a chance to play for VSI this summer.
As for what the tryout meant for the club overall, Harrison said he believed it was an important step in creating awareness in the local community of what was being built by VSI.
“I think word is getting out that we’re here and we’re serious, that it’s a very professional organization and they want to do things the right way,” he said. “You’ve got to try and involve the local community and the best local players, so I think it’s a huge step for us.”
For the players from Saturday’s tryout that become part of the Flames’ inaugural season, who will get in on the ground floor with Harrison and his staff, it could also be a huge step for bigger things down the road.