PDL Feature
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
When the Kansas City Brass joined the PDL in 1998, the club’s goal was to provide a platform for young players to not only hone their skills against a higher level of competition, but provide an opening for the sort of players that would ordinarily fly under the radar to gain greater exposure as they sought to reach the professional ranks.
Fifteen seasons later, the club has certainly accomplished much of what it set out to do, with alumni dotted among the rosters in MLS and Europe, and more set to follow them in the near future.
“What we try to do with the team is get young players than need experience at a high level,” Brass coach Lincoln Roblee said by phone recently. “Get them more games, get them training, get them to play together to where they have the opportunity to where they can be seen as a pro prospect, and that’s what we’ve been doing, and we think we have a couple more guys on the team this year that have a chance.”
One of those players who might have a chance is Jordan Green. An All-League selection this summer after finishing tied for the PDL lead with 12 assists, the NAIA product took the opportunity to play in the PDL before returning to play at Hastings College in Nebraska. Green had a record-breaking 2011 season with the Broncos as he scored 25 goals, a single-season school record, to follow up a 2010 campaign that saw him record a school single-season record 19 assists.
Being able to translate that form onto the fields of the PDL could well help Green as he tries to find a place in the professional ranks and join former Hastings teammate Nate Polak, who was selected by the New York Red Bulls this past January in the MLS Supplemental Draft. Roblee is confident that Green has what it takes to play at the next level, but with the bulk of professional scouting focused on Division I schools, players that have Division-I talent, but chose to take a different path, can fall between the cracks, something the Brass try to help players avoid.
“At the Division II and NAIA National Championships, there are a number of MLS scouts, but only if you get to the final four, so obviously there are great players across the whole country who aren’t playing in the final four,” Roblee said. “It’s not easy to be seen, and then when you’re playing at that level, people say, ‘well, what was the level of competition?’ and everything.
“[In the PDL], to be honest, that’s where it’s sink or swim for everyone, Division I or not. Everyone comes together and whether you’re the coach at Des Moines or St. Louis or Kansas City or Thunder Bay, no-one cares once you’re on the field where you play in college. It’s whether you’re able to perform at the level to be successful on this field, and that’s what it’s really all about.”
Other Brass alumni that have come from outside Division I include the likes of Edson Edward, who played with FC Dallas last season, and Sporting KC’s Kyle Miller, who recently scored the game-tying goal in their exhibition against the English Premier League’s Stoke City. Sporting KC also recently signed another former Brass player, goalkeeper Scott Angevine, illustrating the informal bond that joins the two teams.
“He played at Coastal Carolina,” Roblee said of Angevine, “and he was training with Sporting, and playing with us and training with us, and he really needed games, he really needed an opportunity to play. You can practice all you want, but you’ve got to get those games in and Sporting really thought he was close, they thought he was close, but they wanted even more and Scott was able to train and play and was able to show that he was a very good goalkeeper, and when the opportunity arose, Sporting didn’t have to look to far to add a goalkeeper to their roster.”
Whether it’s Green, fellow All-Central Conference selection Pete Nechvatel, or someone else who is the next player to reach the professional ranks from the Brass, there’s no doubt that more players from the club will follow in the footsteps of Sporting Kansas City’s Michael Thomas or the Wilmington Hammerheads’ Alex Horwath as the club maintains its approach of offering young players the chance to test themselves and move up.
“When I first started with the team, it would have been very easy to put a bunch of 25-, 26-year-old players with former pro experience [out there], especially in a city where indoor soccer has also been very popular,” Roblee said. “Really, it’s gone according to plan, and we’re glad that Scott was able to sign this summer, and we hope a couple of other players get chances next year.”
Photo courtesy Thad Bell Photography