A series from Richie Gray, CEO of Sol Sports Club
Every time I watch McFarland, USA, it gets me.
I know how the movie ends. I know what’s coming. And somehow, it still gets me every time.
Recently, I started thinking about why.
It’s not really about running. It’s not even about winning the championship. It’s about watching young people discover something in themselves they hadn’t seen before. It’s about someone believing in them, setting expectations, and pushing them when things get difficult.
That’s youth sports at its best.
I’ve spent a large part of my adult life around youth soccer. My role today is different than it was years ago. I don’t spend my days on the field working directly with players anymore. Most of my responsibility now is building the organization, supporting the people who work with our players every day, and creating the right environment for them to succeed.
But watching McFarland reminded me why all of that matters.
We talk a lot in youth soccer about development—leagues, teams, tournaments, rankings, and pathways. We want our players to improve. We want our teams to compete. And yes, we want to win.
Those things matter.
But some of the most important results of youth sports will never appear on a scoreboard.
- A kid learns to show up when they don’t feel like it.
- They learn how to lose and come back the next day.
- They learn that talent without effort only takes them so far.
- They develop confidence and resilience.
And sometimes they discover something even bigger:
“I’m capable of more than I thought I was.”
That’s the part of youth sports I love.
The reality is that most young people who play soccer will never become professional players. That isn’t a failure of youth soccer. It’s reality.
Twenty years from now, most players probably won’t remember the score of an important game. They may forget where their team finished in the standings. The medals and trophies may eventually end up in a box somewhere.
But the person they became during those years goes with them.
- The discipline to keep working when nobody is watching.
- The ability to be a good teammate.
- The courage to attempt something just beyond their reach.
- And, hopefully, the memory of an adult—a coach or mentor—who saw something in them and cared enough to help bring it out.
The older I get, the more I think about that responsibility.
At Sol SC, we’re not simply organizing soccer teams. Families are trusting us with a few important years in their child’s life.
- That means how we coach matters.
- How we speak to kids matters.
- The standards we establish matter.
- How we respond when they fail matters.
- How we treat opponents, referees, parents, and one another matters.
Kids are watching all of it.
My role today may keep me farther from the sidelines than I once was. But in some ways, that distance has made the bigger picture clearer.
My responsibility isn’t to personally influence every player. It’s to help build an organization filled with people who will.
I want Sol SC to develop excellent soccer players and competitive teams. I want us to provide real pathways for players who dream about reaching the highest levels. But I also want us to build something bigger.
I want young people to leave Sol SC more confident than when they arrived. More resilient. More accountable. More comfortable being part of something larger than themselves.
I hope they leave knowing there were adults here who genuinely cared about them, challenged them, and believed in what they could become.
Those outcomes are difficult to capture in a mission statement. They are better understood through the people and moments that bring them to life.
Over the coming months, I’ll share stories from inside our club—a player, a coach, or a moment most people never saw.
Maybe that’s why McFarland still gets me every time. It reminds me that the biggest victory in youth sports usually isn’t what a kid accomplishes on the field.
It’s who they become because someone believed they could.
Long after the final whistle, that’s the part that still matters.
— Richie Gray
CEO, Sol Sports Club
