Saint Stephens teachers reminisce on Bradenton soccer residency players
U.S. Men's National Team's ties to Tampa Bay
Every player started somewhere and several local teachers got to know some of America's biggest names in soccer before the rest of us. They taught players like Christian Pulisic while they trained in Bradenton. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.
BRADENTON, Fla. - Several teachers at a school in Bradenton are reminiscing on the years they spent teaching some of the biggest names in U.S. men's soccer before they became stars.
Teachers at Saint Stephens Episcopal School taught some of the most promising young soccer players, while they trained at a developmental program that was once based in Bradenton.
Bradenton soccer residency
What we know:
From around 2010 to 2016, the U-17 U.S. Soccer developmental program brought some of the best young talent from around the country to Bradenton for training.
While the players spent two years training, they attended classes at Saint Stephens Episcopal School.
"They would come for a two-year rotation, sophomore, junior year, then they would go off to their senior high school for their final year," Ellen Orr, an English teacher at Saint Stephens Episcopal School, said.
Memories of global stars
The backstory:
Teachers at Saint Stephens taught a number of big names, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Alejandro Zendejas, Tyler Adams and Haji Wright.
"We got them when they were like 14, 15 years old, something like that," Cindy Addison, the director of technology at Saint Stephens, explained. "They had braces. They were young. They were short. And then they came back from Christmas, and they were tall, just like high school boys are. And so, it's been really fun over these years, because we have followed them over all of these years. And it's really fun these over these years to see how they matured into men."
The teachers recalled attending their games on Saturday mornings and taking them out to dinner on Fridays.
"You will notice, those five boys, when they're on the field, or three of them are on the at the same time, they play off each other as if they were brothers, because they were," Ted Allen, a retired history teacher at Saint Stephens, said.
Future World Cup goals
What they're saying:
They say all of the boys who attended the program and their school always dreamed of playing professional soccer and representing the U.S. at the World Cup.
"It is so good to see them on the world stage," Orr said. "I knew they were going to be there. No contest, because they had such confidence in themselves."
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from interviews conducted with current and former teachers at Saint Stephens Episcopal School.