'Living their dream': LH-based soccer team finds life lessons in The Beautiful Game

World Sport Lightning. Photo by Mel Conner.

It’s July in Lake Highlands, Texas, and the temperature gauge lingers at the century mark just a couple of hours before sundown. Youth athletes in most sports are taking a break or have moved their workouts indoors during these sweltering weeks, but members of World Sport U12 Lightning are suited and booted, as Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent might say. The club soccer team, comprised mostly of Lake Highlands area sixth graders, is practicing outdoors near Lake Highlands High School.

When they’re out on the field, the indomitable 11-year-olds scrunch up their faces as they fight for the ball and grit their teeth as they aim for the goal. When they break for water, they thank their coach for his direction and shout encouraging words to fellow players. As I approach from the sidelines, they stick out their hands with a smile and introduce themselves confidently. Coach Aaron Lopez says their attitudes are no accident. Raised by a single mother and an “old school” grandfather, Lopez aims to prepare his charges for success, both on and off the pitch.

“We’re working to instill respect and good manners in our players,” he says. “They hear this from their parents at home, too. It’s important to learn respect for coaches, opposing players and themselves.”

Lopez believes laying the foundational bricks of character and integrity will lead to wins for the team — and he should know. Growing up in Fort Worth, he played for some of the top clubs in the metroplex and excelled in some of DFW’s biggest tournaments. After his playing career was finished, he began coaching his son, Isaak. A few months ago, Isaak signed a contract to play semi-pro in Portugal.

“At World Sport FC, our focus is development first. The wins will come,” explains Lopez. “We seek out experienced coaches — there are so many YouTube coaches out there. It’s like when you need a plumber. Do you want someone who’s been doing it for years, or someone who watched a video online?”

World Sport FC’s director of coaching is familiar to Lake Highlands soccer fans. Chris Nieto was a varsity captain for the Wildcats and graduated in 2010.

“Kids learn a lot about overcoming adversity through soccer, because there are no time outs,” Nieto says. “There are no plays being called in from the sideline. You don’t get a break between plays. You must think on your feet and be mentally agile. You have to deal with what comes and accept change while playing the game technically well. As a working professional, these skills have helped me tremendously. Work is a team effort that throws challenges at you. These kids are learning valuable lessons before college, before high school, before junior high, and it will make all the difference to their success.”

Nieto says youth soccer continues growing exponentially in Dallas, with more players interested in the sport and more clubs coming online. There’s a shortage of fields inside the LBJ loop, so securing practice locations in Lake Highlands has helped World Sport FC attract talented athletes from the neighborhood.

“The reality is that Dallas is landlocked when it comes to parks and soccer fields,” Nieto says. “We’ve tried convincing the city to invest in fields for the world’s largest sport, but the resources just aren’t there. Ultimately, we’ve made the best of what we have. The fact that we use neighborhood parks to train club teams makes us unique, whereas the big clubs have their own facilities way up north. We are an inner-city, small club with great technical resources and a strong coaching staff.”

Lightning began as a neighborhood recreational team, but a chance encounter at LHHS brought the team together with Lopez as he was building his soccer training business. Brad DeJean says he and other team parents knew they needed to bring in soccer experts with experience coaching youth if they wanted to make the transition to more competitive club soccer.

“One of the reasons for our success has been the patience of World Sport staff and team managers. They have been thoughtful in making decisions with a focus on sustaining the chemistry of the players (and respective families) and preparing them thoroughly for each part of the journey. The coaches have primarily focused on player development versus end-of-season standings or chasing championships. Since the inception of the Lightning team, they have not had to cut a single player from the team. It’s proven with this squad that if you work hard, stick together and focus on others before yourself, then great results occur.”

Justin and Melanie Conner, who both graduated from Lake Highlands High School and helped to form the team, say gathering kids who mostly live a stone’s throw from each other has created a social network likely to last for many years.

“Everyone wants to play the game they love with people they love, and that goes for the parents, too,” says Melanie. “When the kids have a tournament and we’re together for days at a time, it’s great because we’re all friends. During the lag between games, the boys play games and the moms play Mahjohg and the dads cook out. We enjoy each other’s company.”

“These boys are living their dream,” agrees Justin. “They’re playing competitive soccer against big-name teams like Dallas Texans, FC Dallas and Solar. They’re with their best friends, and their families are cheering them on.”

Keely and Jay Paul went through the club soccer experience with an older son, and they learned that many practices occur in — and teammates hail from — locales such as Frisco, Allen and McKinney. Keely often finds herself relying on “the mom village” when juggling various kids and commitments at the dinner hour on school nights.

“The convenience and the friendships are so valuable. If you get into a bind at work or with your other kids, you can call on friends nearby to help,” she says.

“This is an opportunity for the kids to stay together and build these bonds of friendship for a long time,” agrees Jay. “Sometimes, there’s an element of burnout as people travel all over for practices, and people start going to different clubs. This allows us to stay in a close-knit community and foster these relationships that are close to home.”

Kids on the team don’t yet fully appreciate the benefits of working out on fields two miles away versus twenty, but they know they are having a great time. They’re learning The Beautiful Game and perfecting skills they see performed in English Premier League matches on television and in video games online.

“I also play select baseball, so practicing close to home makes things easier,” says Chase Conner, who is headed into sixth grade at Covenant School. “I like that I have lots of friends and family supporting me, and I like that I’m learning new things.” Conner demonstrated his Helicopter maneuver, moving forward with one foot on the ball and quickly spinning 360 degrees until he was moving forward using the other foot.

White Rock Elementary sixth grader Sam Grove also picked up a smooth move. “I learned the Rainbow Flick, where you roll the ball up your leg and flick it up and over you and your opponent like a rainbow.” Asked if the trick was designed to help his team win games, he was honest. “It just mostly looks cool.”

WRE’s Ben Garrity is the big man on the team, using his height and strength to play defender. Asked if he’d ever be willing to play in the goal, he also gave an honest answer. “That doesn’t look like too much fun to me. You just sit in the goal all day.”

Garrity let me know his teammates were finalists in the recent Dallas Open tournament. “We did great. We beat a really hard team and got a really cool trophy. We keep adding new people and getting better as practices go on. Our coaches are super supportive, and we’re good at talking to each other [on the field]. We’re like a family.”

Lopez and Nieto encourage young players to continue exploring multiple sports — gaining skills, fitness and coaching from various opportunities. But that won’t last forever.

“At this age, kids are playing lots of sports,” says Lopez. “As they get older, coaches get more demanding and want more of a commitment. They can’t keep doing it all. The parents tell us our kids are choosing soccer, and that makes us feel good. That drives us. It shows we’re all here for the same purpose.”

It’s too early to know if the boys of World Sport FC Lightning will hang together until high school, but if they do, it could bode well for the Wildcats’ chances down the road. After all, the longer athletes play together, the better they communicate and anticipate each other’s movements. In 2023, LHHS made it all the way to the regional finals.

For now, Lopez’s biggest challenge is whipping his young team into shape for summer tournaments and the fall season. Well, that, and accepting that he will no longer be able to watch his own son’s weekly games. When Isaak played in Mexico last year, his matches were televised. Games with his new European team will not be, so Lopez will be waiting for a phone call recap from his son. How very old school.