Growing Through the Journey: Our U17 Academy’s First Steps Forward

Growing Through the Journey

Every team has a beginning.

For the NC United FC U17 Academy, these first weeks have been about much more than results. They have been about bringing together a talented group of young players, learning one another, competing through challenges, and beginning the process of becoming a team.

Three matches into that journey, there is already plenty to be grateful for.

Our Academy opened its season against Appalachian Football Club, a difficult first test that ended in a 5–0 defeat. It was not the beginning anyone hopes for on the scoreboard, but beginnings are rarely a finished picture of what a team can become.

The following match brought another challenge against Rush United. NC United fell 2–1, but the performance told a different story than the opening result. Against a strong opponent, the group competed more cohesively, stayed in the game, and showed meaningful progress.

Then came Soda City.

A First Win, Received With Gratitude

Against Soda City FC White, the Academy took another step forward and earned its first victory as a team, 5–3.

It is a moment worth celebrating — not because one victory suddenly defines this group, but because it gives these young players a glimpse of what can happen as individual talent begins to come together as a team.

And before anything else, we receive this first victory with gratitude and offer it back to God.

We are thankful for the opportunity to compete. We are thankful for the young men entrusted to this program, for the families walking alongside them, for the coaches serving them, and for every lesson this journey brings — whether that lesson comes through victory or defeat.

The first win belongs within a much bigger journey.

Building a Team Under Different Circumstances

This Academy was always going to require patience.

Many of these players are simultaneously competing with their high school teams. Their schedules, responsibilities, training sessions, and matches do not always align, and that has made it difficult for the entire NC United group to consistently train together.

That is important context — but it is not an excuse.

It simply means that some of the chemistry normally developed on the training field must also be built during competition: learning teammates' movements, communicating more effectively, understanding roles, making better decisions, and trusting one another under pressure.

There is talent in this group. There are also many opportunities to develop.

Our responsibility is to help turn that potential into something greater — not only by developing better soccer players, but by encouraging discipline, resilience, accountability, humility, and respect for one another.

Where the Journey Started

Thank You to Our Families

None of this happens without our families.

To the parents and guardians supporting these young men: thank you.

Thank you for the transportation, the changing schedules, the time spent at fields, the encouragement after difficult results, and especially the patience required while a new team learns how to become a team.

We know everyone wants to see these young men succeed. We do too.

But development takes time, and the support surrounding these players gives them the opportunity to keep learning, competing, making mistakes, responding to challenges, and growing.

Your commitment is part of this journey, and we are deeply grateful for it.

Only the Beginning

Three games do not define a season, just as one victory does not define a team.

There will be more challenges. There will be better performances and difficult ones. There will be opportunities to win and opportunities to learn.

What matters is what these young men do with each one.

From 0–5, to a much tighter 1–2 contest, to the first 5–3 victory, we can see progress. But more importantly, we can see a group beginning to understand that growth requires patience, work, trust, and perseverance.

So we celebrate this first victory with humility.

We thank our players.

We thank our coaches and families.

And above all, we give thanks to God and offer this first Academy victory back to Him in gratitude.

There is much still to build.

The journey is only beginning.