A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the amazing journey of a group of 13-year-old soccer players from Knoxville, FC Alliance 2010GRL, whose incredible season has taken them to represent the southern region in the a national tournament in Wichita, Kansas.
To quote FC Alliance 2010GRL website,” These girls indeed had an amazing season. They worked hard on and off the field, faced adversity, hormones and everything in between and yet they’re family! They stuck together and encouraged each other and left it all out on the field.”
Also, to borrow statistics from the website, I will put their journey to Nationals into perspective as to what made the year so incredible.
The team participated in their league play to qualify for the State Cup and only the top 8 teams from Tennessee went to the State Cup which this team of girls accomplished and finished in first place as state champions to represent Tennessee in the Southern Regional Cup.
Every winner of the 12 different State Cups advanced to compete in the Southern Regionals. This team finished 2nd to advance to Nationals and the only team they lost to in Regionals, the Alabama team, did not advance in the top 8 to reach Nationals.
8 teams from 4 regions in the country went to Nationals competition in Kansas this past weekend. This team made it to the semi-finals on Monday, finishing in the top 4.
Two other Tennessee teams participated in other age divisions: a 16U girls’ team from Memphis and an 18U boys’ team from Chattanooga. Both teams also made it to the semi-final games as well with the boys team advancing to the finals on Tuesday, winning the national championship for their division 1-0 against the Illinois team.
All of us have a story and I want to tell yours! Send them to susan@knoxtntoday.com