Rockne Carver, a player from Iowa United FC/J-Hawk SC, was recently one of six trialists from around the country to spend a week training and going to school at the RSL Academy in Herriman, Utah. RSL Academy is the youth developmental academy for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer, the highest professional league in the United States. Rockne trained with the RSL Academy’s 2005 team for the week along with five other trialists from California, Michigan, and Arizona. Trialists are scouted from around the United States, and asked to train with a RSL Academy team for a week in the hope of making the team. While only one of the six boys was selected for RSL’s team for next year, Rockne received positive reviews from the professional staff and represented Iowa United FC/J-Hawk SC and Iowa youth soccer in a tremendous fashion. RSL Academy is the only professional youth academy in the United States that has its own high school on campus, as well as a dormitory for players and staff members. The indoor training facility, which is also used by Real Salt Lake’s first team, contains two full-sized soccer fields and is the largest free span building structure in North America. The outdoor stadium at which Rockne participated in many training sessions and scrimmages is the home for the Real Salt Lake’s reserve team, RSL Monarchs, the 2019 champions of the USL Championship, which is the second highest division within U.S. professional soccer.

Meadow Lane from our 15U girls team has been invited to the United States Youth Soccer ODP Midwest regional as one of the Iowa representatives. Only 36 girls for U12 (34 field players and 2 keepers) were chosen from across the midwestern states.

Rockne Carver was the only Iowan selected for 2021/22 ODP Boys 2006 Midwest Interregional Team, and competed against other three interregional teams this last November, in Orlando, Florida.