Part 2 in a series on the U15 GNT - Read Part 1

There’s something good going on at Chicago-area club Sockers FC, and the proof is right there on the latest U15 Girls National Team roster.

Three girls from the club’s U16 team, right-sided attacker Kelli Hubly, defender Katie Naughton and attacking midfielder Courtney Raetzman, have all been included in Coach Mike Dickey’s roster for the Thanksgiving Interregional at Coral Springs, Florida where the squad will play matches against U.S. Youth Soccer ODP Regional teams and a Costa Rican youth national side.

Sockers coach Oleg Vatchev said the multiple call-ups to the national team are in many ways the first fruits of an emphasis on girls players development begun by the clubs 5-6 years ago, which included having younger play a lot of their competitive matches in the Chicago area against boys.

“We were known as a club that worked with the boys a lot, and a few years ago we decided to get strongly involved with girls soccer. Now every coach works with both sides,” Vatchev said. “We’re pretty much achieving what we wanted. We’re finding the best ways to develop and hopefully we’ll continue to have success in the future. Our U13s, 14s and 15s are also having success with different selections and pools, and also with team performance, so we are coming around on the girls’ side also.”

That teams winning matches is mentioned almost as an afterthought by Vatchev is not an accident.

“We may not win a lot of cups and trophies, but the players as individuals are coming around very well,” Vatchev said. “I’m very pleased with how the girls are playing. We put them in their training with our boys who are in the Top Talent program. We look at them and you can’t see any difference in their play and qualities. We put a strong emphasis on the technical part and they respond well.”

For the players themselves, the U15 GNT experience has predictably been an exciting one.

“I thought the girls with the national team were really talented and really pushed me to excel and keep up with them. They’ve turned me into a better player,” Naughton, a tall and athletic central defender, said. “I’ve noticed an improvement in myself, my work ethic and speed of play. The play is so much faster there you really have to conform quickly.”

Naughton said the whole team and Vatchev deserve credit for the three players reaching the national level.

“We were all very fortunate for that to happen. It’s pretty sweet to be able to play club soccer with Courtney and Kelli as well as with the rest of the team,” she said. “It’s a compliment to Oleg and his coaching abilities. We wouldn’t have become the players we are without the rest of the team. They’ve really helped us.”

Hubly, who has played as a right midfielder, right attacker and even right back with the U15 GNT so far, said her teammates bring varied attributes to the field.

“Courtney is just so quick. She can beat anybody. She’s good with her feet and she’s tough for how short she is,” Hubly said. “Katie is a really solid defender. She’s really fast too. She doesn’t get beat much but if she does, she can always catch up to the person.”

Raetzman, a diminutive attacker who experienced her first international competition earlier this year against Germany, said she and Hubly make a good attacking tandem.

“We work really well together,” she said. “We’ve played with each other since we were really little. There’s a good bond and she’s fast and a great forward with great technical ability. It’s fun to play with her.”

Raetzman added that the three girls are close off the field and “hang out a lot.”

Vatchev said for all the distinctives of the three, they share some common traits that you often see in top players.

“They are three different types of kids but on the field they function extremely well together,” he said. “They are very motivated and they love to play soccer. If I called then everyday they would come in every day and train with us. They’re always happy. They never seem to get upset or disappointed, but they handle ups and downs very well.”

For one club to have three players in this selection may be unusual, but U15 GNT coach Mike Dickey, while not talking specifically about Sockers, said a club coaching staff understanding what it takes to reach the international level can make a big difference in player development.

“From a club standpoint, coaches are so busy with the monthly schedule they have with tournaments and leagues, it’s very hard for them. We try to talk with them about the kind of players necessary to have success on the international level,” he said. “We are always preaching to them about players being developed much better technically than what we have produced in the past. But it’s difficult to argue that case because our kids are having success when they play against one another.”

“But that’s not the test and college soccer is not the test either because there are so many choices out there,” Dickey continued. “That’s nothing against college soccer because we have a responsibility to develop better players to go there for the colleges too.”

Vatchev said for Sockers, philosophy and experience among the coaches help the club know the difference.

“In our club what helps us is that we’ve been in Dallas Cup and Disney for many years on the boys’ side, and so our coaches have coached a lot of international games. We see the difference in technical abilities and the speed of play,” he said. “So working with the girls it helps us a lot to get them going in the right direction of what the (national team) coaching staff is looking for. It takes years to get to that place. You can hear lectures on philosophy and things but you need an experienced staff that doesn’t just want to win things. You have to concentrate on total player development. Since the Academy came in on the boys’ side that has been for us very motivational and given some good guidelines on focusing on development. That’s what it’s all about, developing players for the next level.”

This was Part 2 in a series on the U15 GNT - Read Part 1