HEY KIDS, A PROFESSIONAL SOCCER CAREER IS NOT ‘JUST A DREAM’ FORMER FC DALLAS TRI STANDOUT COY CRAFT took a chance on going pro as a teenager. His success with FC Dallas and the U.S. Men’s National Team is proof his star is blindingly bright. On the cusp of becoming the next homegrown star, Coy Craft’s soccer journey has been anything but conventional. From his early childhood learning to play the game in rural southern Virginia to wearing the Stars and Bars representing the United States in top competitions throughout the world, Craft is having a career most soccer players can only dream about. Just a few weeks away from his 20th birthday at the time of this writing, he’s only getting started. Currently getting playing time with Oklahoma City Energy FC of the United Soccer League (USL), Craft has earned time on the FC Dallas roster since he was 17 years old, signing as the club’s 12th homegrown player on August 1, 2014. He’s also a member of the U.S. Men’s U20 squad that earned its first CONCACAF Championship after defeating Honduras in a shootout. Craft scored the second of the USMNT U20 penalty kicks, helping the U.S. defeat Honduras 5-3 in PKs, and qualifying for the FIFA U20 World Cup in Korea this summer. Craft rejoined Oklahoma City in March in order to get in some valuable playing time leading up the World Cup. “With the World Cup coming up, the coaches and I talked and it was decided that it would probably be better if I went somewhere that I could get more minutes,” Craft says. “So, we decided for the next month in between CONCACAF and the World Cup that it would be good to go get minutes in Oklahoma so that I could be in good shape for the things coming up next month.”
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Coy Craft was born on May 23, 1997, in Abingdon, Virginia, a town of a little more than 8,000 residents in the southwest part of the state, just 19 miles from the Tennessee state line. Like many players, Craft was introduced to soccer at a young age in the local recreational program. The Crafts lived on several acres of land in Abingdon, which is sparsely populated and relatively cut off from any major population centers. To help further his interest, Craft’s father plowed some land behind their home to create a makeshift soccer field. However, even with his own soccer pitch and the best volunteer coaches around, it was clear Craft had potential to be a really special player. The Crafts eventually enrolled Coy in a competitive soccer program across the state line in Bristol. Craft played for the club then called Fusion, years before it morphed into the dynamo now knows as FC Dallas Tri. It was there that Craft realized he had a true passion for the game and truly began to excel despite the club’s smaller size and scarcity of elite players to compete against. “That’s kind of when it became not so much a hobby as something I wanted to be good at,” he says.
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Craft did have a group of great coaches, including Declan Coll, an assistant men’s coach at Roanoke College. Craft says coaches such as Coll helped him realize his potential and that he could go far in soccer. “I mean, there is a small soccer presence there for sure,” Craft says with a chuckle. “I was blessed to have a really good coaching
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staff and they were able to take me in and show me that if I if I pursue this, it can be something more than just going to college; I can make a career out of it. “Once I realized I was getting better at soccer, I took it upon myself to work harder than anyone else in that area because I wanted to be the best,” Craft adds. “So I think
those two things, the work I put in as well as the coaching staff kind of holding me to a higher standard and taking me under their wing, kind of gave me the opportunity.” From there Craft worked his way into the US Men’s’ national pool system, including helping the U18 squad win the 2014 International Tournament of Václav Ježek in the Czech Republic in August 2014. It was while playing with the U15 squad under Coach Oscar Pareja — now head coach at FC Dallas — that Craft realized he had outgrown northern Tennessee and needed to get into an academy program where he could take his game to the next level. “Basically, Coach Pareja just told me the area that I’m in just isn’t a hotspot for soccer,” says Craft. “It would do me well if I got out and went to somewhere where I could be pushed and where there’s an end goal, somewhere that has more of a professional team or that has more exposure.” Craft accepted an invitation by Pareja to check out the FC Dallas youth academy program and made the decision this was the place he needed to be. He moved to Dallas along with his family, finding his groove in the MLS club’s youth program. He was part of the FC Dallas U18 team that won its fifth straight U.S. Soccer Development Academy Texas/Frontier Division title. Also, for the U18s, Craft appeared in 22 matches with 13 starts, leading the team in goals scored with 12. Even with the success in FC Dallas’ youth program, the decision to forgo college and pursue a professional career wasn’t a simple one. He says it was hard for him, at times, to wrap his mind around the idea that he could turn pro at such a young age. “I got to the point where I knew that if I wanted a professional career that that was an option, which was kind of a surreal moment,” he says “Whether it was my agent or
my parents or the coaches talking to me about it, basically it’s a huge decision to make when you’re 16 years old. It’s not easy. “After sitting down with my parents and my family, I just decided that I can do school and play soccer a little at a time, and this is a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he adds. “If I want to be the best I can be at soccer, I need to start now. So that’s how we decided this was a good option.” After signing his contract with FC Dallas in August 2014, Craft made his professional debut on October 25, subbing in for Blas Perez in the last six minutes of a 2-0 loss to Portland. At the young age of 17, Craft logged 119 minutes for the FC Dallas Reserves in the final two matches of the season. In 2015, he earned his first MLS start against the Columbus Crew. He made his first appearance in Oklahoma City in 2016, playing in 11 regular-season games with three goals and one assist. In the off-season, he and his family return home to Abingdon, where Craft enjoys fishing and playing futsal with friends. Also, when time allows, he spends some time with the players of FC Dallas Tri. “I think it’s important that they know that even though it seems like a crazy dream, that it’s doable,” he says. “I try to open the door a little bit to show other kids that it’s something they can do. It’s not just a dream.” THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF SOCCER IN TENNESSEE
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