James Brighton certainly isn’t inclined to shy away from the big moment. But he understands his place, too.
So when a penalty kick was called in the dying minutes of last weekend’s Premier Development League game in West Virginia, the Hilton Head Island teen moved off to take up a position outside the penalty area. Surely one of his older Tormenta FC teammates would take the kick.
Then one of those teammates tossed the ball his way.
”Hey James, take it.”
“I’ve never felt so nervous in all my life,” Brighton recalled. “But it was such an exciting moment, too. I just stuck to what I trained for and put it in.”
The kick went hard past the diving goalkeeper into the net’s lower right corner — the first career goal for the only 16-year-old in a league populated by collegians. “The best feeling ever,” Brighton said.
And likely just the start of many for Brighton, whose soccer dreams have suddenly attained fast-track status in recent months.
First came the invitation to join South Georgia Tormenta, playing its first season in the PDL. Much like summer collegiate baseball, the league provides opportunities for college talent to continue developing when school takes a break.
The opportunity, though, required Brighton — who has had his driver’s license only three months — to leave home in May and relocate to Statesboro, Ga. “That’s been a new experience,” Brighton said.
As the PDL season winds down, another move is coming next month — to Atlanta, where Brighton has a spot reserved in the youth academy of that city’s new Major League Soccer team. Atlanta United won’t make its MLS debut until 2017, but the academy starts this fall.
“My wife and I sometimes look at each other and think we’re crazy,” said John Brighton, James’ father. “But we’ve enjoyed watching all our kids pursue whatever they’re passionate about. In his case, it’s athletics. We’ve taken the time to research the opportunity, and we’ve become comfortable with it.”
In a way, Brighton has always been head of the class. He was a multisport talent in his preteen years, excelling in baseball and basketball in addition to soccer. There’s baseball in his bloodlines, too — grandfather Mike Wysocki pitched in the San Francisco Giants’ minor-league system in the late 1960s.
Baseball, though, never managed to grab young James as much as soccer.
“I just love the ball at my feet. Always have,” Brighton said, just finishing a practice session at Tormenta’s training base near Georgia Southern University. “It just never gets old. I think baseball started to get a little old, and with soccer I woke up every day wanting to play. That’s when I knew.”
Part of Storm Soccer Academy since the club’s 2010 inception, Brighton’s goal-scoring instincts made him a standout at every level.
“When I had him as a youth player, it’s hard to remember a game when he didn’t score or create a chance to score,” said Ben Freakley, now Tormenta’s coach.
“He’s by no means a finished product, but he’s definitely a polished one. He’s extremely competitive, always wants to win. You look at the qualities that you want a forward to have — a competitive mindset, technical skills, risk-taking abilities — James has it all.”
All of which made Brighton the perfect youth candidate when Tormenta FC was formed this spring. The club and Storm have a working partnership, with Storm founder Jeremy Aven holding co-ownership in the franchise.
Though the club is stocked with college players, it also was envisioned to offer the next step of development for Storm’s most elite players.
“That’s part of the development process around the rest of the world,” Aven said. “When kids hit age 15 or 16 and are very talented, they get thrown into the deep end with guys that are four or five years older.
“One of the reasons that we started this PDL team is to take guys like James Brighton … and put them out where the rest of the world would be. It continues to speed up the developmental process.”
Tormenta’s roster is dotted with players from such programs as Georgia Southern, South Carolina, Mercer, Florida Gulf Coast and College of Charleston. A few are on loan from clubs in the third-division United Soccer League, raising the median age even further.
A total of 70 clubs populate the PDL, which is divided into 10 regional divisions. Tormenta FC plays in the South Atlantic division, which stretches from West Virginia into Charlotte and Atlanta and down to Statesboro.
Of more than 1,700 players in the PDL this summer, Brighton is the youngest.
“It was a little intimidating,” acknowledged Brighton, who rooms with Tormenta captain Ayao Sossou. “It took a couple of weeks to really get used to the group and feel part of the guys because I’m so young. It was nerve-wracking, for sure.”
It took about two weeks to make the adjustment, as Brighton became adjusted to the speed of the higher level of play. After sitting the bench in the first few games, Brighton now comes on regularly as a second-half substitute.
“He is not a token player,” Freakley said. “I think James is one of those rare young players that understands the amount of work that it takes to be a pro. There would be no invitation without those qualities already on display.”
Now the question is how quickly Brighton can progress. Still two years from graduating high school, he’s verbally committed to playing collegiately at Clemson. After the whirlwind of recent months, though, he’s also expressed hopes of a pro contract when he turns 18.
“The pace is fine with me. I love that it’s moving fast,” he said. “I want to be playing the English Premier League or La Liga in Spain. That’s everybody’s dream, but it’s mine as well and has been for a while.”
Said Freakley: “He’s been on this journey for a very long time. I kind of think his journey is just starting, really.”
Great piece by Jeff Shain of the Island Packet