Meet the Rookies: Spencer Wadsworth

Going into the 2008 MLS SuperDraft Spencer Wadsworth didn’t know which club would ultimately pick him. Yet, he certainly knew where he wanted to go.

The former All-American had a fine first three seasons at Duke, where he accumulated 23 goals. But when the injury bug bit during his senior year, the production dropped (two goals in 20 games), thus causing his pre-draft stock to slide. Nevertheless, Wadsworth had his mind focused on one MLS destination in particular.

“Actually, (New England) is the place I wanted to be from the beginning,” said Wadsworth, who was picked by the Revolution in the fourth round with the 55th overall selection. “I wanted to be here – no offense to any of the other organizations.”

After speaking with other players about various MLS clubs, the former Blue Devil midfielder/forward came to the conclusion that, if given the choice, he would prefer to play in New England.

“I felt like my impression of MLS was that this was the best organization as far as taking care of its players,” said Wadsworth. “It was what I had heard from other players, and when I heard (about the Revolution picking me), I was like ‘Thank God.’”

Of course, it also didn’t hurt that he had former Duke teammates Chris Loftus and Kyle Helton provide him a better idea of what it was like to play in New England.

“I had been talking to Chris Loftus a lot,” said Wadsworth. “He was down at Duke before the draft at the beginning of January, and he was actually living with me and we were just training. I asked him about New England, but I kind of already knew that this was the best place as far as soccer.”

The affable 21-year-old from Dallas, TX, knows that by coming here, he’s afforded the opportunity to play under the guides of Steve Nicol and Paul Mariner, two of the biggest names in English football in the 1980s.

“I just came in here trying to learn every day from them,” said Wadsworth. “I knew Paul was a great forward. I actually had him as my (Elite Soccer Program) coach back in high school. I had him for about five days, and I learned so much from him.”

“I just want to learn from both of them. Sometimes, you get coaches where you question what they’re talking about. It’s not like that here. When they talk, you listen and then do it, and that’s what I’m here to do.”

And what Wadsworth is also aiming to do is win a spot on the club. Like many of his fellow rookie cohorts, the former Blue Devil is currently in training without a contract.

However, his versatility to play up front or in the middle should endear him to the coaching staff in an effort to stick with the club beyond preseason.

In fact, given his self-proclaimed fitness level (“I can run the whole game”) don’t be surprised to see him not only make the team out of preseason, but find some valuable first team experience when a plethora of MLS, SuperLiga, U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League matches all bottleneck later in the season.

But don’t think that the rookie has gotten too far ahead of himself. Some of his veteran teammates have dispensed the expected rookie ribbings.

“Yeah, it’s kind of like being a freshman in college again,” said Wadsworth. “I mean, you take it how it is and that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t mind it. I just smile and laugh about it.”

Nevertheless, the hazing and ribbing have not distracted Wadsworth from the goals this season.

“Team-wise, I want to win,” said Wadsworth. “That’s the most important thing. (But) personally, I want to play. I want to at least have a role. I want to get better, and just keep getting better.”

“Obviously, the easy answer is to say ‘I want to start and play every game.’ I’m just more concerned with coming to practice and working hard everyday.”

Rookies wave goodbye to Oka and Solle

Nobody said that a rookie’s life is ever easy.

Often times, a team’s incoming freshman are treated like bellhops and busboys, saddled with extra chores like lugging equipment around and carrying the goal to and fro during practice. In other words, they accept – involuntarily, of course -the work that no one else wants to do.

Yet, despite the tedious tasks, this year’s edition of Revolution rookies has formed a remarkably tight bond amongst themselves. In addition to collectively bearing the brunt of their added responsibilities, many of the rooks already shared a common thread before arriving in Foxboro, as many had played with or against each other since high school. Combine these factors and a wonderful sense of camaraderie becomes instilled, as full-fledged friendships become forged between the fresh faces.

So you can imagine that when the news of the club’s release of rookies Arsene Oka and Ryan Solle broke last Friday, there were more than a few raised eyebrows and shocked expressions.
“Ryan was kind of a prankster on the team, and at first you thought it might be a joke that he was playing on us. That’s what we were hoping: that it was just a joke,” said fellow rookie Chris Loftus.

Unfortunately, it was no playful ploy on the part of their fellow freshman, as the rookies had hoped, and soon Solle and Oka would be saying goodbye to their teammates and friends. As the news began sink in, the emotions then turned serious.

“Obviously everybody was shocked to hear (about them being released),” said Kyle Helton, a rookie right back, who’s known Solle since high school. “I wasn’t expecting that at all, and I don’t think any of the other guys were as well.”

Loftus agreed with his fellow rookie on his emotions when the news finally began to sink in.

“(It was) immediate shock, when I heard about it. Ryan is a very close friend of mine, and was close with all of the rookies, especially Wells (Thompson), because they went to school together.”

The Revolution rookies are indeed a close group, and regularly go out to dinner as like a family would, all knowing they can take solace in their common experiences as first year players.
So after the news finally began to set in on Friday night, the rookies did just that: they went out to dinner as a whole. There, they offered words of encouragement to their hard luck friends.

“I told (Solle) to keep his head up, and that opportunities will come his way, and that it’s not the end of the world,” said Loftus. “I feel terrible for Ryan because I know how hard he works and how much he loved being here with the guys on the team. He’s going find a team that can use him, and he’s going do well wherever he goes.”

Though the loss especially reverberated among the rookies on a personal level, Helton also acknowledged that the news served as a stark reminder of how unpredictable the life of a professional athlete can be.

“You have to play like every day’s your last. Obviously, you really don’t know what’s going to happen. You just have to come to practice and work hard everyday, and try and make an impact.”

Nevertheless, although the business of soccer can be painfully cruel to those who play it, sometimes all a player can do is simply accept the news when a teammate – often times, a friend – is cut by the team.

“It’s going be a tough loss for the team, especially within the rookies; we have a tight-knit group. We don’t want to lose anybody,” said a somber Helton. “They’re both going to be missed.”

Loftus explained that although his fellow rookie and friend Solle is no longer a member of the team, the bond would always remain.

“We’ll keep in touch for the rest of our lives. He’s a good friend of ours.”

The Rookie Perspective on ‘Beckhamania’

With a tsunami of media attention drawn toward David Beckham’s arrival in Foxboro this weekend, it’s certainly easy to get caught up in the whirlwind that accompanies the globe’s most popular soccer player. While the superstar’s grand entrance elicits various opinions and responses among the MLS’s senior statesmen and veterans, many of younger players’ views go unsolicited.

Well, Revsnet’s Brian O’Connell caught up with three of the Revolution rookies – Chris Loftus, Kyle Helton, and Ryan Solle- to get their take on “Beckhamania” and other topics.

Brian: When you guys first heard that he was coming here to MLS to play, what was your reaction?

Chris Loftus: I was kind of skeptical, at first. But once it kind of got finalized, I was excited. It’s good for the league. We’ll get a lot more people out to the games, and give soccer in the U.S. a little more exposure.

Kyle Helton: Yeah, I think it’s exciting, definitely, because there’ll be a lot more people obviously who want to come to the games. People who may not have even watched soccer before and now wanting to come and trying to get tickets and wanting to come to the game, and they find out that the game’s sold out and everything, and they’re really upset (at not being able to get tickets). I mean, I’m just excited to see people getting as excited as I am about the game.

Ryan Solle: Basically, they summed up everything. Maybe at first, I was a little skeptical, a little iffy about it, but at the same time he’s coming over now. And you start to see celebrities that want to hang out with him and start to come to soccer games in L.A. and I think (as a result) more and more people are starting to get into soccer and hopefully he can help the league out a lot.

Brian: Now with Beckham coming to New England – there has to be more ticket requests from friends and family, right?

Chris: Yeah, yeah definitely, especially for this game and I know a couple of guys on the team have had to get a lot of extra ticket for family and friends because a lot people want to come to the game. I guess we sold like 30,000 ticket for this game, so I think this game alone has helped us out a lot.

Brian: What kind of buzz has there been this week throughout the locker room with Beckham here this weekend?

Chris: We’re concerned about staying on top of the Eastern Conference right now. It’s not really about (Beckham coming here), we just worry about ourselves. I wouldn’t say it’s really changed at all, whatsoever in the locker room, to be honest with you. It’s just another game.
Brian: Have the coaches said anything to you guys about preparing for a game like this with all of the media attention focused on the game?

Kyle: No, I mean, I don’t think the coaches have said anything about Beckham in practice at all. It’s been pretty much get three points and play good football, and that’s about it.

Brian: As far as the camaraderie among the younger guys – you guys here are all first year players here, so what kind of things do you guys do just to encourage each other to get through the season to stay motivated?

Chris: Well I guess as a rookie class, we all live in pretty close range of each other. We do a lot of stuff off the field with each other. So anytime you have that kind of camaraderie off the field, it’s going to translate on the field as well. This week especially, all the starters only practiced a couple of times (due to the US Open Cup on Wednesday night). It’s good to play against other rookies and guy and compete against each other. The guys here are real good. We take criticism positively, and working to compete with one another on the field.

Brian: As rookies, I know you guys see a lot of your action in reserve league games. With a schedule of only 12 games, would it help if maybe there were more games to help get you more on-field playing time?

Kyle: Well I think it’s great that we have 12 reserve games, but it would be nice if we had a few more. But just with the guys that we have on our team I mean we have veterans and some of the best players in the country and everyday we come and practice (against them), and it’s like we’re playing at the highest level. So even with or without the reserve games, we’re always playing against a high-level of players.

Brian: Lastly, I know there are a lot of ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) guys here. I know that Chris and Kyle are Duke guys, and Ryan, I know you’re a Wake Forest guy. Is there a lot of teasing going between the guys from the ACC?

Ryan: Not really, I’ve played against these guys for the past four years and I’ve also played on summer league teams with them and stuff like that so even before we got here, we’ve had friendships being built in the process. It’s also just, before we stepped on the field we’d say ‘hey’ to them but once we stepped onto the field, we’re battling, and right as we stepped off the field, after the game, we’d go up to each other and catch up real quick. But I mean, right now, I believe Wake is leading this team with four guys on it, so Duke’s right behind us with three.
Kyle: But the three of us can take the four of them.

Chris: I’d definitely say that at least once a week, there’s some sort of little comment between each other, whether it’s them making it to the Final Four or us not, or us beating them in the ACC championship. I mean look at it for next year’s college team, Duke’s number two (in NCAA college soccer) in the country going in, Wake’s number four and both are number one and number two in the ACC,. All four years that I was there (at Duke) it was a tough rivalry (between the two schools). In my opinion, those (Duke and Wake Forest) are two of the colleges that play the best soccer in the ACC. I would like go down, all of us go down, and watch the Duke-Wake game whether it’s a regular season game or the ACC tournament. I’d like for all of us to go down there. I think it would be a good time.

Brian: Maybe you want to jump in there and say something Ryan…

Ryan: Yeah, every now and then you hear Marshall (Leonard) or Adam (Cristman) trying to say something about University of Virginia (another ACC school) but they’re starting to fall off.

Kyle: Like this guy (Ryan), I’ve been playing against him for the past 6-7 years; I mean we used to play against one another in high school so we always battled. So people talk about us coming here and battling Beckham, but there’s no battle like the Duke-Wake battle, you know? There’s no battle like that. So we’re ready for the (Galaxy) game. We’re excited about it and hopefully we can get a win.