Soccer Icon Earl Barrett Energized To Develop Elite Athletes For RISE SC's ECNL

RISE's ECNL director is on a mission to direct the next great athletes of the sport.

Earl Barrett - Rise Soccer Club - ECNL Director | ECNL and RISE SC

HOUSTON — Earl Barrett made the jaunt across the pond to reside in Houston, Texas, where he's developing young soccer players to become elite athletes for RISE Soccer Club in the ECNL.

Barrett, 58, was a highly regarded defender for Manchester City, Oldham Athletic, Aston Villa, Everton, and Sheffield Wednesday in the Premier League from 1985 to 2000. He made 408 game appearances and played on eleven England National Teams from 1990 to 1993.

"I thought I'd come over here and try to teach Americans how to play the game," Coach Earl Barrett told HBCU Legends.

After injury and retirement, Earl obtained a Sports Science Degree and continued to obtain other coaching related qualifications. After seven seasons coaching at Stoke City, why did he leave the U.K. to join RISE in October of 2016?

Earl Barrett | RISE

"For many, their path into a college education is going to be through sport and not through education itself," Barrett noted. "As a young person, that gave me energy, that gave me a motivation to go to school. Obviously, the education side wasn't first on the list. It was sport."

He added, "It's important for young people to know that your sport is a great avenue to an education or to something else. And we want to make sure the young people of today at RISE Soccer Club and beyond know that and hopefully want to nurture their talents into something else."

RISE has four centrally located facilities in the greater Houston area, making it easier for players and their families to manage travel distances in the fourth-largest city in the U.S.

"Because it's such a big program, people wanna get into that ECNL (Elite Clubs National League) program," Barrett said. He aims to develop young soccer players into the Boys Elite Clubs National League. The league features a regular season and cross-conference events before playoff qualifications and Regional League Championships.

"It's like a school, basically. So we have certain things that we do during the weeks and the months to help develop the kids as well. All of it comes together to make sure the kids are getting the maximum amount of what and where they are."

Earl Barrett | RISE, ECNL

By the numbers, the RISE Soccer Club has produced:

• 50+ Professional and National Team players produced
• 900+ College Placements 
• 1 DA National Championship (Texans SC - 2017)
• 3 National Championships
• 25 Regional Championships
• 60+ State Cup appearances

Houston will host the FIFA event and World Cup Championships in the upcoming years. Soccer will make a significant splash in the city and provide plenty of exposure and opportunities for RISE and the young athletes.

Barrett gleefully commented, "So you've got a lot of events coming in in the next two years, and it's going to be pure soccer, which is brilliant."

Earl Barrett is the ECNL Director for RISE Soccer in Houston where the Rise SC’s U13 team is second within the ultra-competitive Texas Conference and its U17 is third, both of which are in line for a berth to the ECNL Boys National Playoffs in Seattle in June.

As "one of the good guys of the sport," Earl Barrett elevates the next group of RISE candidates. Register at https://www.risesc.org/elite/boys-ecnl and schedule a time to speak with one of the Boys ECNL associates about participating in the upcoming season.

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