Picture a player that has just been signed to the Colorado Rapids. Typically, a fan’s experience with this news probably involves receiving rumors and updates on the internet, but behind the scenes in the player support departments, there are hundreds of moving parts – from housing to visas to safety and mental health – that must work in harmony to ensure the player can focus on their craft and thrive in their new environment.
For years, the Colorado Rapids have set high standards to build and strengthen the way players are supported in all areas, from their first day in Colorado to their last.
Before going into detail about the intricacies of the department, a fair question to ask would be, “How exactly do players need to be supported?” And the answer to that question is a complicated one, as it has changed in recent years.
Leading this department for the Rapids is Brian Crookham, Director of Player Personnel, a veteran of the club for over 15 years. Crookham went into detail when asked about the changing landscape of player support and where it is today:
“When I entered the league in 2004, our player pool was of a different profile than it is today. A great majority of the players had come through the college system or were older international players. They had already lived life away from their families when they arrived. As the league has developed, we have shifted to a vast pool of players that come from a lot of different sources. We've added Homegrown Players that are often quite young. The college draft is open to younger players who may only spend a short period of time in college, and now there is an Under-22 Initiative where we've got a lot of young players who have never been out of their market.”
In order to keep up with new standards, clubs must adjust the way they approach player care to reflect the modern-day athlete, and in Colorado the club is at the forefront of tackling these changes head on.
James Roeling, who was recently promoted to Assistant Director of Player Personnel, has played a major role in this department’s evolution to where it is today. Having plenty of experience within team operations and player support, including as the Assistant Sporting Director for the now-defunct Memphis 901 FC of the USL Championship, he has a background that has proved to be crucial to the department in all aspects.
“What stands out to me is separating the personal element from the operations and the team side,” Roeling explained. “For players, there is a wide array of needs that cover various aspects of life. In one moment, we're talking with players about HR, and the next we're talking about getting their dog over here or whatever the case may be. We are able to properly separate it, which I think is important. A player is going to be way more comfortable talking about their personal life when they're getting a coffee with the Player Support Manager off-site and able to relax. This is their workplace and having that separation is important.”
Roeling oversees several aspects of the club’s efforts, including two Player Support Managers. One of those managers, Logan Murphy, focuses on the Academy and Homestay programs. In this role, Murphy oversees support functions for all Rapids Academy players focusing on wellness and off-field support. The second manager, Patrick Fry, is tasked primarily with any off-the-pitch needs that arise for First Team and Second Team players. On any given day, their roles might involve housing, schooling or advising a player on any number of items away from the soccer field. Roeling went into detail on the specific expectations of their department:
“Anything that would take a staff member off site in order to service the player is going to fall within the player support realm. So, whether checking out apartments, looking at new houses, going to the Social Security office, buying cars or cell phones, basically anything that requires a little bit of a personal touch. We are here to make sure players feel as comfortable as possible.
We are seeing more and more athletes understand the importance of the role that they play as well. They're getting paid pretty good money, so that means they need to manage their wealth. So we ask ourselves, how do we provide them with the resources where they can do that? Some of these guys are coming from countries where they don't trust their bank system, so they don't have credit cards or understand what credit is like. Part of our role is to educate them on that so that they don't come in and DoorDash food every single night and have a huge credit card bill. We need to provide them with the resources for them to thrive as much as they can off the pitch.”
Finally, Roeling’s department includes the Club Language Specialist, Andre Hilf, who is critical to the integration of players like Brazilian striker Rafael Navarro.
“In Andre, we have somebody who is specific to the language element for the players, so that they aren't having to translate for each other. We have Andre who can specifically do that for Rafa, for example,” said Roeling.
Since arriving ahead of the 2023 season, VP of Soccer Administration and Compliance Ruth Fahy has worn a few different hats, but she currently oversees key roles in the player support arena. First, the Academy’s Head of School, Marie Goulding, represents a new role for the club in a full-time capacity.
“While strategizing the club’s recent technical restructure, it became clear that the club required a dedicated ‘education’ department where attention could be focused on off-field academic and holistic development of our players and staff,” Fahy explained. “The Head of School role was created to provide the strategic leadership for this department, beginning with our Academy players, some of whom complete their schooling onsite. Our new Head of School, Marie, is responsible for defining, building and achieving the school’s vision and mission by providing strategic leadership and daily management of all aspects of the school’s people, programs, and systems. It’s not an easy job, but Marie has already been such an incredible addition, and under her leadership the Academy school setting is already evolving into a more structured model.”
Fahy also oversees psychological support for the players which comes in the form of mental and performance coaching. Longtime Team Chaplain Brad Kenney also supports the players on a day-to-day basis.
With a foundation that will provide or assist with anything a Rapids player may need, it allows the club to expand and spearhead new initiatives that many other organizations across American sports have yet to address.
One of those key initiatives that Colorado has set the standard for is its SafeSport program that has been implemented throughout all levels of the club. With the prevalence of younger athletes within clubs spanning from the first team all the way to the Academy, it is important now more than ever to have a safeguarding aspect within player support to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
Nicole Johnson, who is the club’s Director of Safeguarding, explained the SafeSport program and safeguarding in its most basic form:
“SafeSport is a federal law and national policy framework that describes how we should treat athletes in the United States. Safeguarding at the club takes that one step forward to being proactive in nature. We are focused on maintaining the positive environment we have and keeping it that way by making sure we fold in the mental health element as well.”
Johnson has been with the club for over two years, and when she joined, she helped establish the Rapids as the first U.S.-based MLS club to implement a comprehensive SafeSport specific department. Since then, the Rapids have continued their growth in this specific field, and it remains unmatched compared to any other club in American soccer.
Johnson described the importance of what the club is doing to protect their players:
“We are signing players younger and younger to professional deals. We have this drive-to-youth movement that relies on bringing youth players up the professional pipeline at the club, and since that is our strategy, folding in safeguarding as much as possible is crucial. Not only is it crucial for these players’ development, but also as a tool for us when we're recruiting minor players. There isn't really a template path in the U.S for minor players going pro, especially not in soccer. So we can use this as a tool for recruiting to say that we are primarily focused on the growth of young players from the start, and we want them to be professionals as badly as they do, but we're going to do it in a way that makes sure that they are safe.”
The department is always looking to keep their standards up while also implementing new programs to provide a more collective experience. Johnson frequently runs educational sessions with both players and staff to keep them up to date on any information regarding SafeSport or general club safety policies. Recently implemented by Johnson and her group was a healthy masculinity training session called “Coaching Boys into Men” with the focus on using sport to “grow into a better man.”
“It was really interactive,” Johnson explained. “They were up there doing presentations in small groups and figuring out what it means, what masculinity means to them, how to treat other people, what it means to someday be a professional player, and how the way they carry themselves will matter even more.”
By having staff in place that are solely dedicated to the safety of players, resources become available to players that may not be found at many other clubs. The Safeguarding Department is currently made up of a team of five, including Johnson, and will be looking to expand even more in the coming seasons. Recently added to the group was Dr. Maita Furusa, who joined within the last few months as Safeguarding Manager. In his role, Furusa helps facilitate weekly mental health sessions with players and has designed new feedback mechanisms to make sure Academy players are getting what they need emotionally out of the program.
Fahy went on to explain the group’s expansion:
“The department has evolved significantly since the introduction of the club’s first dedicated safeguarding role in 2023. In time, I would like to see this group formally establish itself in the academic space locally (e.g. partnering with local universities), in addition to continuing to produce trained safe sport practitioners via Nicole’s excellent SafeSport internship program.”
With one of the strongest Player Support Departments in Major League Soccer, Colorado is constantly looking to improve the lives of players on a personal level rather than just on a professional level.
Crookham summed up the club’s dedication to player support:
“Player support has grown tremendously across our league and even into some of the lower leagues. In the past, it might have been just the fact that somebody was providing a breakfast and a lunch for players. Now, there are full-scale player support programs on and off the field, and I think it is now a big selling point to players as we look at the recruitment into our organization. How quickly can we get them settled? How quickly can they get their family settled? We are now at a point in American soccer where the investment in the players is substantial, and the more you invest in an asset, the more you need to protect that asset.”
