How the Phoenix Rising Academy has helped prepare players for the next leap in their soccer careers
Written By Emma Dinnan
With five distinct regions and national platforms, Phoenix Rising provides one of the only direct pathways for soccer players of all ages in Arizona to reach the pros. Between its female ECNL women’s soccer programs as well as ECNL, MLS NEXT Academy and USL Academy for aspiring men’s athletes, Rising has a pathway for every type of player.
These teams offer more than just a chance for young players to learn the basics of soccer and experience enhanced training opportunities. They also provide important personal development skills, teach players how to grow as a person outside of soccer and how to build lasting bonds with teammates and coaches.
The different academy programs are crucial to the success of the club’s First Team, something Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah has directly shown this season through his consistent willingness to put some the club’s youngest players in his matchday squad. Since the season started in March, Kah has given five players their first-ever professional appearances and has ensured there is always an Academy player either in his starting eleven or on the bench.
“This is who we are as a club,” Kah said. “We give opportunities to players when they deserve to play, but you got to earn that right. We have a bunch of academy players we believe in, that we are working with every day and making sure they see and trust the work that they’re doing every day in this pathway.”
Building Connections and Careers
Beyond the constant cycle of games and training sessions, a big draw of playing youth soccer is the social element. Many players began at the youngest age levels of Rising’s youth program and still play together in high school. These teammates have become lifelong friends.
Midfielder Kale Howell, who just finished the 2025 season with the U19 team, said his favorite part of playing for the Elite Academy (EA) team was the camaraderie among his teammates and coaches.
“We had a special team,” Howell said. “I was there for five years, and we had a good group of guys that stuck together. They just made it so enjoyable to play. We had good team chemistry, so it was just fun.”
Howell met some of his best friends through the club, but also found the next step in his soccer career. The defender will soon head off to Cedarville University in Ohio to play NCAA Division II soccer. Howell credits his Rising coaches for helping him land a college commitment early.
“I had a lot of talks with our recruiting coordinator,” Howell said. “He did a really good job on helping me hear about schools. He reached out to certain schools for me, he helped guide me through: What fits you? What doesn’t fit you? What did you like about this school? What did you not?”
Howell is just one of many players who have found their next step in soccer through Rising.
National Tournaments
This season, Rising sent not just one, but multiple men’s and women’s teams to Nationals in St. Louis, Missouri. In fact, over half of the club’s youth teams qualified for the big weekend.
For center back Julian Coulston of the U14 EA team, Nationals provided a chance to see what the world of soccer is like outside of Arizona.
“We got to play two exhibition games against teams from New York and Texas,” Coulston said. “Even though we lost that first round match, it was a great experience to keep getting better and see different competition than the Arizona or California competition we normally get.”
Head Director William Malott, who works with both the U14 and U19 teams, discussed how a trip to Nationals helps shape a young player.
“(Nationals) was a good environment for them, and especially for those younger teams,” Malott said. “It feels different to play in that type of an environment, right? So to give those guys that experience that early in their playing career was really positive for us.”
More Than a Coach
At any level, a coach can either make or break a kids’ experience. Players often quit if they don’t like a coach. At the same time, a coach and their methods can help kids fall in love with the sport.
“We have really good coaches at Phoenix Rising,” Howell said. “We have a really good style of play. We like to play real soccer. They teach you through a bunch of different tactics of the game and really just develop your soccer IQ. They also push you to become better technically, and push you to be the best player you can be.”
Coaches within the Rising Academy system take on traditional coaching roles, but also serve as mentors and advisors throughout a season. For example, they do grade checks to make sure athletes remain engaged with their academics. When it comes time to look into colleges, they make sure an athlete really likes a school and not just its soccer program.
“The connections you build, the sort of support you give guys… The individual stuff is really what keeps me excited about going to the fields,” Malott said. “(The players) need a lot of guidance, being juniors and seniors in high school. It’s a really exciting time, but it’s a complicated time. You have to make a lot of big choices, you may or may not be emotionally ready to make. I think getting to support guys on that side is great.”
Taking the Next Step
One of the biggest goals for Rising’s academy teams is to prepare players for the next step in their soccer journeys. For some, that’s college. For others, it’s the pros. Two players currently reaping the benefits of the club’s internal pathway are defender Braxton Montgomery and midfielder Jamison Ping.
Ping and Montgomery have already played signigficant minutes with the First Team. Montgomery has logged over 1,000 minutes along the back line, while Ping has 14 appearances across all competitions and wore the captain’s armband for the first time in the club’s USL Jägermeister Cup match against El Paso Locomotive FC on July 19.
“It’s a very special thing to wear the captain’s armband at Phoenix Rising,” Ping said following the match in El Paso. “I have seen so many people, like (Assistant Coach and former Rising captain) Darnell King, wear it. Obviously, it means a lot to me as a person to wear the armband for a club I’ve played for for six years, it’s very special. I give thanks to my teammates and coaches for trusting me.”
Most recently, 16 year old Cyrus Kowall became the youngest starter in club history when he started Rising’s home match against Orange County SC on June 8th. These are just a few examples of the opportunities Kah has given academy players, who know that if they put in the work and show they are good enough, they will play.
“In every top club you go to, the base is the academy,” Kah said. “(Academy players) are important because they also hold the standards in training. For the overall growth of this club and the sport in North America, it’s important that people put time and effort into the academy. These players come from the community, and the community needs to be prideful and see they have players coming out of their region.”
Rising’s youth programs focus on building character and skill, looking for players with high soccer IQ. Coaches are their support system, while teammates from the youngest age groups quickly become lifelong friends. After years of hard work, a handful may even grace the pitch at Phoenix Rising Stadium themselves and even score a goal in front of Los Bandidos. For many, having that pathway within a club setup is what the sport is all about.
“I do think we offer a really high-quality program, and that people see that,” Malott said. “They see the quality of staff we have and they see the quality of the on-field elements of our program, the quality of off-field elements. There’s no one pathway for a family, and I think that at Phoenix Rising, we do a really good job of providing layers to the pathway so that kids can be where they need to be at the right times.”
