Sarasota Paradise pre-professional soccer team has big goals for their second season

Tuesday morning was an ideal weather for practice. The humidity was low and the cloud cover shielded the Sarasota Paradise soccer players who had been practicing since 8 a.m. at the R.I. Taylor Community Complex in Sarasota.

“Two minutes left!” called out a coach from the sideline.

Three whistles signaled the end of practice, and the players closed out their final training session before the United Soccer League 2 season’s kickoff. After practice, first-year head coach Mirko Dakovic addressed his team as they stretched in a circle at midfield.

Dakovic is joined on the sideline by assistant coaches Glodi Konga, the head men's soccer coach for New College of Florida, and Jamie Hutchinson, who coached for youth academies in Europe and, more recently, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and founder and president of Sarasota Paradise Marcus Walfridson.

Walfridson calls the club’s founding his own American dream. After years of coaching in Scandinavia, he decided to come to the United States in 2018 after he was fired from his job coaching professional women’s soccer in Sweden. Walfridson stayed with Hutchinson, who lived in Venice.

“He stayed with me for a couple of weeks and was kind of going through a change in his life,” Hutchinson said. “He just randomly said, ‘I’d love to start my own soccer team.’ ”

As Walfridson tells it, he walked into the United Soccer League’s headquarters in 2019 wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and a backpack and walked out with a soccer team.

At the top of the pyramid of American soccer sits Major League Soccer. Below the MLS is the United Soccer League Championship – the USLC, sanctioned as a Division II professional league by the United States Soccer Federation. Tampa hosts both USLC’s headquarters and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Another notch below is the United Soccer League One – USL1. In this Division III league, cities like Spokane, Washington, and Omaha, Nebraska, get in on the action with their own teams.

And then there is the USL League Two, a “pre-professional” league with 122 teams split across 18 divisions. The Sarasota Paradise competes in the South Florida Division with Tampa Bay United, Miami AC, and Weston FC.

After a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Sarasota Paradise kicked off their inaugural season in 2023. The team found immediate success. After a 5-5-2 record in 2023, Sarasota was named the USL League Two’s “New Club of the Year” and ranked in the top 15 percent in attendance.

Relative to other soccer leagues, USL League Two’s regular season is a quick one. The Paradise held their first practice on May 6, and the regular season runs from May 19 through July 13. Many on the team play at universities across the country or at IMG Academy in Bradenton.

Walfridson said the team finds players through open tryouts, the developmental system, and recommendations from those already on the team.

“The fun thing is when someone reaches out to us and is like, ‘Hey, I see your posts. I see you guys do a good job of marketing and promoting your players,’ ” said Walfridson. “Because we have guys who do a great job marketing for our level, we have that advantage that we actually attract players.”

Especially so for international players like goalkeeper Charlie Farrar, who plays for the University of North Carolina –Ashville and originally hails from Wakefield, England.

“I’ve been out here for three or four years now, and this is my favorite place ever, so why not spend the summer down here and play soccer?” Farrar said.

William Pierce, a midfielder from Christchurch, New Zealand, who plays at Fairfield University in Connecticut, says the summer league allows players to improve their skills during the college break.

“If you’re in a good training environment and playing environment, I think you’re automatically improving as a player,” Pierce said. “Having good players around you and having a challenging environment always helps boost yourself and boost your own ability.”

The possibilities for the players can feel tantalizingly close. Hosei Kijima, a standout midfielder for the Paradise in 2023 and a starter at Wake Forest University, was selected by St. Louis FC in the first round of the MLS draft.

The team held its kickoff party at the event hall for Gold Coast Eagle Distributing in Lakewood Ranch on Tuesday where players were introduced to fans. The team also showcased a promotional video of the team produced by forward Felipe Rojas who does double-duty as Sarasota Paradise's Marketing Coordinator.

The Sarasota Paradise kicks off the season on May 19 at Miami AC, and their home opener is June 1 against Swan City SC at Sarasota High School.

Contact Sarasota Herald-Tribune Local Government Reporter Christian Casale at ccasale@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter @vanityhack.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Paradise pre-professional soccer team has big goals for their second season