Maybe she was born with it, or maybe it's soccer.
For Major Jennifer Trewett it's a little bit of both. She first graced the soccer field at the age of four and continued playing through her senior year of high school.
This year she was given a chance to continue her commitment to the sport by becoming co-founder of the Red River Raiders Futbol Club (RRFC) of Bossier City, Louisiana in December 2024.
RRFC is a soccer program turned pre-professional soccer team. This year, the team is gearing up to play competitively for the first time in its history.
"I have a team and we're all working together to achieve balancing those roles and duties," said Trewett. "[RRFC] is a non-profit and our goal is to serve the community in this aspect because there's not the level of soccer at that elite level, there's no pathway to pro."
Though they are pushing forward at full speed, Trewett had cold feet when the United Soccer League 2 (USL2) initially approached her. As reservist that wears multiple hats in the 307th Bomb Wing, and coach for her children's soccer team, time isn't something she has a lot of. So, she declined the offer.
However, the idea of running a soccer team kept bouncing around in her head, and eventually she succumbed to it.
"They approached us a second time and offered us some concessions for the monetary investment," she said. "We had some parents from our boys' soccer team that were 100% supportive and thought we'd do a great job, so we ended up conceding."
Once Trewett and her husband accepted the offer they immediately got to work to make RRFC a success.
"We decided to make this a non-profit, built a board of directors, and got other people on board with us," she said. "That was in December of '24, we signed our agreement with the league in January, they announced it at the end of January, and it's been full throttle to get to where we are right now."
Since trading in her soccer jersey for an administrator polo, the impact that soccer has had on her life is something she will never forget.
"I grew up playing soccer, and I think that helps build leadership skills, followership skills and it helps you figure out where you can fit in and what you bring to an organization," said Trewett. "Being military, we change frequently, well, you change soccer teams every season, so finding your spot in that and how you can lead, and follow has paid dividends."
Through RRFC Trewett hopes to establish these same principles in other soccer pre-professionals and create an outlet for them to expose their talents to the Major League Soccer.
"This USL 2 team that we're putting together is a path to pro which means that these people can come in, showcase their skills outside of the academic environment," she said. "This gives them the ability to get more time on the pitch, videotape, build highlight reels, and send that off to professional MLS soccer teams."
As noble as it is to wear so many hats, Trewett admits that managing RRFC and her Reservist duties wouldn't be possible without the help of others.
"We have a whole team that assists with the manager-type stuff and getting this soccer program off the ground," she said. "Collectively, even though we all hold different titles, we're just trying to figure out how this is supposed to look."
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2025 12:23 |
| Story ID: | 493691 |
| Location: | BOSSIER CITY, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 13 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Path to Pro: Reservist turns Soccer Opportunity into Reality, by Gabrielle Terrett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
