Teachers at Saint Stephens Episcopal School in Bradenton, Florida, are reminiscing about the years they spent teaching some of the biggest names in U.S. men’s soccer before they became stars.

Bradenton Soccer Residency Program

The U-17 U.S. Soccer developmental program brought some of the best young talent from around the country to Bradenton for training from around 2010 to 2016. While the players spent two years training, they attended classes at Saint Stephens Episcopal School.

“They would come for a two-year rotation, sophomore, junior year, then they would go off to their senior high school for their final year,” said Ellen Orr, an English teacher at Saint Stephens Episcopal School.

Memories of Global Stars

Teachers at Saint Stephens taught a number of big names, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Alejandro Zendejas, Tyler Adams, and Haji Wright. “We got them when they were like 14, 15 years old, something like that,” said Cindy Addison, the director of technology at Saint Stephens. “They had braces. They were young. They were short. And then they came back from Christmas, and they were tall, just like high school boys are.”

The teachers recalled attending their games on Saturday mornings and taking them out to dinner on Fridays. “You will notice, those five boys, when they’re on the field, or three of them are on the field at the same time, they play off each other as if they were brothers, because they were,” said Ted Allen, a retired history teacher at Saint Stephens.

Future World Cup Goals

The teachers say all of the boys who attended the program and their school always dreamed of playing professional soccer and representing the U.S. at the World Cup. “It is so good to see them on the world stage,” Orr said. “I knew they were going to be there. No contest, because they had such confidence in themselves.”

Original reporting: Tampa Bay Florida News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.