Tyson LaPord – Our Home Town Club Success Story

From the age of 4 years old, and Tyson LaPord’s first adventure onto a soccer pitch, it was quite evident he had a love for the game and the talent to match. His first team, The Folsom Young Guns were a rowdy bunch led by Coach Andrew Erickson. Coach Erickson’s team focused on fun while learning the game but was also known to be very competitive in the so called “recreation league”. Tyson scored two goals his very first game, immediately showing a knack for putting the ball in the net and he never looked back. Tyson had the pleasure of playing with the winning Young Guns for three seasons, which set the tone for the rest of his youth campaign.

Tyson continued his soccer journey moving from a recreational league to a “select” U8 Folsom team, playing for Coach Brigg Goodwin’s notorious Folsom Spartans. At the time, Folsom Soccer Club did not offer any competitive programs, but Tyson chose to play with his friends and stay with his local club. The Folsom Spartans were stacked with a very athletic group of local Folsom boys, who often played in tournaments defeating some of the top “Comp” teams in the region. Tyson continued to hone his skills while continuing his knack for scoring and frustrating opponents with speed and talent. The Spartans went on to win several league championships, tournaments, and two State Cup titles. Because of the team’s success, each year playing in a higher NorCal Premier bracket, the Spartans eventually morphed into a “Comp” team. Tyson was selected for the NorCal Player Development Program (PDP) for two years.

The program allowed Tyson to experience a higher level of training and play with many talented players in Northern California. As Tyson’s team got older, most of his Spartan teammates moved-on to play other sports and to play for other clubs. Tyson remained with Folsom Soccer Club, continuing to play with the Spartans for 6 seasons until none of his original Spartan teammates or coaches were left.

Sadly, Tyson knew it was time he would have to leave Folsom Soccer Club if he wishedto play at the level he wanted to play. They say timing is everything and it certainly was for Tyson. While making a decision to possibly leave the club, the San Jose Earthquakes just happened to be partnering with Folsom Soccer Club and Ethos Soccer Club to form a local Regional Development School (RDS) team. Coach Danny Cruz headed up the RDS team and brought together a group of boys from the Sacramento region including Tyson, who was very fortunate to find the perfect landing spot as his former team disbanded. His new RDS team found immediate success.

In 2017, Ethos and Folsom Soccer Clubs merged, solidifying the relationship with the Quakes and began competing under the newly formed banner of the Folsom Lake Earthquakes. Through all the changes, Tyson remained with his local club and enjoyed great success as the team rose to national prominence. Over the next four years, Tyson had the opportunity to play at the highest levels of youth soccer and traveled across the country with his team. Under the coaching of Danny Cruz and with great teammates, Tyson thrived with the nationally ranked team for four seasons. Tyson played a big role in the team’s success, enjoying numerous game clinching goals in big tournaments along the way. Tyson and the Quakes ended up reaching the rank of the #1 in the Nation by Got Soccer Rankings in 2018. With the national ranking, Tyson enjoyed playing in front of up to 40 college coaches at a time while at Surf Cup and at other large events. When asked what his favorite memory with the Quakes was, Tyson stated, “I have many great memories including traveling with my teammates to Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and North Carolina and developing close friendships on those trips. As far as any one single game, I would have to say making it to the finals at Surf Cup and defeating FC Dallas for our first Surf Cup Championship. That was an amazing experience.” Looking in his rear-view mirror, Tyson can proudly claim that because of all the hard work and dedication to his sport, he has enjoyed just about every success he could have imagined as a young player.

He has won countless league and tournament championships, traveled across the country, played in Western Regionals three years, National league two years, won at Surf Cup twice, been ranked #1 in the Nation and made lifetime friendships and memories along the way. With Tyson’s success came the attention of over 100 college coaches across the nation e-mailing him to begin the college recruiting process. Being on such a highly ranked team, having a player profile on two free recruiting websites, and having a good highlight video that coaches can view were all key elements to getting the attention of college coaches. Although several out of state schools, including and handful of Div. 1 schools were contacting Tyson, he was not interested in schools on the East coast. Tyson says that the biggest challenge he faced in the recruiting game was to find the right combination of a school that he was actually interested in and a school that was actually interested in him. His advice to younger players is to stay diligent in contacting coaches, work hard in school and in your sport, and have a great highlight video showing off your skills. Tyson also attended several College ID camps and invitations for tryouts in California hoping to find a match. As he entered 2020, a handful of coaches were waiting to watch him play in Las Vegas in March and during State Cup matches in April. As we all know, due to Covid-19, soccer at all levels was brought to a halt and so was recruiting. A team tryout that had been offered was cancelled and recruiting had come to a standstill. Tyson was set to attend one of four Cal State colleges he had been accepted to. In the meantime, he was still receiving emails from colleges he wasn’t interested in. Once again, timing was everything for Tyson, and after 2 years of actively emailing coaches, attending ID camps, talking to coaches on the phone, and traveling for tryouts, Tyson finally found a match and accepted an offer to play for Coach Matt Gow at Ottawa University of Arizona (OUAZ). Tyson is very excited to join the Wolfpack! He will be competing in the Golden State Athletic Conference and hoping to bring along the same success to his new team that he’s had with each team he has played for while representing his hometown club. While Tyson is moving on to bigger challenges in life and on the pitch, he wishes to thank all his coaches, his parents, and all his past teammates for all the support he has enjoyed throughout the past 14 years playing in Folsom.