It’s an area of the country that is relatively unknown by most except for some grossly inaccurate stereotypes, but the emergence of soccer in the Appalachia region is a strong sign of just how deeply soccer is reaching into the American culture and social fabric.

Without getting into disputes over the actual boundaries of the region, the heart of it for our purposes is in an area of extreme southwestern Virginia, northeastern Tennessee and southestern Kentucky, extending northward to West Virginia and southward to western North Carolina. The rough terrain of the area and its relatively weak economic status perhaps both work against the notion of soccer making great strides there, but a pair of players are living proof of just how far determination, commitment and family support can take someone.

Anna McClung is exhibit A. McClung is a highly-recruited high school sophomore from the town of Gate City, VA. She has played for a number of clubs including nearby Holston Valley FC in Kingsport, Tennessee, Brentwood Academy in Nashville, Tennessee and more recently GSA Phoenix of the Atlanta, GA area, about a 5-hour one-way trip for either her mother Lenoir or her father Marcus. That’s just too far, so McClung trains with a boy’s team at HVSC and also on her own.

And boy, does she train on her own...

As Anna explained to us from the front porch of the family’s beautiful home, the road to being such a successful youth player (she’s also a fixture with Region III ODP), has come with a lot of hard work and help from others

All of this has led to Anna being one of the most sought-after players in her 2013 graduating class. She’s a natural goalscorer and works hard to be a complete player. The sacrifice of her parents to help her is obvious. I should note that her younger brother Mac appears to be a gee-whiz football, basketball and baseball player, but so far hasn’t caught the soccer bug.

But back to Anna, you have to remember that just a few years ago, it seemed likely she wouldn’t be able to play high school soccer because her hometown school didn’t have a team. Last year they went to the state playoff semifinals in just the 2nd year of the school program’s existence, with Anna scoring a ton of goals on the way. So you get the picture about her love for the game and how looking for better training and competitive opportunities has also come around full circle to help the game in her area.

This year at the U14 Boys National ID Camp in Concord, Massachusetts, I saw another player from the area, Coy Craft, playing in the hot match each day. Coy is a talented midfielder equally adept at fighting for the ball or playing silky-smooth passes to create scoring opportunities (he can finish too). Coy lives about an hour’s drive away from Anna in Glade Spring, VA. As you can see in this video, his father Chad build a nice soccer field for him at the lovely family homestead on top of a mountain looking out over some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States.

Coy’s love for the game is evident, but he and his family are facing some of the same challenges that the McClungs noticed a few years ago, mainly finding the right opportunities for a top-level player to develop and compete despite being in a somewhat-isolated soccer area. Chad is very involved with the recently-formed Fusion FC, serving as its director. The club, located in nearby Bristol, TN (on the Virginia-Tennessee border) is the shared travel arm for a group of five small recreational clubs in the area. Director of Coaching Declan Jogi, a native of Zimbabwe who formerly played for USL club Charlotte Eagles, is working to grow the game in this area.

You can hear his comments, along with those of Coy’s team coach Louis Thorpe, in this video.

Declan mentions Coy’s driven personality and his special knack from picking up the finer parts of the game, from watching matches and coaching, as two key reasons for his exceptional prowess at the game. Chad Craft mentions good coaching from Declan and Louis, plus that of a previous coach, Fernando Zabaleta, who now lives in Uruguay.

Uruguay is just one of the places Chad and his wife Jacki are considering when trying to decide short and long-term development options for Coy. In the meantime he was one of the 36 selected for the U14 Boys National Team camp at Walt Disney World in November. He’ll be practicing with his club and on top of the mountain in the meantime (with assists from sister Shelby (9) and brother Bailey (11) (the family even has a dog named Rooney).

So as you see and hear, there are challenges to the aspiring top-level player from the Appalachian region, but Anna and Coy have made it clear the possibilities are there if you are willing to do what it takes, with a helping hand from family and friends along the way.