By PRFC Youth Soccer, 03/20/23, 12:00PM MST
The Journey: Millie Greer
Her Path from Rec to College Soccer with PRFC
MILLIE GREER is one of Phoenix Rising FC Youth’s “homegrown” players, having played solely within the Rising organization for 10 years.
Millie started with Phoenix Rising in our recreational soccer program on the “Green Lantern” team in 3rd grade.
“My rec experience was a way that I was able to make friends with girls who were competitive like me, but it was also coached by people who were able to push me to better myself as a player.”
Millie played in the recreation program and the All-Stars program for two years before her coach encouraged her to tryout for the club team. But shortly after her first club tryout experience, Millie learned that she didn’t make the cut.
“I felt disappointed in myself, but I could tell even when I was trying out that I just wasn’t better than the girls around me.”
However, this only pushed Millie to work harder to close the gap between her playing ability and those at the club level.
“I felt confident that if I stayed one more year in Rising’s rec [program] I would continue to grow in the qualities that the club wanted me to grow in, and I could come back and be better at them.”
Millie’s big break came in 5th grade when she made the jump to the club’s competitive 3rd team for her age group. It was during that season, and after having been cut and moved around that Millie began to grow in confidence and excel on the field.
“I was excited about being able to play with and learn from girls who knew more than me, as well as play for a coach that I came to idolize during that season. The natural progression from rec to the third team made me a better player.”
The very next season, Millie was selected for the 1st team and she hasn’t looked back since.
“My experience with the 04/05 team started with Coach Andy [Chapman] during middle school and followed with Coach Paul [Taylor] for my high school years.”
Staying within the program her entire soccer career has led Millie to build strong relationships not only with her teammates, but also the coaches around Phoenix Rising, that she’s looking forward to keeping well into the future.
“I have been playing with the same core group of girls for the past 8 years. As we’ve grown up, we have built respect and friendships that will continue to grow even as we go into college. The relationships I have built with the coaches at Phoenix Rising are very important to me and have developed in a way that I feel comfortable to talk about things related or unrelated to soccer.”
Millie’s journey to date has not been a linear one, but instead it has been filled with highs and lows. She was determined to face obstacles and to turn those experiences into opportunities. She has learned that life isn’t always easy and that you have to fight and persevere in order to achieve your goal.
“One of the biggest obstacles for me was coming back to club trainings and games from COVID. For the first few months I felt as if I had missed a crucial period of time where I could’ve grown and gotten better as a player, but instead I had stalled in the year we didn’t train. I personally was struggling to keep a role on my team when we came back from COVID but I trusted myself, my teammates, and the system of coaching around me and I got back on track.”
Before long, Millie was entering the college recruitment process. With the support of her coach, Paul Taylor, Millie was able to get a very clear idea of what she wanted for her college career.
“Before the major showcases leading up to when [college] coaches could speak with us, Coach Paul had individual meetings to talk about what I was looking for in a college, athletically and academically. We were then able to agree to what we thought was best for me to pursue.”
Soon after, the University of Iowa expressed their interest. “After a showcase in North Carolina, The University of Iowa reached out to me in a text to set up a call with the head coach, where he asked me to come on an official visit. I was offered on the visit and committed in the following week.”
At the end of 2022, Millie wrapped up her club career on the 04/05 ECNL team coached by Paul Taylor and headed off to the University of Iowa as a mid-year student to play Division 1 soccer for the Hawkeyes. She graduated early from high school to attend Iowa mid-year, as she wanted to climatize herself with the rigors of what it is to be a Division 1 student-athlete.
Millie serves as an example, not only to the young players out there but also to their parents, of how trusting the process really can pay dividends in the long run. Millie and her family believed in the process and recognized that Millie’s journey was just that, her own. They didn’t get caught up in what other people were doing, and stayed the course with PRFC because that was what was best for her.
Millie credits the process for making her the person and player she is today. “Phoenix Rising holds its players to a standard which has impacted me greatly. Each coach that I have had has challenged me to become a better person and has molded my mindset to become one of reflection, whether it is reflecting about my performance in a game or how I treated my teammates during that game. And it has changed me throughout the years to become a better person.”
