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But take a look at the roster of the now-defunct Bethesda Roadrunners, listed appropriately under the subject-heading "Where are they now?" on the team's Web site.
The list goes: U-17 U.S National Team; U-17 U.S. National Team; U-17 U.S. National Team; U-17 U.S. National Team player pool; verbally committed to West Virginia University; U-18 U.S. National Team player pool; verbally committed to University of Maryland; U-17 U.S. National Team; U.S. National Team pool; U-18 U.S National Team pool.
It's almost unbelievable how many of the country's top players have been playing together since they were nine years old. Even more astonishing, how many are still playing together, eight years later.
"I mean, I don't want to sound [conceited] but I'm not going to lie, we were a dominant team," said Julio Arjona Jr., who has gone on to U.S. National Team glory. "We were the dominant team on the East Coast and we were ranked the top team in the nation at one point. So it's like, you know, I'm not really surprised that we've all gotten so far."
Arjona was one of the youngest players on the team, which disbanded last year because the two-time Region I and three-time state champions wanted to join the newly formed national academy program, which the Bethesda Soccer Club wasn't able to do.
Many former Roadrunners, like Arjona, have not only been recognized nationally, but have led county high schools to success. Arjona started in defense as a freshaman at Bullis, which shared the Interstate Athletic Conference title that year. After transferring to Clarksburg a year ago, his team-high 12 assists helped the Coyotes reach the 2A West Region final in just their second year of existence.
Since then, he's joined the U.S. Soccer Under-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla., where he will spend the fall with the national team. And he's not alone; three other Roadrunners are there with him: Fairfax, Va. native Samir Badr, Greenbelt's Shaquille Phillips and Silver Spring's Joseph Gyau.
To put that in perspective, the U-17 National Team fields a 40-man roster of the nation's top players, and only one other club (West Pines, Fla. United) represented even twice.
Gyau, a fleet-footed striker, started at Bullis with Arjona and fellow former Roadrunner Sam Bradley (a U-17 pool player, meaning he has practiced with the team) during his freshman year. About to begin his third season with the U-17 Residency Program, Gyau has been a National Team player since prior to his freshman year at Bullis.
The son of former Roadrunners head coach Philip Claude Gyau, he could soon turn pro; he has practiced with Bayern Munich, Germany's premier professional soccer club.
The Roadrunners are really like a family – a family in which everybody happens to plays soccer at a high level. They tend to follow each other around and play together on some really good teams.
On the recently formed D.C. United Academy teams, nationally competing U-16 and U-18 rosters, the former Bethesda club sent six of their players. Arjona joined in between trips to Bradenton, while Ohio State commit Chris Hegngi has played with the D.C.'s U-18 team since its formation.
Bradley, defender Tobi Iguade, forward Lester Doue and two other local names, Paul Torres and Peabo Doue, play for the U-16s.
Torres, a first-team All-Gazette midfielder with Whitman last fall, was recently selected onto the U-18 National Team pool. He also has verbally committed to Maryland, as did D.C. United youth teammate and Bethesda-Chevy Chase senior midfielder Ethan White.
Doue, who led Clarksburg with 15 goals last fall, has committed to West Virginia. Best friends with Arjona, he says that all the former Roadrunners remain close, and that it's no coincidence that they keep winding up on the same team.
"Julio's dad [Julio Arjona Sr., former coach of the Roadrunners] recommended a lot of us to D.C. United tryouts last summer, and we kind of follow each other around, I guess," said Doue. "The level of play is at a maximum and you've got to take a lot of your time out; practice is three days a week, we had 22 games this spring."
The U-16 D.C. United squad features several other county products on its 26-man roster, including Blair striker Mikey Funes, Sherwood defender Mauriccio Navarrette, Whitman defender Dominick Yin and B-CC midfielder Jamie Martin.
But the Roadrunners were a team full of county-bred players. The fact that so many have become nationally competing talents show just how unique a club team they were.
"It's crazy," said Arjona. "It just kind of happened."
