Stories Archives - Phoenix Rising Youth Soccer

By PRFC Youth Soccer, 09/05/23, 11:30AM MST

Rising Up: Caden Dosmann

His Story Behind Winning the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year

CADEN DOSMANN had a tremendous year of success during the 2022-23 season, both on his PRFC Southeast Valley 05B Team and his high school team at Perry HS. At the end of last season, Dosmann was awarded the Gatorade Player of the Year. To accomplish these achievements, Dosmann had to draw on prior experiences and work together alongside his teammates and coaches.

“My first two years on [Perry] Varsity were not as successful as we hoped I think partly because we didn’t work well together as a team. This year was different. The only thing that mattered to any of us was winning the State Championship. Our team goals and achievements were more important to all of us than any one individual goal or award. We all wanted to bring out the best in each other,” said Dosmann.

After finishing 12th in the Arizona 6A Conference during Dosmann’s sophomore year at Perry, his teammates came together at the start of the next club season. What followed was the roster of both Dosmann’s club and school teams looking very similar.

“This year was a unique social experiment of having kids leave their prior clubs and play for Coach Derek [at Phoenix Rising],” said Dosmann. “The Perry players wanted Derek Yen to be our coach even though he had not coached in a few years. Working at Phoenix Rising, our coach was able to help build our chemistry and I honestly believe this played a huge role in our success. Everyone on the team knew how to play together and we became great friends which lead to immediate success in the high school season.”

“Being approached by players to try and all play together was unique to me and I was wondering if this was a byproduct of how youth were wanting things differently after COVID. I was hesitant at first but also wanted to support what these kids wanted,” said Coach Derek Yen.

When the players went into the high school break, the transition was almost seamless.

“Having coached at Perry HS for the past 4 years, I was able to help support a trusting relationship between player and coach to create an atmosphere that was about winning, hard work, and mutual dedication to the team goal. To be able to embrace that for longer than the short High School Season was very rewarding for me in the end to see their faces at the end of the season,” said Yen.

“Before the season started my main goal was to simply be successful as a team and make a run in the playoffs after a disappointing run last year. Individually my goal was to improve my stats both with goals and assists. My teammates and coaches were key in reaching those goals by trusting in my abilities and working with me to have the most impact in games,” said Dosmann.

Over the course of Dosmann’s junior season, he played in 24 games scoring 16 goals and having 12 assists. He was named the Conference 6A Player of the Year as well as the 6A Premier Region Player of the Year.

Dosmann also helped lead the Pumas to their 19-2-3 record as well as their Conference 6A State Championship title. Fifteen players on the championship roster played together for Phoenix Rising FC Youth Soccer.

To top off his exemplary high school season, Dosmann was then awarded the 2022-23 Arizona Boys Soccer Gatorade Player of the Year.

“Being recognized as Gatorade Player of the Year is an incredible honor and a dream come true. I owe everything to the team and coaches, but it is amazing to be rewarded for my personal success.”

The Gatorade Player of the Year award looks at a player’s successes on the field, but also off the field, in the classroom, and in the community. Dosmann maintained a B average in the classroom and volunteered locally with Feed My Starving Children and Operation Christmas Child. He has also donated his time to helping the unhoused through the Aris Foundation.

In reflecting on his previous two years in high school, Dosmann had some advice for the players looking to follow in his footsteps.

“My grades were never the most important thing for me the first two years of high school, but that was a huge mistake. I was set on not going to college because I didn’t believe I was going to be good enough academically or on the field. My advice would be to always keep working in the classroom and on the field because you never know what will happen in the future and you don’t want to close any doors.

“Several schools have approached me or Coach Derek from tournaments that my Phoenix Rising team have participated in or in contacts that Coach Derek has made. At this time I am interested in options for both in state as well as out of state.”

In reflecting on his previous two years in high school, Dosmann had some advice for the players looking to follow in his footsteps.

Dosmann is beginning his senior year of high school this year as well as playing another year under Head Coach Derek Yen on the Phoenix Rising Youth Soccer Southeast Valley 05/06B Predator team.

“Being part of Phoenix Rising has given me opportunities both on and off the field to further develop as a player and person. I’d like to thank my parents and brother for always pushing me and being there for me, my coaches for trusting in me and helping me improve, and helping me improve, and my teammates for bringing out the best version of myself.”

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.”