SPOKANE, Wash. – The Spokane Velocity debuted their youngest-ever player at just 17-years-old, one that feels ready for the moment.
“I mean, obviously, it’s a dream come true to make my professional debut, just super thankful for the staff for believing in me and giving me the opportunity, same with my teammates. Super cool experience, I loved it,” Rocky Wells said.
The rising Mead high school senior, Wells was Spokane’s first-ever homegrown academy signing, spending the last year pushing to earn his role with the senior group.
“See him come into year two and really earn the spot,” head coach Leigh Veidman said. “So, he did that. He came in, and he was fantastic. His attitude, his effort every day was excellent. You can see his ability on the ball. So yeah, it got to the point where it was a no-brainer for us, he earned it, so we rewarded him for it.”
“It’s been a super-cool experience, I’m really blessed to have an amazing team like this in my hometown, yeah, so super grateful for the team, it’s been an amazing experience, I’m loving it so far,” Wells said.
Coach Veidman has been there every step of Well’s path, lauding his repping of the team’s core philosophy.
“There’s two boxes we want to check at all times, whether it’s a player, whether it’s a staff member or front office is competence and character,” Veidman said. “They’re the two non-negotiables and character being the main one.”
“I just say we’re a big family environment, we kinda lead by example, so that’s just something I’d try to take into the season,” Wells said.
Well’s teammate Nil Vinyals on the backline sees that growth too as the Velocity inches closer to the end of the second-ever season.
“He has a lot of potential in the future to be an established player in the pro ranks, wherever that will take him, but super, super happy for him, and I think he just needs to keep enjoying, which is the most important thing, and keep improving,” Vinyals said.
Spokane heads east to Portland, Maine this weekend, still defending their top of the table place.
“We know what we need to do,” Veidman said. “We need to keep our focus short-sighted and focus on what’s next in front of us, go game-by-game, and by the end of the year, we’ll get what we deserve.”
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