(Nov. 10, 2008) -- Kendall Fletcher has traveled a royal path to a career as a professional soccer player. Raised in the shadows of the great University of North Carolina program, she eventually starred on the Tar Heels backline and was part of the National Championship team of 2003. Fletcher later spent time on both coasts in the W-League, winning league titles with the New Jersey Wildcats and Pali Blues of Southern California.
Her honors also extend to the National Team program. Fletcher was a regular starter for the U-19 world championship team of 2002, and later the U-21 side that won the Nordic Cup in 2005.
“The thing that comes to mind when I think about Kendall Fletcher is that she is a winner,” said Charlie Naimo, who coached her at New Jersey and Pali Blues and drafted her as General Manager of the Los Angeles Sol.
(Pali Blues SC)
Kendall Fletcher won a pair of W-League titles while playing for Charlie Naimo, who is now the Los Angeles Sol's general manager.
Fletcher was captain at Pali Blues, an ultra-competitive side founded for the 2008 season that has already made a significant mark on WPS. When the Sol made her the 10th overall selection in the General Draft, Fletcher barely made a dent within her club team. So far no fewer than nine Pali Blues have been either drafted or named as Discovery players. Still, the defender who celebrated her 24th birthday on Nov. 6 was pleased to be taken on a day when only 28 women were drafted.
“I'm thrilled to have been drafted in the General Draft,” Fletcher said. “It's all very exciting to be apart of the professional process. The return of a women's professional soccer league here in the United States has been something I have been looking forward to. To be drafted now is an honor and definitely very relieving.”
In an odd twist, Fletcher is the only one of the nine Pali Blues who will play for Naimo in Los Angeles. Although Naimo will not coach the Sol, his presence works for Fletcher.
“I think Charlie has such a passion for this game and this league,” she said. “He wants his team and his players to find success and he does that by always striving to create an atmosphere of improvement and professionalism.”
That atmosphere is a large part of what made Pali Blues so successful, and why Fletcher was not surprised to see so many of her teammates join her on the draft board.
“I think from the beginning the players and the management of the Pali Blues wanted to create an environment that would serve as a platform for players who wanted to make it to the next level,” she said. “I think the draft was a testament to the hard work that the team and each individual player put in during our season together. Each one of those players is going to make a huge impact for their new teams.”
While Fletcher’s Pali Blues teammates will be scattered around the league, she is familiar with the three other Los Angeles players taken in the General Draft. Karina LeBlanc, Manya Makoski, and Christie Welsh all played with Fletcher on the 2005 champion Wildcats squad.
“I think together we will be a great team,” Fletcher said. “We can't wait to get out on the field and start competing and playing against these world class players in training.”
As for Head Coach Abner Rogers, his and Fletcher’s paths crossed once on a trip to Mexico, and that brief experience whetted Fletcher’s appetite to play for him on a more long-term basis.
“Although it was a short trip (to Mexico), I got a great sense for his understanding of the game,” she said. “I am really looking forward to playing for him and seeing his ideas on the game.”
A hardworking defender with a desire to get forward, Fletcher is chomping at the bit to finally get into the action next spring.
“I'm not afraid to speak up on the field and the more competitive the environment the better,” she said.
Dan Lauletta is a freelance writer and can be reached at thirtymtp@aol.com . The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Women’s Professional Soccer or womensprosoccer.com.
