The game of soccer has exploded in popularity in Northwest Georgia in recent years, especially in Dalton and the surrounding communities, where deep runs in high school soccer have been made at the state level. Dalton has even been declared “Soccer Town USA” by the New York Times for their multiple high school state champion teams.
It’s no surprise that soccer has seeped into the fabric of Northwest Georgia. Considered a European sport, FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) statistics show that there are now 24,472,778 Americans who play soccer at some level. Soccer is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the world, played by more than 250 million people in more than 200 countries, with more than 4 billion fans.
Making the most of the professional experience he gained in Europe, Tyler Hudson, a Dalton State grad who played the game of soccer growing up in England, has started Shankly Elite Training, LLC, a sports company that offers a supportive training regimen for soccer players throughout the region.
“We’re a private, supplemental soccer and sports performance training company,” said Hudson. “We are more focused on soccer than the other sports. We offer classes including one-on-one training, small group and team sessions.”
Team sessions work with those soccer teams that are already playing but need more detailed instruction.
“It gives us the chance to get into more of a detailed session where we replicate game movements which they can use in their team practices and games,” said Hudson.
Hudson has an immense love and knowledge of soccer and knew he wanted to somehow mix these things to start his own business.
“It was an idea I came up with after watching many different people around the world for many years,” said Hudson. “I had to wait until I graduated from college, then I was able to form my own company.”
The soccer trainer knew that the Dalton community and surrounding areas could use supplemental training and used contacts through his time at Dalton State to help begin building up clientele.
“Obviously Dalton and the surrounding areas are very highly soccer-oriented communities,” said Hudson. “I have met many people over the years through school and being around the town and among the community that helped me get my start.”
Hudson laughs that another foot in the door for him was the fact that he is from England.
“People in the community always ask me if I wanted to do something like this (training business) because there’s a stereotype of me being from England; everyone thinks I must know about soccer,” said Hudson. “That was the foot in the door for me really. But I worked on this for a long time and did a lot of planning; I put together a business proposal together and in June I went ahead and launched the company. It’s four months in and it’s been crazy. I’ve had kids coming in to train from everywhere.”
His training philosophy is more than just training for the game of soccer…he trains his students on the game of life as well.
“I try to make it more than just soccer,” said Hudson. “I put a strong emphasis on the kids. It’s not really about just building soccer players, but building people and building character. (The soccer training) doesn’t mean that the kids will go on to become superstars in the game because most of them will not likely get to the highest level of the game professionally, but I want to make sure they gain things that they never thought they could do (by training) with us; they may gain new friends, they may gain confidence in certain areas they didn’t have originally and then of course, it will set them off as a better person. I want to make them better players, but more importantly, better people…better team players, better people individually so they do gain more confidence in their own abilities.”
THE LONG ROAD TO NORTHWEST GEORGIA
Hudson began playing soccer in Liverpool, England, in a very working-class area, when he was around four years old.
“All we really know in Liverpool is soccer,” said Hudson. “Of course, we call it football, and it’s almost a religion. We are born, we go through our first three years of life and then we start playing soccer. I started in the grassroots Saturday-Sunday league in soccer. I was fortunate enough to play on some okay teams at the time. I went ahead through the first few years just playing local leagues, then I was fortunate enough to get scouted and picked up by Liverpool and Everton academies. I basically went through the academy system training 2-3 times per week, getting the exposure of professional facilities and environments. When I was around 10 or 11 years old, I got picked up by a team called Liverpool Schoolboys, which is made up of the best 16 or 18 kids playing soccer in the inner city of Liverpool. They had scouts at every game, and to be honest, I never got picked up (with a professional club) throughout those years…I just enjoyed playing for my local teams and my school team, as well as the Liverpool Schoolboys. But at that time, they took us to Holland to play in a big tournament. And we were good enough that we actually went over and played against Barcelona’s Academy. Some of those players in Barcelona that we played with are now actually playing in the Premier League (professional English soccer). It’s nice to have played with guys that went to the highest level.”
He attended high school at Alsop High School in Walton, Liverpool. Throughout the next few years, Hudson, who played the position of left back on defense, played in the regular weekend league, school soccer and played with the Liverpool Schoolboys. He was then scouted for Wigan Athletic, which at the time was a premier level team in England that now plays in the English second division.
“I actually signed with them and played with them between the ages of 13 and 16,” said Hudson. “I spent three years there trying to get recognized. That’s around the age that puts you in the limelight and gives you professional opportunities to go further in the game. You can get a pre-professional contract, called a Youth Team Scholarship which puts you into full-time soccer and you start getting paid a small amount, like an internship’s wage. You train full time and you do your schooling for your last two years of high school with the club. I played with Wigan and tried to get that contract, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me like I wanted it to for one reason or another, and I got released from the club when I was 16.”
While disappointment could have easily set in, Hudson was determined to play and realized that setbacks are opportunities for setups to something bigger and better.
“I spent four to five months with my dad, driving up and down the north of England trying to find a new club,” said Hudson. “My dad was taking me everywhere there might be an opportunity, like a few contracts left or somewhere they needed a position that I played.”
Hudson visited several different clubs and ended up meeting a man by the name of Tony Robinson, who is the father of U.S. soccer pro Antonee Robinson, a left back on the U.S. National Team who will be playing in the World Cup next month.
“Tony reached out to me and asked me to go to a connection that I had through my school since I was still in need of a club,” said Hudson. “He hosted regular sessions on a local field in Liverpool, and it was basically just guys being released from clubs who were looking to train at a high level. Tony was trying to open doors for these guys to get a chance to train for another club in hopes of getting signed. I went to his training session one time, and he called me aside and said, ‘Son, what on Earth are you doing here?’ It confused me - I was there because he asked me to be there! But he told me he was asking me that because he didn’t see anything that would be a reason to have been released from Wigan. He told me, ‘Give me a week and I’ll contact a club; I’ll send you there and they’re going to sign you.’ Literally a week later, I went to a club that was in the 4th division in England called Morecambe FC. I went for a week on trial, and then signed. I spent about a year-and-a-half there. I played for their second team, a reserve team of the pro team. I was playing with guys who were a lot older than me and were fully established, professional soccer players. I was getting a lot of good exposure and a lot of good experience. It was while I was there that I began looking at the American scholarship route to come over and play in college.”
That opportunity presented itself about 16 months into playing at Morecambe FC.
“I received a call one night after a game; I actually thought it was a scammer because it was a call from North Atlanta, Georgia,” said Hudson. “I called back and it was the assistant coach at Georgia State. He was actually from England himself, and he told me he had one of the scouts from the university watching me in a game and watched what I did, and he offered me a scholarship over the phone.”
Hudson said another call came on a Tuesday just after Christmas, and he was told to sit down because a lot of information was coming.
“I asked when I was going to America, thinking it would be in the summer,” said Hudson. “He told me, ‘No, that’s the deal…you’ve got to go next week.’ We’d just finished eating breakfast and I was sitting there with my teammates and he was telling me to pack my bags, go tell my coaches ‘bye,’ to tell my teammates ‘bye’ since I’d never be playing with them again. I packed my bags and took the first train from the club back home to Liverpool. The next night, he came to my home and spoke to my parents about what was going to happen and by Sunday afternoon, I was on a plane to Atlanta.”
Hudson was set up with a host family, the Samniks, in Atlanta.
“I went to their house, I didn’t know them and had never met them before,” said Hudson. “I walked into a completely new environment but I didn’t feel out of place whatsoever because they were so welcoming. I stayed with them for over four months and played for an academy in hopes to gain a college scholarship, of which I was offered 15. I eventually committed to play at the University of Wisconsin. I went home for a couple of months to get all of the paperwork sorted and get my visa, and found out two days before I was about to fly to Wisconsin that I was ineligible to compete for the NCAA because one of my classes in England didn’t transfer. I had to stay home for another year and I lost the full scholarship.”
Hudson took a night school course during the next year in England and worked menial jobs. He said that year really taught him a lot.
“It taught me that when I did come back, while nothing was certain I knew I would do whatever to get back over here, and when I did get back here, to do everything in my power, and work my tail off, to not have to go back to a job I just did not like doing.”
In June of 2015, Hudson made it back to America, and again stayed with Michael Samnik, who had ties to a new college soccer program in Northwest Georgia.
“He had already spoken to the coach at Dalton State, which was a new program at the time,” said Hudson. “They took three of us from England and I’ve basically been here ever since.”
Hudson got his first degree in Biology, ran into a visa issue and had to go home and fix it then come back to America for another degree.
“That put me on the right track to graduate this past May with my second degree, then start the company,” said Hudson. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but it was worth it.”
Shankly Elite Training LLC works with all ages of soccer players, from little tykes all the way through high school. In the less than six months he’s been training players, parents are impressed with the results they are seeing.
“My son has been training with Tyler a little over a month now, and my son’s confidence has grown so much. Tyler pushes the kids to their full potential and teaches them quality techniques. We absolutely love the patience and dedication he has for the kids. I’ve seen the growth in my son, so now I take my 5-year-old daughter to his mini kickers training,” said Angelica.
Shankly Elite Training currently holds sessions at Riverbend Park (Whitfield County Recreation Department), Dalton High School and Heritage Soccer Complex, all located in Whitfield County. The company serves players from all around the region who travel to the training sessions. In addition to the one-on-one training, small group and team sessions, Hudson also offers a variety of camps throughout the year. Hudson also plans to introduce a mental and physical well-being course that will be offered to the middle school and high school students in the area, with the belief that there is much more to soccer than just the technical side of the game.
Hudson is thankful for the support he's received through the years, and plans to keep working hard to grow his company as a way to honor those who have encouraged him.
“I would never be where I am today without the ongoing support and guidance from my parents back home, the Samniks and many other families here in the U.S. that have treated me like their own,” said Hudson. “And of course, Tony Robinson, who helped to kick-start my U.S. journey.”
Sessions can be scheduled through Vagaro at https://www.vagaro.com/shanklyelitetrainingllc/.
Shankly Elite Training can be found on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shanklyelitetraining_llc/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087267036256. Shankly also has a TikTok account at https://www.tiktok.com/@shanklyelitetraining_llc
For more information, follow Shankly Elite Training LLC on any of their social media platforms.