Grain Valley grad relishes opportunity to play professional soccer

by Michael Smith
 

​Rylan Childers is a name that is etched in the history of the Grain Valley girls soccer program.
 
With the Eagles, she broke the school record for goals in a season with 63 during her senior season in which she was Co-Offensive Player of the Year in Class 3, and she holds the Missouri state record for assists in a career with 119. Her 194 career goals were also fifth best in state history and her 504 points is ranked second all time.
 
After playing two seasons with the University of Missouri-Kansas City and three more with the
University of Kansas, a dream came true for the former Eagle.
 
Childers, a midfielder, was a fourth-round draft choice (42nd overall) of the Kansas City Current of the NWSL and was signed through the 2023 season.
 
Being a professional soccer player wasn’t on her radar when she first joined UMKC as a college freshman. It wasn’t until her senior season at KU where she saw it as a possibility.
 
“Once I was getting to the end of my college career, I thought, ‘Well, I really love this sport.’ I feel like God opened the door for me to play for the Current and I thought it would be exciting to see what this would look like in the next chapter of my life.”
 
With the Kangaroos, she set school records with 11 goals and 14 assists as a freshman as she was named the West Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore, she scored 10 goals and had 10 assists as she was named the WAC Offensive Player of the Year.
 
She then transferred to KU and started all 52 games and totaled 14 goals and 11 assists. In her third season as a Jayhawk, she notched seven goals and a team-high six assists.
 
The resume she built in college was strong enough to pave a path to becoming a pro.
 
“I think I had two different experiences at the two universities that I was at,” Childers said. “I had a lot of experienced players around me at UMKC and I got a lot of exposure playing at a high level.
 
“Then I went to Kansas to play against more difficult competition and grow more as a player. If you look at the results, we didn’t have the most winning seasons but I was able to grow as a leader on the team. I was challenged in different ways.”
 
While playing in college, Childers said she had to get used to the increased speed of play and the increased strength of the players she went against.
 
“The speed of play got even quicker when I went from UMKC to Kansas,” Childers said. “When I got the ball, I had to know where I was going with it quickly. Throughout my time in Kansas, I eventually got more comfortable.”
 
Now that she has taken the next step in her career, the difficulty is turned up even more. Right now, Childers is coming off the bench for the Current and has played 16 minutes and has appeared in four games.
 
According to the NWSL website, Childers has a 100 percent success rate on tackles and an 86.4 percent success rate with her passes. She has not yet had a shot attempt.
 
“You have to know where you’re going with the ball at all times,” Childers said of playing in the NWSL. “You have to learn how to hit long balls under pressure.”
 
Childers also has had to adjust to playing in front of significantly larger crowd than what she saw in college and high school. There have been games in which the Current have had more than 10,00 fans attend.
 
“I think my role on the team right now is to be an encourager and a supporter. I am not playing a ton, so getting to be in that environment is really cool. Getting the city to rally around the team has been really cool to be a part of.”
  

Photo credit: KC Current