One of the success stories of the 2023 Oakland Roots season was the performance in the heart of midfield of Danny Gomez, one of the latest graduates of ‘Project 51O’, the development program which reflects the club’s commitment to building a pathway for the next generation of athletes from Oakland, the Bay Area and Northern California.
“When you’re young and developing you always want to be in an environment where you have the possibility to get to that professional level,” says Danny on how his time in the Project prepared him to make the step up. “The transition from 51O to the first team was easier because I already knew the playing style, the formations and things like that. I worked hard and now luckily it’s paying off.”
The club’s push to build Oakland’s first soccer stadium as the future home for Roots and Soul may be grabbing the headlines, but the club is just as committed to building a foundation for the future and is investing – through money, time and facilities – to build one of the best development pipelines for young players in California.
When Luis Saldaña stepped onto the field for his USL debut on August 19th against Colorado Springs Switchbacks he became the third graduate to play for the first team in 2023, following Danny Gomez and Etsgar Cruz. Around the same time, goalkeeper Tim Syrel became the latest 51O alum to sign a professional contract with Roots. Since the club started in 2019, the club has signed 16 players to amateur (11) or professional (5) contracts with the first team. Of that group, eight have made their debuts with Ariel Mbumba topping the charts at 38 appearances for the club.
Oakland Roots and Soul SC Technical Director Jordan Ferrell explains why the investment in youth is so important to the club and how the club approaches the strategy for Project 51O.
“We always want our professional rosters to have a consistent base of young, high-potential, local players and that takes time to grow,” he says.
“The Academy Contract is an important mechanism for us to be able to register and play a young player without jeopardizing their college eligibility.”
Playing competitive men’s soccer at a high standard is why the team competes in two national amateur adult leagues, USL League Two and UPSL. Despite fielding one of the youngest rosters in the country, Project 51O won both division titles in their first full season in the competitions in 2022.
The success of the inaugural season has seen an increase in the number of players from the Project training regularly with the first team, earning their first minutes in USL Championship and, in the case of Danny Gomez, even becoming a regular starter. As more players travel that pathway they are inspiring the next cohort of players to keep pushing them.
“It was kind of unexpected for me to get my shot as a rookie – there aren’t a lot of first-year players in the League who get this opportunity and I’m just grateful for the minutes I got,” says Danny. “My debut was really special, I’ll always remember that feeling when you hear your name and you know you’re going in. You just have to be ready.
“My family is super proud. Growing up they sacrificed a lot for me, giving me rides to youth games and stuff like that. They’re proud that my hard work is starting to pay off.”
The success of the team in its debut season was positive, but for Project 51O the idea of what it means to ‘win’ goes deeper than titles. “We want to focus on the process of developing winners and creating a challenging environment for players we believe have a future in our first-team or professional football,” says Jordan Ferrell. “This means we prioritize getting high-potential players as close as we can as soon as we can to our first-team environment and exposing them to the real world challenges and expectations of professional football. It also means playing a player out of position occasionally to develop his non-dominant foot, positioning or perception of advantages. Project 51O should be the environment for talented U20 players from Oakland, the Bay Area, and Northern California to grow and develop into professionals. ”
“There’s so much talent in Oakland and the Bay Area,” says Danny Gomez. “I think we have a lot of very technical, athletic players who know the game and are good on the ball. We’re seeing the next generation coming through already with Tim signing a contract. For sure I’m not going to be the last.”
