The New York Red Bulls are committed to developing and improving the level of youth soccer in the tri-state area. From an early age, the Red Bulls offer coaching and instruction to youth players of all skill levels. Whether that means providing a fun, safe environment to play the beautiful game, to developing the next Homegrown MLS star, the Red Bulls’ multi-layered youth program offers something for everyone.
In The Future is Bright series, NewYorkRedBulls.com takes a closer look at the organization’s youth development platform.
Ethan Lochner
Hailing from New York, N.Y., Lochner was a four-year starter with the Red Bulls Academy and the team’s leading goal scorer back to back years totaling 17 goals in 2013 and then 16 in 2014.
“Each year with Red Bulls I can tell I have noticeably developed from the year before,” Lochner said. “Being surrounded by great players and coaches allows you to develop each day in practice. We work very hard in practice so that when its game time it’s less demanding than practice and we can really perform at our best. Each year in the academy was different because theres different competition and many times you get to play with older kids or even the USL team. Every year Red Bulls pushed me to develop more and more and I am grateful to the club for that.”
Lochner finished his freshman year at Georgetown and is looking to build off the team’s success from last year with fellow Red Bulls Academy and Red Bulls II teammate, Kyle Zajec.
“Playing with the Red Bulls II was a really good experience,” Lochner said. “Whether I was actually getting in or just warming up on the sidelines, it was nice to be in a professional environment where the stakes are higher than the average academy game. It was mostly new experiences for me from being in Red Bull Arena consistently to the competition in each game where the team needed to battle for every point.”
