Errol McFarlane Jr. started as a coach for youth sports franchise Soccer Stars.
Errol McFarlane Jr. owes it all to soccer. The sport provided him the opportunity to play professionally around the world. And it was soccer that gave him his biggest sports thrill, earning a spot on the Trinidad-Tobago National Football Team that qualified for the 2006 World Cup.
“I’ve devoted my entire life to soccer, and I owe everything to the sport. It’s changed my life,” said McFarlane, who turned his athletic passion into a second professional career as a program director for the youth sports concept Soccer Stars franchise in New York and now Miami.
McFarlane, who turned 46 in October, sounded genuinely excited and at the same time humbled to answer questions about his soccer career and how the sport changed his life. His voice cracked with emotion when talking about his father, his first soccer coach and who he calls his most important mentor. He got sentimental when recalling the young players he’s coached over the last decade for Soccer Stars, and the impact on their lives as well as his.
McFarlane, who has worked for Soccer Stars since 2011, first teamed with the brand in New York, where he made his way up the ranks, from master coach to coaching supervisor to coaching manager for the entire tri-state area.
In 2021 he moved his family to southern Florida to oversee programming for soon-to-be first-time franchisees Vicky Hall and Alexis Eddington-Hall.
Miami Soccer Stars, which began as a corporate-owned location under the Youth Athletes United umbrella, was being renegotiated as a franchisee-owned location at the end of August, when this story was completed, with the deal expected to officially close before the end of the year.
“Errol has impacted thousands of kids, from our early-stage Super Soccer Stars programs to our Soccer Stars United travel teams, both in New York and Miami. He now has the opportunity to do what he loves and move from working for corporate to being a part of a franchise territory in Miami,” said Adam Geisler, co-founder and CEO of Youth Athletes United.
Adam Geisler is the co-founder and CEO of Youth Athletes United, a network of youth-focused sports brands that includes Soccer Stars.
The youth sports umbrella company, whose network of brands also includes Amazing Stars, Amazing Athletes, TGA Sports and Little Rookies, is expanding nationwide with 60 new units and 44 new owners coming onboard so far in 2023. Soccer Stars operates in 25-plus major markets, and enrolls more than 110,000 children each year.
“I feel very fortunate to be working with a franchise system that understands that it’s not all about how you play soccer, but also how you approach sports and life in general,” said McFarlane, whose responsibilities in Miami include maintaining the overall quality of the programs, setting the curriculum for classes and planning practices. His other responsibilities include hiring and training coaches.
It’s a lot of work keeping track of the numerous programs, classes and camps that enroll 5,000 kids, ages 12 months to 18 years, in Miami. But, then again, McFarlane is used to covering a lot of ground. As a former striker on the forward line, he was in constant motion, fighting off defenders, to create scoring opportunities.
He scored 31 goals during his professional career, 23 of them coming in one memorable season with Superstar Rangers of the Trinidad-Tobago league. He also played in the Middle East for a team in Lebanon, as well as for a team based out of Reykjavik, Iceland, and another one in Rochester, New York. His playing career ended back where it started, in Trinidad-Tobago in 2011.
Asked how many countries he played in during his career, McFarlane said, “Honestly, I’ve lost count, but I’m thinking it had to be over 30,” he said.
The biggest thrill of McFarlane’s life also became his biggest disappointment when a torn hamstring suffered in practice a month before the World Cup prevented him from making the trip to Germany and competing on
soccer’s biggest stage. That Trinidad-Tobago team was the last Caribbean squad to qualify for the World Cup, and still holds the distinction of being the smallest nation, both in size and population, to ever qualify for the FIFA’s premier competition.
“It was a big letdown for me, not to be able to represent my home country,” said McFarlane, “but, then again, everything happens for a reason and it wasn’t meant to be for me. … That’s sports. It’s not always fair, and I try to carry over those lessons to the next generation of players.”