Following its June unveiling as the USL W’s newest expansion side, the Tallahassee (TLH) Reckoning has announced that it will bring on seasoned athletic training and performance specialist Pierre Soubrier as the team’s high-performance advisor. The news comes as the Reckoning works to round out its personnel ahead of its 2024 inaugural season, a significant moment for prospective female soccer athletes in the Tallahassee area.
Soubrier brings an established history of working alongside top women’s soccer talent, sporting past athletic training and wellness roles with the Portland Thorns, Washington Spirit, and Colorado Rapids. A former soccer athlete himself, he has leveraged his firsthand knowledge of the sport in offering high-level, comprehensive insight.
Now, as a TLH Reckoning advisor, Soubrier will look to tap these experiences to inform and bolster players’ development and well-being en route to ambitious competitive goals. His role will focus, in part, on guiding team management in building the Reckoning system, emphasizing a culture of education and self-empowerment, a foundation of high-performance operations through various platforms and technologies, and a common language between staff and players.
“I am super excited to be involved with the Reckoning as we work to bring a high-performance soccer environment to the Tallahassee area,” Soubrier said in a recent TLH release. “It’s a special feeling when you get involved with great people for the right reasons, and the Reckoning is just that: challenging the status quo in bringing the highest standards of soccer to their local market.”
TLH Reckoning will field a pre-professional W league and a USL Academy Team. Both teams will play home games at Gene Cox Stadium, and beginning in August, the Reckoning will also hold supplemental training sessions for local players – all through its College/Pro Track Training and Development and Reckoning Futures programs. Additionally, the club will host a series of community events throughout the year, fostering community engagement and bonding around the game. There will be numerous chances for stakeholders to get involved, from ‘booster’ support and sponsorships to development projects and supporters’ groups.
These offerings, in tandem with ongoing player development, reflect Soubrier’s own values as a longtime member of the soccer world.
“My personal mission has always been about continuing to advance the women’s game and continuing to educate myself while sharing my knowledge and experiences,” Soubrier said. “Looking at the TLH Reckoning, my goal was to help this club start on a strong foundation that will resist the test of time as well as the turnover in staff and leadership. Because my duty is to the players, and that consistency and continuity are key for player development, I thought that if we can build a robust system to become a steady pillar of this club, players will continue to grow along that pillar regardless of any changes occurring around them. In terms of personal goals, it was about sharing my knowledge to help the club grow and give them a direction based on the highest standards. I also wanted to challenge myself through a project based on a different operating level – not the pros – which has been so rewarding in re-assessing all of my thoughts, principles, processes and procedures.”
TLH Reckoning founder Ashlee Fontes established the club with the hopes of addressing a long overdue gap in the Tallahassee soccer community, offering a means for aspiring players to overcome geographical limitations and fully realize their talent.
“These athletes have proven they have the ability and the fortitude to excel despite the geographic and institutional limitations constraining them,” Fontes told USL W. “It is time that our local talent is realized and recognized – and for us to institute the platform to access the pathways and pipelines to achieving the realities of their greatest athletic desires.”
“I have known Ashlee for years and have always enjoyed working with her and respect her leadership,” Soubrier said. “So when she approached me to help her out with starting this new franchise in a market of need, it was a no-brainer. The core issue of this market lies in the lack of opportunities for the local female talent, so being able to bring a high-performance environment to this area with the vision of growing to a fully functioning pro team was an exciting project for me. Since day one, Ashlee has been an amazing leader in allowing me to bring new ideas and a systematic approach to our operations. There is so much work to still be done, but we are on a great path to building a robust foundation for the club’s future.”
Collectively, the Reckoning’s various involvements strive to reflect and progress soccer’s communal nature in the Tallahassee area – all while positioning young players for future success along the way.
“In my quest to continue pushing the women’s game forward, this project made sense,” Soubrier said. “These young female athletes need a solution in that area to reach their fullest potential, and the Reckoning is shaping up to be the answer.”
