Jamie Vardy isn’t just a fantastic striker for Leicester City and England, but a bit of a visionary. In his humble beginnings, he was told too many times that he was never going to make it in football – but he did. Now he strives to help young players in America fulfil their dreams.Earlier this year, Vardy became one of the co-owners of Rochester Rhinos, a small club from the industrial town of Rochester, close to New York City. In the meantime, the club was rebranded as Rochester New York Football Club or simply RNY FC. Today, another big step was made to put Rochester on the burgeoning football scene in North America.Vardy to be a part of the Leicester-like story in the USVardy says he wants to grow the club so it can match some of its achievements of the past and follow a similar ‘rags to riches’ journey that has marked his own playing career.His plan is to give a second chance to non-league players who he felt were good enough to play in professional football – and get them a bit closer to MLS, by far the biggest professional league on the continent.Rochester, formed in 1996, have not competed at any level for four years, but they have won the national championships four times and are the only non-MLS team to have won the US Open Cup.Saturday, 23.00: (2.80) Portland (3.25) NY City (2.55)MLS NEXT Pro league will launch next year with the aim to complete an integrated player pathway from MLS NEXT, the youth league under the MLS organization, through to MLS first teams. MLS NEXT Pro will feature reserve teams of the established MLS clubs and a number of independent clubs – like Vardy’s RNY FC.”I think this is a massive step for team like Rochester, clubs that have history of beating MLS teams to the Open Cup. We want to be playing the best young lads that are out there. We want to be winning, and for us to do that, we need to make sure that we’re on our game and we want to also be developing the players.”Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy renames his American football club Rochester New York FC or RNY FC. 🇺🇸🗽#football #footballnews #JamieVardy #LeicesterCity #RochesterNewYorkFC #WorldinSport #sportsnews #sports #USA #Rochester #NewYork #PremierLeague pic.twitter.com/52jjmH0aR9— World in Sport (@WorldinSport) September 1, 2021 The challenges of Vardy’s early years both fueled and formed the future superstar, and even in the different context of North American soccer, he wants to create more Jamie Vardy-type stories.”It definitely made me the person that I am today. The lower leagues in England are quite rough. Being a short, skinny lad, coming up against centre-halves that just kicked you whenever they got the chance. I needed to toughen up. But luckily, I’m one of them people who, I’m not really bothered if I get kicked or anything like that. It’s all about getting back up.”With Vardy’s input, you shouldn’t dismiss Rochester. They certainly have a lot of winning DNA.
