Kentucky high school soccer star turns pro. But college education is part of the deal.
Owen Damm and his family are still processing the moment that changed their lives, and provided a pathway for Damm to both pursue his future as a professional soccer player and earn a college education.
On Tuesday morning, Damm — a Woodford County High School graduate from Versailles — was announced as the latest signing by Louisville City FC of the United Soccer League (USL) Championship.
“It’s pretty crazy. I still can’t really believe it,” Damm told the Herald-Leader before the signing was announced.
The 18-year old Damm — who used to play club soccer at Lexington FC — had been a member of the youth academy at Louisville City for more than two years. He only recently learned that a move to the senior team was imminent.
He was pulled aside by Mario Sanchez, who oversees Louisville City’s youth academy, and Sanchez told Damm to “Get it together, you’re about to sign with the first team.”
“I had no idea, so I was surprised. That’s really when I found out. I was kind of in shock,” Damm said.
The contract signed by Damm comes with some distinct elements.
In July, the USL announced a multi-year partnership with Bellevue University that made Bellevue the first official education partner in the USL’s history.
With the partnership in place, Bellevue — a private university founded in 1966 and based in Nebraska with almost 60,000 graduates worldwide — will grant a full scholarship to each USL Championship and USL League One team each year that will be awarded to a player so the player can pursue an undergraduate or graduate degree.
A USL League One team in Lexington was announced in October and is set to begin play in the 2023 season.
This academic scholarship will be part of Damm’s contract with Louisville City.
This setup means that Damm, who trained with the Louisville City first team last season, will be able to turn professional and play for Louisville City while also furthering his education.
“That’s important to me because school has been first and extra-curriculars second, so being able to continue my education was a really big factor in this decision,” Damm said.
“It’s an opportunity for him to be a role model for all those younger ones that are coming up, not just in the club, not just in Versailles, but all of Kentucky and all of the small cities,” said John Damm, Owen’s father. “It’s just literally a dream come true. He’s just so blessed.”
While Damm was a member of the Louisville City youth academy, he also starred for the Woodford County Yellow Jackets.
He was a first-team all-state selection in 2020 and helped lead Woodford County to three straight district titles, starting in 2019.
During the 2021 season, Damm scored 48 times across 19 games as Woodford County lost in the 8th Region Tournament semifinals. The 48 goals ranked Damm third in the state in scoring.
Damm played frequently at forward for Woodford County, but will be used by Louisville City as a right back.
“He’s exactly what we’re looking for with regard to our outside backs,” said Louisville City head coach Danny Cruz. “He has a really good engine, technical player, ability to get up and down for 90 minutes, which is important to me. ... He’s a young player that I’ve seen for a long time now who we really believe has a bright future here.”
Cruz, who played college soccer for two years at UNLV, also knows the value of having a contract structure that allows for growth both on the field and academically off of it. When Cruz was selected in the 2009 Major League Soccer SuperDraft he was part of the Generation Adidas program, a joint venture between MLS and U.S. Soccer that offered players a college tuition stipend to continue their college education.
“It opens up a lot of doors, to be quite frank,” Cruz said of the partnership between Bellevue and USL. “There are players that are concerned about not going to college so they don’t want to pursue that dream of being able to play, and this allows them to do both.”
With the academic scholarship to Bellevue, Damm plans to study sports management.
As far as on-field opportunities go, Damm could have hardly picked a better landing spot than right in his home state.
Louisville City has reached at least the conference finals in all seven seasons of its existence, including winning the USL Cup in 2017 and 2018.
Damm is the 15th player to sign on for the club’s 2022 roster.
“It’s still really surreal being able to play for this club,” Damm said. “It’s really all I’ve wanted, to be a professional.”
