About mid-way through training on Wednesday, Zach Loyd found a familiar face among the normal Academy players training with the first team.
“I looked up and said, ‘Oh, Emmanuel is here!’”
Emmanuel Kiwele, a former FC Dallas U-18 youth player and refugee from the Congo, has a special relationship with Loyd through the Dallas defender’s work with Vickery United –a soccer team for young refugees living in the Dallas neighborhood of Vickery Meadow.
“He’s been here a couple times actually,” Loyd said. “It makes you feel like this club is part of your family. I’m a big family guy so for the club to open their door and open their arms for kids to come in and train for the pro team – you know, this one is a little more special to me because I’ve been working with him for the last two years – it’s a great experience and it wouldn’t be possible if the club didn’t allow it.”
When Loyd began working with Vickery United over two years ago, he immediately noticed that Kiwele was one of the more talented players. With the professional’s encouragement, Kiwele reached out to the FCD Youth program and was able to arrange to carpool to Frisco from his home in Dallas with another family. After graduating from high school and the FCD youth program in the spring, Kiwele is now a freshman at Richland College in Dallas – continuing his dream of playing soccer.
“It’s great to see him here and it’s great for those kids to go to college,” Loyd said. “In his community, that’s not something that is the norm and he’s working at Richland and hopefully he can transfer into a DBU [Dallas Baptist University] or [a similar school].”
For Kiwele, getting to play alongside his mentor is a much different experience than as his coach.
“[He’s] way different,” Kiwele said laughing. “[Off the field], he teaches about life and continue playing soccer through college and chasing your dreams.”
And the most important piece of advice Loyd has taught him is a valuable lesson for not just soccer.
“He taught me no one is going to give it to you, you’ve got to chase for your dreams,” Kiwele said. “You’ve got to keep going.”
