'Brings joy to my heart': Youth soccer clinic set for Premier League's Jacksonville visit

Swarmed on every side by speedy young soccer players eager to show off their skills on the ball inside the Jacksonville Jaguars' Dream Finders Homes Flex field on Tuesday, Fred Taylor felt for a split second like rolling back the decades.

After all, he has 11,695 more career rushing yards than the youngsters scurrying around him. The down side: he also carries about 35 more years on those legs. And a few thousand more tackles received.

"I considered going out there to try and dribble and mess around with them, but the way these hamstrings are set up from my playing days, I'll catch them down the road," Taylor laughed. "But just to see the smiles on their faces, you know, for me, that brings joy to my heart."

Making more of those smiles is part of the mission for the longtime Jaguars running back and Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist, as Sporting Club Jacksonville announced a youth soccer clinic scheduled for July 27 ahead of the Stateside Cup exhibition between English clubs West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Sporting Jax technical director Mauricio Ruiz will conduct the clinic in conjunction with former players and coaches from both English clubs. The youth clinic is open to boys and girls from age 4 to 18 and takes place from 5 to 6 p.m. inside the flex field on July 27, one hour before the 7 p.m. professional kickoff.

Tickets for the clinic, held by Sporting Jax and Stateside Cup organizer Elite Promotions, will cost $65, which also includes admission to the West Ham-Wolves game. For family members and friends of clinic participants, discounted game tickets will be available for $55.

The opportunity to inspire future athletes — whatever the sport — motivates Taylor, a co-owner of Sporting Jax since November as the franchise continues its preparations for kickoff in the United Soccer League.

"I'm still learning as I go," he said. "But again, my heart above all is what I can do in the community to sort of tie the community into the team. That's my goal."

For All Nations Soccer founding director Josh Kimball, both the afternoon clinic and the evening Stateside Cup game help tie in with the mission of helping young refugees adjust to a new life on the First Coast.

All Nations Soccer organizes youth soccer events and training with a focus on refugee families. At this time, Kimball said, the All Nations academy program includes young players from more than two dozen countries, with several of them taking aim at miniature goals inside the flex field Tuesday.

"We want them to be able to have experiences like this that help them strive to achieve and be the best they could be," Kimball said.

The Stateside Cup will mark the first Jacksonville visit for an English soccer club since Fulham faced Major League Soccer's D.C. United in July 2014, which also raised the curtain on the stadium's then-new video boards. It is also the city's first-ever matchup of two Premier League clubs.

Both West Ham and Wolverhampton include multiple players currently active for their national teams at the European Championship in Germany or the Copa America in the United States.

Among them are West Ham's Edson Alvarez (Mexico) and Jarrod Bowen (England) and Wolverhampton's Joao Gomes (Brazil) and Pedro Neto (Portugal), although it's unclear how many of the leading international players will take the field in Jacksonville.

Whatever the lineup, Taylor sounds more and more like a Pro Bowl running back who's now ready for some fútbol.

"Obviously, being in South Florida a lot, [Lionel] Messi's in our face. So I'm following Messi and his career with Argentina the other night. I watched the U.S. play on Sunday [against Bolivia in the Copa America]," Taylor said. "Any opportunity I find myself to be able to catch a match, I try and dive in, so that way it's just going to help my knowledge of the game."