Young Adams finds home with Louisville City FC

Whereas talented American athletes can go one-and-done in college, a member of the Louisville City Football Club made the equivalent leap as a high schooler.

Midfielder Charlie Adams, who overcame a quad injury to net a goal in the first-year franchise's season opener last weekend, is already a fourth-year professional. The Englishman, by the way, is just 20 years old.

Adams signed to train full-time with his original club, Brentford, at age 15 and turned professional at 17. He hasn't attended class in the past five years, instead working toward what he hopes is a lengthy career.

It's risky, sure, but "if you think, 'Oh, I need something to fall back on,' then you're planning for failure," Adams said. "I didn't want to plan for failure."

Adams converted on a kick from outside the box in the 66th minute of Louisville City FC's opener against Saint Louis FC, setting the final score at 2-0. And that was after he sat out the first half, not expecting to play much because of a quad strain.

But upon replacing Kadeem Dacres in the midfield, "the adrenaline got me through," said Adams, who's questionable for Louisville City FC's 5 p.m. Saturday road game against the Richmond (Va.) Kickers. The goal was his first as a professional, a tenure that has included appearances for three English teams.

Louisville City FC coach James O'Connor saw the midfielder play in person during the final stop, while Adams was on loan with Stevenage FC.

"He did well in the game," O'Connor said. "You could see he has great ability – a great football brain."

Louisville City FC announced Adams' addition in February, and he has since moved to a new country and city where he has found people "are so kind and so friendly – always so willing to help."

That's only once teammates get past ribbing Adams about the language differences. For instance, he said, sidewalk isn't a term used in England. He says pavement.

Those hurdles are familiar to O'Connor, an Irishman who played for Stoke City FC in England before finishing his career in the United States. It's the coach's experience that was a selling point for international players on Louisville City FC's first roster.

"It's about being to be able to say, 'This is what you should do,'" O'Connor said. "It's also dependent on each player. They all have their own circumstances. You get many reactions, and the ones we've really wanted to sign, we were able to go on and sign."