The signing of Homegrown Player Thomas Williams was another step towards building an academy pipeline for Orlando City. The 16-year-old defender is the 11th Homegrown Player in club history — the eighth on the active roster — and joins the first team with plenty of promise. Orlando may not be FC Dallas or the Philadelphia Union, but the academy is producing Homegrown Players.
While good, these players need to start making an impact on the first team. The #PlayYourKids movement has yet to fully manifest itself in the City Beautiful, but one of its pioneers is starting to change that.