By Ryan Makuch

AFC Ann Arbor is pleased to announce the signing of Chloe Ricketts ahead of the 2022 campaign. Ricketts will become the youngest member of any team’s roster in club history as she is just 14-years-old. Ricketts is a native of Michigan who plays her youth soccer here in Ann Arbor, and she joins Eitzman as another example of young people playing an important role with the club.

Despite her youth, Ricketts is becoming one of the fastest-rising prospects in youth soccer here in Michigan. A member of the Class of 2007, Ricketts continues to break down walls in her attempt to climb higher and higher in the world of soccer. Ricketts was most recently invited to a U.S. Youth National Team Regional Identification Center for 2006 girls, despite being a full year younger than the majority of those being scouting.

2021 was also a successful year for Ricketts teams, both her 2006 Girls team, which saw advancement into the ECNL National Finals, as well as her 2007 Boys Ann Arbor Tigers, who won a Michigan State Cup, the National League Great Lakes Conference, and went undefeated at the USYS Michigan Regional Championships.

Ricketts plays at the highest level among boys her age, and the experience has only made her better. “I think it's made me a better player because it’s increased my speed of play,” Ricketts said. “You have to be physically and mentally quick when competing against boys.” Ricketts and her team are consistently among the top ten teams in the country in the 2007 age group and have experience playing the best players in the nation of her age bracket.

For Ricketts, this is a key moment for her development as a player. “I am looking forward to playing with girls/women with more experience than me and picking up some of the things they do well to help my development,” she would say in regards to what she is looking forward to the most.

“My goal for the season is to create goals, score goals, and pick up some wins in the process,” Ricketts would add. She would continue, “I am looking forward to training hard, playing hard, and learning from my environment!”

In the not-so-distant future, Ricketts hopes to play professional soccer in Europe while playing on the U.S. Women’s National Team. Ricketts has already participated in invite-only collegiate and professional player camps and has continued to garner attention for her performances, for good reason given her accolades.

On her joining, Boyzzz Khumalo, AFC Ann Arbor’s Women’s Head Coach, said on his new signing, “The first time I saw Chloe play it was two years ago. She was playing a State Cup game vs. Eric – Rush vs. Tigers. And she was just doing her thing, and I was like ‘Oh my god, who’s that girl?’ She’s a brilliant player and we are looking forward to working with her.”

Khumalo emphasized the importance of local players as well, and that’s something he placed emphasis on early on. “When I was named head coach of the women’s team, my first thinking was, hey, we have to reach out to our local players and also give them the opportunity to play for the local team,” he would say.

Over her young career, Chloe Ricketts has proved herself to be one of the finest players of her age range, and AFC Ann Arbor looks forward to helping her professional and personal development over the 2022 season!