Jay Feely spent his NFL career kicking field goals. Now he is kickstarting the Gilbert Christian girls soccer program.

 

The program was recently re-established in 2014 after being suspended for a lack of numbers since 2011 and has found quick success under Feely, who came aboard in 2015.

 

They qualified for the playoffs in 2017 and 2018, reaching the quarterfinals last year and the semifinals the year prior, and are 34-12-1 under Feely.

 

“We created a program where we work hard and our girls like to have fun,” said Feely.

 

“We know that we have to get better and better everyday in practice and so we talked about setting a standard,” said Feely, “regardless of the teams we have played and every practice really and they have bought in to that.”

Feely is a longtime soccer player and fan. He started playing the sport when he was only ten and won a national championship in 1993 with his travel team the Temple Terrace Spirit based in Tampa, Florida.

 

Feely attributes the rapid success of the program to the team showcasing “hard work” and having “no drama” since joining the staff in 2015, only one year after retiring from the NFL.

 

“From day one this year we had our minds set on where we want to go and we want to go to the state championship,” said Feely. “We wanted to be undefeated as a team in the regular season and we accomplished that.”

 

Gilbert Christian (12-0) is currently No. 5 in the state in Conference 3A.

 

The Lady Knights secured a 5-2 win over American Leadership Academy to complete its undefeated season.