KK Ream is a Utah Royals rookie with tremendous upside. But she also deserves to be a teenager
The 16-year-old striker has been explosive in URFC's preseason, which comes to a close March 15 against Bay FC. But few expectations are higher than the ones she puts on herself.
KK Ream is still a teenager, but the Utah native who signed a first-team contract with Utah Royals FC at just 15 years old to become the club’s youngest-ever professional signing has big dreams.
As a rookie, Ream isn’t shy about aiming for the NWSL’s top honor for her cohort, Rookie of the Year. The goal may seem high to most, and for many, they might have a point.
But if you don’t want to be the best, then why are you in the game? And Ream, who played for Utah Avalanche’s boys ECNL 09 team before signing a three-year deal with the Royals, knows the work it will take to reach such a goal.
“I’m going to have to score a lot of goals,” Ream said when asked how to follow in Croix Bethune’s ROTY tracks after a first season with the Washington Spirit. “But also just contribute to the team as much as I can.”
Ream is a player with maturity beyond her years, at least on the soccer pitch. She’s broken into the United States’ youth national team, representing her country mosts recently at the 2025 U-15 CONCACAF Championship.
She also buried a crucial penalty kick in the United States’ shootout win over Canada in the tournament semifinals en route to the country’s fourth consecutive U-15 title. Ream is the twin sister of RSL Academy standout Linkon Ream, and previously played for Utah Royals FC AZ from 2019 through 2022 and RSL Arizona’s boys teams from 2020 to 2022 before returning to Utah.
She’s quick, decisive and engaging off a press, which she showed more than a week ago when she scored a hat trick against BYU in the Royals’ preseason friendly.
Her performance prompted teammates, including veteran center back Kate Del Fava, to take notice of their younger rookie — if they haven’t before.
“Three syllables,” Del Fava said, “K-K-Ream.”
But she also quickly admits it was “harder than I thought” when Utah played its a closed-door scrimmage against Angel City. That’s where her Royals coaches and teammates come in, including a system that helped move Ally Sentnor from No. 1 overall draft pick out of North Carolina into the U.S. Soccer Youth Female Player of the Year.
Sentnor is one of the players Ream looks up to — for good reason — as well as names like Crystal Dunn and Sophia Smith, more recently. Playing on the same pitch will be a dream for the teen.
But again, that’s also where her coaches come in. Ream isn’t just a rookie with high upside. She’s also at the age where she should be preparing to get her drivers’ license and going to prom rather than learning how to score against some of the best players in the world.
Jimmy Coenraets has some experience developing young players, as well. The 29-year-old second-time head coach took 7-8 of the Belgium national team members at a young age with his club at OH Leuven and turned them into international-caliber players in his four years in his home country.
For players like Ream, Coenraets will focus not only on developing her as a unique young talent — but as a high school-aged young woman, as well.
“The conversations we had with KK included how to help get better as a player, but also KK as a student, KK physically, KK going to the gym, KK leaving home for 10 days to go to a professional training camp,” Coenraets said. “I think there’s a bigger picture, and we shouldn’t forget about that fact that she’s only 15-16 years old; at the end of the day, yes she’s performing. But our job right now is to protect her as much as possible.
“Yes, we have a young talent. But she still has a long way to go. If she wants to play for the next 15-16 years, then the next 3-4 years are very, very important for here. So that’s what we’re doing so far, just looking at the bigger picture. Is there a reason why she should play? There’s no age that says she’ll be ready. So we’ll just do testing on a daily basis, work with her at school, get her a different schedule than other players at the club — and making sure she’s progressing in other ways, going to school, making friends outside of the club. More than just scoring goals, we want to make sure she’s a very happy human being.”
The Royals open the season March 15 against Bay FC at 5:30 p.m. MT at America First Field in Sandy, Utah.