United Fútbol: Ruby Hladek on Utah United women's hot start, her career at UVU
The Salt City FC podcast is being taken over this summer by United Fútbol, an inside look into Utah United’s USL W League and USL League Two sides as they compete for trophies.
The Salt City FC podcast is being taken over this summer by United Fútbol, an inside look into Utah United’s USL W League and USL League Two sides as they compete for a Mountain division title in the national semi-pro league.
Listen to Episode 1 of United Fútbol with United women leading goal scorer Seven Castain here, or where ever you listen to podcasts.
OREM, Utah — Ruby Hladek had never played full-time on a summer league team, when opportunities were mostly in local WPSL teams or traveling away from her current home near Utah Valley University to find high-level soccer and a higher-level training environment before returning to Orem in the fall.
But something about Utah United, which improved to 5-0 in its inaugural season in the USL W League, stood out to the California native who prepped her senior season at American Fork High School.
When she got to her first training session with the club, she quickly realized how good they could be — by uniting much of the top talent from the state’s seven NCAA Division I squads, as well as a handful of Utah natives looking for playing time while coming home from the summer.
“That’s something about USL W and having just one team in Utah: All of the top talent from a bunch of these schools is mostly in one team,” Hladek said on the latest episode of the United Fútbol podcast on Salt City FC. “They’re super fun people to play with and to be around all the time.”
Fun, and also talented.
But what makes the project so much fun — and probably so talented, as well — isn’t just the way they perform on match day.
It’s the training environment.
“The biggest thing is showing up,” Hladek said. “Everyone’s bought in. Something Scott said recently that I love is, in order to be successful in soccer, you have to love training. It’s very apparent on our team that everyone loves training.
“We’ve got some fun personalities on our team, and we can joke around and have a good time. But we also know what to lock in, to be serious, and to push each other … The more we love it and enjoy it, the better we do.”
Listen to the complete conversation with Hladek on the Salt City FC podcast feed, or by searching “United Fútbol” where ever you get podcasts.
Utah United (5-0, 15 points) returns to USL W League play Thursday, June 12 when the first-year franchise hosts Colorado Storm at Clyde Field. Kickoff from the campus of Utah Valley University is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT.