Three days into a new job, a new home and a new chapter in her soccer journey, Caroline Murray quickly recognized there was something a little different about Sporting Club Jacksonville compared to her recent career stops.
No, she wasn’t in Iceland anymore.
“Everyone’s been joking with me, like, ‘You need to get lots of sunscreen,'” the Sporting Jax fullback said. “So that was my first purchase when I got here.”
Sunscreen in hand and soccer balls at feet, Murray and her teammates are counting down to the July 8 opening of training camp for Sporting Jax ahead of the club’s inaugural season in the Gainbridge Super League for women’s soccer.
For head coach Stacey Balaam, there’s less than a month to prepare the roster for its home preseason opener against Scottish champion Hibernian on Aug. 2, followed three weeks later by the Super League debut Aug. 23 against DC Power FC at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium. Sporting Jax also plays Wrexham on Aug. 10.
“We’ve got to create that identity for them to mold to,” Balaam said. “If they know what that is early on, I think they know how to execute that.”
Ascension St. Vincent’s to sponsor club
That kickoff will include uniforms with a new look after the club announced a partnership July 2 with health care organization Ascension St. Vincent’s, which becomes the jersey sponsor for not only the women’s professional squad but also for thousands of youth players in the Sporting Jax Soccer Academy, formerly Florida Elite.
Sporting Jax president Steve Livingstone said the jersey sponsorship would include the youth academy’s teams in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Palm Coast, Savannah, Tallahassee and Pensacola.
Midfielder Parker Roberts, who grew up watching the former FC Kansas City in the National Women’s Soccer League, said she’s awaiting the chance to inspire the next soccer generation across Florida.
“Back in the day, I got to go to those [Kansas City] games, and you don’t really realize how much it shapes your career and how much you look up to those players and even those coaches when you’re that young,” said Roberts, who went on to play NCAA soccer at the University of Florida. “So I think that will prove to be the same here. We have all of these local girls that are aspiring to play at the highest level.”
Sporting Jax said that Ascension St. Vincent’s would have a “significant brand presence” at all of the club’s home matches at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium for the next two years. In December 2024, the club had announced UNF as its venue only through the spring of 2026.
In addition to the jersey sponsorship, the deal also includes a complete lineup of health care and training services for the team.
The club did not disclose monetary terms of the sponsorship agreement.
The deal marks one step closer to live action for Sporting Jax, set to become Jacksonville’s first-ever women’s sports franchise in a top-division league. The club, which received United Soccer League approval for its men’s team in August 2022 and its women’s team in May 2023, includes Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor in its ownership group.
Jacksonville becomes the next step for several players who have traversed the world playing the game, like Connecticut native Murray. The journey: college soccer at Ohio State and New Hampshire, then clubs in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and most recently Throttur Reykjavik in Iceland. After sampling the northernmost regions of Europe, she doesn’t mind a little sunshine.
“It’s my dream to play [pro soccer] in the United States probably since I was about 10 years old,” she said. “So I’m really excited about being back.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sporting Jax readies for soccer preseason kickoff: Who is the team’s first jersey sponsor?
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
