When the announcement was made in the summer of 2015 that soccer would be coming to Statesboro, South Georgia Tormenta FC didn’t have any coaches or players. In fact, when the team was first unveiled, it didn’t even have its name.
Fast forward to Wednesday evening and the growth of the franchise becomes apparent. Not only is the Tormenta name known and loved around Statesboro, it also has a track record of winning, new status as a professional outfit and - come 2020 - a new place to call home.
Players, team front office members, sponsors and hundreds of fans flooded onto the site of the former Hackers driving range on Wednesday to celebrate the official groundbreaking for Tormenta’s new stadium.
The project will involve much more than a patch of grass and seats. In addition to the impressive seating capacity of over 5,000, the stadium will also include retail space, as well as a separate building that will contain four locker rooms, team offices, training facilities, a branch of Optim Orthopedics and team space for the Georgia Southern men’s and women’s soccer teams which will also call the stadium home.
“This is going to be a place for everyone,” Tormenta team president Darin Van Tassell said. “It will be home for us and for the Georgia Southern teams. It will be a place where our small businesses can grow. It will be a place where events can be held where the whole community can come out and be entertained.”
Then Van Tassell turned toward the USL League One trophy, which was making its first public appearance at the groundbreaking ahead of the league’s inaugural match set for Friday night.
“This is also going to be a place where we win that trophy,” Van Tassell said. “The teams that play here are going to play for championships here and it’s going to be a lot of fun”
Wednesday’s groundbreaking was yet another first that Tormenta can claim in the new USL League One. Tormenta was the first franchise to be accepted to the league and was the first to hire a coach and sign a player. Friday’s game against the Greenville Triumph will be the first in league history and Wednesday’s festivities marked the first groundbreaking for a soccer-specific stadium for any club in the league.
“When you look at what Tormenta has been able to accomplish in terms of building itself up, it’s everything you want to see in a team.,” Senior Vice President of USL League One Steven Short said. “When we were ready to launch this new professional league, Darin was my first call. I think that he always believed that he could make things happen with everything Tormenta has set out to accomplish.”
No firm completion date for the stadium has been set. Van Tassell stated that there are games to play in mid-March of the 2020 season and that he hopes Tormenta will be playing in its new home. If not, they’ll move in as soon as the stadium is ready to host matches.
The full attention of Tormenta fans was asked - and answered - with Wednesday’s groundbreaking a dozens of supporters brought their own shovels in order to participate in the event. The beginning of the march to a new stadium and all of the amenities that will come with it was the emphasis of the day, but there was also the reminder that the 2019 season - and the brand new professional adventure - is immediately in front of Tormenta and its supporters.
Despite all of the hope and promise that surrounded Wednesday’s event, it was clear that the short-term goals are also still on Tormenta’s mind as Van Tassell directed a question at the new USL League One Cup.
“I know they want to show this off, but wouldn’t it just be easier to leave it here?”