Who founded the club and what is its mission? I’m (Josh Duckworth) the founder and President of SOWEGANS Soccer Club. Born and raised in SOWEGA (Southwest, GA), I knew that if I ever moved back home I’d look into birthing a club to represent all of southwest GA. I was fortunate to move back the summer of 2021 and have been working on launching the club ever since!
What is the meaning behind the name, badge and the colors you chose? The name SOWEGANS is inclusive for all who live in Southwest Georgia (aka SOWEGA). The 14 stars represent all the counties that make up SOWEGA. The beautiful shoals spider lily is prominent on the Flint River, growing exclusively in rock crevices during May. Center of the crest is the alligator snapping turtle. It’s prominent in the Flint River and the largest freshwater turtle in Georgia. But mainly, we really like turtles in these parts. The meaner looking, the better! Visit and meet Big Al, an alligator snapping turtle at the Flint Riverquarium. Our colors, navy and green, reflect the beauty of our rivers, streams, and forests. Formerly known as the Artesian City, Albany has a wealth of water resources and wildlife.
Where will you draw your players from? What are the nearest colleges or youth clubs and do you have any connections with any of them?
Our starting point for player recruitment will be right here in Southwest, GA. We want the best players in our area to play for us! Whether that’s the top college players from our handful of colleges, post-college players looking to represent our area and maybe catch the eye of a pro scout, or even elite level high school players from some of our successful programs or academies. If we still need to fill out a roster after searching our area we’ll certainly look to colleges and other players beyond. We have two successful soccer coaches on our board who have lots of connections in soccer in our region.
There have been a handful of really successful club launches at all levels of soccer; who is your target audience? Will you be getting involved in the kits and scarves game?
Branding and fan engagement are very important to us! We feel really good about the brand that we have and are already in conversations about our kit. We’ve also got some great gear available at our website!
While we trust that the die hard soccer fans will support what we are doing, we want to make game day experiences fun for non-soccer people too. We hope to host the best parties of the summer on Saturday nights!
What level soccer will you be coming in at; what leagues have you considered or even decided upon and what do you find most important in a league?
We’ll begin play in the Gulf Coast Premier League in 2023. I spoke with every league during our discernment period but ultimately landed at the GCPL because I liked the time period of the season (May-July), I like the relationship with NISA and it’s connection to regional leagues, and I think it’s a great starting point for a new club.
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