The United States Women’s National Team, Bay FC and the University of North Carolina have this in common: They’re lucky Savy King chose soccer.
King, who turned 20 last month, was Bay FC’s first-ever draft pick when the club selected her No. 2 overall in the National Women’s Soccer League in January. On Sunday, she’s expected to make her pro debut when the expansion team kicks off its inaugural NWSL season in Los Angeles, against Angel City.
Her parents, Kim and Karrie King — still in awe of their daughter’s athletic prowess, and still wondering where her soccer abilities come from — will be there, watching.
“Neither of us played,” said Kim. “But once she started to play, she fell in love with it.”
Savy King, Bay FC’s top draft pick (center) practices with the team Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Savy is a candidate to be Bay FC’s starting left back. She’s also somewhat new to soccer: She didn’t pick up the sport until she was 10, when she joined a recreational AYSO team.
Four years later, she was on the United States Under-15 team. Two years after that, she made the U-17 team that played in the World Cup in India.
That same year, she set school records in the 200- and 400-meter track events as a sophomore at Agoura High School in Southern California. As a senior, she had six interceptions in a single game on the flag football team. She was a cross country star, too.
“We put her in everything, but she chose soccer,” Kim King said. “We have videos of her playing flag football with the boys, and dads are yelling to their sons, ‘Get her, get her!’ Nobody could catch her. On the baseball field, she did the same thing. No matter where we put her, she did well.”
Her quick ascension to stardom parallels mom Karrie’s meteoric rise as a runner and cyclist.
At 19, Karrie King became the youngest person on the Coors Light Biathlon Series pro tour in 1989. A Los Angeles Times profile that year noted that she was the only competitor on the tour too young to drink the sponsor’s product.
Bay FC rookie Savy King and her twin brother, Parker running on the track at the YMCA in Westlake Village, Calif., in 2022. (courtesy Kim E. Parker).
For the longest time, Karrie said, she tried not to coach Savy and her twin brother, Parker, when it came to sports. The twins’ parents would teach them the mental side of the game, reminding them to “be the author of your own stories.” But it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that Karrie started training with her daughter.
“Once we got into lockdown, then it became, ‘OK, we’re putting in a weight program and we’re going to do runs,’” Karrie said. “I put together a whole schedule for her. We weren’t sure how long we were going to be in lockdown. We wanted to make sure we had a training program so she was ready and fit when we came out.”
The teenage sensation only got faster: There’s a video that’ll give any sports family goosebumps if they could get their eyes on it.
In a coed four-by-four 400-meter relay at a high school track meet, Savy was the anchor for her team and Parker the anchor for his. Savy grabbed her baton with a short lead and took off running with Parker close behind. About 100 meters in, Parker caught her, then surged ahead with a good lead on the inside track.
On the home stretch, Savy was at least 10 steps behind. Then she started gaining on him; with two steps to go she surged in front, leaning forward to win the race by a nose.
“He probably ran the fastest 400 of his life,” Karrie said.
How did Savy catch him?
“Because she cares about winning more than he did,” Kim said.
Savy said she was always fueled to compete with her brother, but her moms made sure to give her some important advice she hasn’t forgotten.
“Make sure you’re staying focused on yourself and not comparing yourself to goals other people are setting for themselves,” Savy explained. “Everyone’s journey is different. Focus on your own path.”
Bay FC rookie Savy King (left) seen here with Bay FC teammate Caprice Dydasco (right) while Dydasco was playing for UCLA in 2014 (courtesy Kim E. Parker).
It’s why she stuck with soccer even though nobody else in her family had played. It’s also how, after just one year of AYSO, she found herself advancing rapidly: playing one year up on a competitive club team, then on an Olympic Development Program team, and soon on the women’s youth national team.
“At the beginning I was just enjoying the ride,” she said. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do but it wasn’t something that consumed me. There was a well-rounded life I wanted to live but I had eyes on being a professional soccer player. That was my goal.”
She went to the University of North Carolina, where she played just one season under Anson Dorrance. In his 47th year with the program, the coach called King’s collegiate debut the “best first-game performance by a freshman in the history of our program.”
King made a late decision to go pro and was promptly selected second overall in the draft behind USWNT teammate Ally Sentnor.
While she played center back at UNC, she’s playing outside back for both the national team and Bay FC. Her speed and ability to go one-on-one with anybody have the expansion club most excited.
Bay FC’s top draft pick, Savy King (center), shares a laugh with a teammate during practice, Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Brandi Chastain, the two-time World Cup winner who is one of the founders of Bay FC, said she has been impressed with King’s ability to stay humble throughout her rise in the soccer world.
“She recognizes she has a long runway in front of her for her career, but she wants to make an impact now,” Chastain said.
Chastain spoke to Dorrance, the UNC coach, to get a feel for who the youngster would be as a professional player.
The coach said this: “She’ll never let both a ball and a player get past her. One or the other, but not both.”
“Her future is really bright,” Chastain said.
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After being drafted in January, King had little time to train with Bay FC before she was called back into national team camp for a pair of friendlies in Colombia. She started for the US in a 1-0 win in late February.
When King finally returned to Bay FC two weeks ago, she made a quick impression on head coach Albertin Montoya.
“She can run for days,” he said. “That’s the easiest way to put it.”