Tyler Deric grew up a fan of the Houston Dynamo, the first of a new generation of soccer players in Southeast Texas with a Major League Soccer club to call their own. Deric was the first alumnus of the Dynamo Academy to be promoted to the first team; he became the full-time starter and donned the No. 1 shirt last season.
Deric grew up watching the Dynamo as a player in the powerhouse Klein High School program before heading to the University of North Carolina in 2007. A year later, he returned to Houston as the first Homegrown Player to sign with the team, and now he finds himself standing in front of the supporters he once cheered along with. The responsibility of representing his home town on the pitch is not something that Deric takes lightly.
“Every day I try to represent Houston the best I can. I love the people here, I love the city, and I just want to try my best every day for the city,” he said. “I look up in the crowd every weekend and you see people that I’ve played soccer with growing up. I see friends, I see family friends that I recognize, and it’s a real honor to play for a club that I’ve grown up in the same city.”
This season represents an opportunity for Deric to take on a larger role within the team. The 27-year-old is the longest-tenured player on the team in terms of consecutive seasons, and that coupled with the position he plays allows him to speak up a bit more. However, Deric aims to lead in his own way.
“I just think that it’s a role that you can’t force. I’m going to act the same regardless of the labels that are put on me,” he said. “But at the same time, I’ve been here for eight years. It’s the club that I’ve grown up watching my entire life, so I’m really looking forward to stepping in and leading by example for the team.”
Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle said that while Deric has taken great strides over the last year, he still has room to develop.
“I think he’s grown enormously. He’s come in, as he did last year, and he’s shown his quality,” Coyle said. “And I think he knows as well that he wants to add that level of consistency as all goalkeepers do, because that’s what the best goalkeepers in the world do is they are consistent week-in and week-out. I think Tyler still has more growth, more potential to grow, and become an even better keeper for the Houston Dynamo.”
Deric saw first-hand the consistency needed to be a top-class goalkeeper during his first six years with the Dynamo as a reserve. Deric may not have seen the field that often, but he used the time wisely, honing his craft and learning from a pair of the best keepers in MLS, Pat Onstad and Tally Hall.
“Pat Onstad, he played well into his 40s in this league; and Tally Hall made a couple of All-Star teams and took us to the MLS Cup Final,” Deric said. “I’ve been very fortunate with the players that I’ve gotten to play with. How they take care of their bodies day-in and day-out, especially with Pat and his leadership, being the older guy in the clubhouse and how guys looked up to him and respected him.”
Thanks to Coyle’s and goalkeepers coach Paul Rogers’ connections in the Barclay’s Premier League, Deric was able to continue to learn from seasoned pros this offseason when he spent two weeks training with West Ham United. The experience helped give Deric another level to strive for, both on and off the pitch.
“The demand over in the Premier League is so high for the players and the work they put in every day. They didn’t get there by accident,” he said. “The work rate that they put in in the gym, on the field, and the professionalism that they carry and the attitude that they have is the biggest thing that I took away from the players there.”
Coyle feels that the training stint in London will benefit his young goalkeeper in both the short and the long term, helping him unlock a higher level of play.
“He then understands at the very highest level, which the EPL is, what it takes,” Coyle said. “So that was good and now he’s back from that trip reinvigorated and really looking to drive himself on, push himself on to do well for himself, for the Houston Dynamo and for his teammates, and that all goes well for the rest of the season.”
Armed with the confidence that comes from seniority and match experience, as well as the lessons learned in a fortnight in London, Deric appears poised to truly take flight in 2016.
