A lot has happened at Shankly Elite Training since it officially opened just under two years ago. Making the most of the professional experience he gained in Europe, Tyler Hudson, a Dalton State grad who played the game of soccer growing up in England, started Shankly Elite Training, LLC, a sports company that offers a supportive training regimen for soccer players in the spring of 2022. When Hudson began his company, he couldn’t have predicted the explosive growth his company has seen both in Soccertown U.S.A. and the Northwest Georgia region, including the Chattanooga, Tennessee area.

“The ultimate goal is to grow the company,” said Hudson. “The first year it exploded and we haven’t stopped since.”

Since 2022, Hudson has had hundreds of students that have attend the sessions, camps and clinics Shankly Elite provides to students from little tykes to college-age.

“A big goal is to make sure kids have an opportunity to train on the outside of their club practices,” said Hudson.

Hudson has an immense love and knowledge of soccer and knew he wanted to somehow mix these things to start Shankly Elite.

“It was an idea I came up with after watching many different people around the world for many years,” said Hudson. “I had to wait until I graduated from college, then I was able to form my own company.”

The soccer trainer knew that the Dalton community and surrounding areas could use supplemental training, saying that Dalton and the surrounding areas are very highly soccer-oriented communities who were ready for the supplemental training. His training philosophy is more than just training for the game of soccer…he trains his students on the game of life as well.

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“I try to make it more than just soccer,” said Hudson. “I put a strong emphasis on the kids. It’s not really about just building soccer players, but building people and building character. (The soccer training) doesn’t mean that the kids will go on to become superstars in the game because most of them will not likely get to the highest level of the game professionally, but I want to make sure they gain things that they never thought they could do (by training) with us; they may gain new friends, they may gain confidence in certain areas they didn’t have originally and then of course, it will set them off as a better person. I want to make them better players, but more importantly, better people…better team players, better people individually so they do gain more confidence in their own abilities.”

Hudson began playing soccer in Liverpool, England, in a very working-class area, when he was around four years old. He honed his skills at a grassroots Saturday-Sunday league, then was scouted and picked up by Liverpool and Everton academies.

Hudson attended high school at Alsop High School in Walton, Liverpool. Throughout the next few years, Hudson, who played the position of left back on defense, played in the regular weekend league, school soccer and played with the Liverpool Schoolboys. He was then scouted for Wigan Athletic, a former premier league team, signing with them between the ages of 13 and 16. He was eventually released from the team and while disappointment could have easily set in, the young man was determined to play and realized that setbacks are opportunities for setups to something bigger and better.

Hudson visited several different clubs and became a member of a club that was in the 4th division in England called Morecambe FC, spending about a year-and-a-half there. While he was there, he began looking at the American scholarship route to come to American and play in college. Hudson settled on a college in Northwest Georgia, Dalton State, who at that time, was just starting their soccer program.

“They took three of us from England and I’ve basically been here ever since,” said Hudson, now celebrating 10 years in the country.

Hudson got his first degree in Biology, ran into a visa issue and had to go home and fix it then came back to America for another degree.

“That put me on the right track to graduate in May 2022 with my second degree, then start the company,” said Hudson. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but it was worth it.”

The popular soccer trainer said he reflects back on a conversation he had with a teacher in England many years ago, which might have subconsciously inspired him to begin his training center.

“I had a high school teacher say to me at the time, ‘Have you ever looked into teaching? I think you’d be a fantastic teacher,’” said Hudson. “At the time I said, ‘No, I’m going to try to be a player.’ He told me he thought I’d make a great player, but also thought I’d make a great teacher. Two or three years later, I am at college in America, playing and sniffing around the pros over here with a couple of summer teams and the Chattanooga Red Wolves. My career, even though I still played local and semi-pro for a while, it almost probably came to an end but I think it was by choice because I became so involved with coaching. Looking back many years ago now, that teacher was probably right. He said ‘I think you’d be a really good teacher.’ When you’re coaching, you’re teaching. You’re leading by an example; you’re breaking things down to the students. That is kind of a full circle; here we are now running a program where we’re teaching every single day. I actually spoke to that teacher not too long ago and told him, ‘You were 110 percent right. This is where I am now.’ And he was happy with how it turned out.”’

What makes Shankly different is the concentration of private training for soccer players, outside of their club and high school team practices.

“People are edging toward the private training aspect of soccer,” said Hudson. “They’re finding it more necessary, and there are parents who want to put their children into it. I think since we’ve started in June 2022, we’ve had a total of 650 kids in the program. So, hopefully in the next year we will hit 1,000. When I was a youngster, there was no private training. I wish there had been because I don’t know where I’d be at in the game right now if I would have had the more detailed guidance at that age. I wish I would’ve had it then. But I, along with others in this private training industry, want to be that person for our students that we didn’t have growing up, getting the individualized training and guidance that we could’ve benefitted from.”

Private training has become popular in Soccertown U.S.A., where terms like ‘whirlwind’ and ‘explosive’ do not even begin to describe the growth of Shankly in less than two years, not just in terms of adding students, but in the number of coaches working at the company and in terms of what programs Shankly can offer to the area’s soccer players.

“We’ve grown substantially,” said Hudson. “Not just in the number of students, but we’ve been able to employee a lot more coaches as well. We have coaches on staff on a day-to-day basis instead of just bringing coaches in as needed.”

Hudson said he now has around 19 coaches total working in some capacity at Shankly, whether it’s daily coaching or coaches who come in to work clinics and camps.

“On a week-to-week, there are six to eight coaches with me regularly,” said Hudson. “We are now a full-time daily program. The last six months’ growth has enabled me to really get going with a full flow of classes going every single day; three, four, sometimes five classes at the same time, whether it is individual or group training classes. That’s one of thing things I’m most proud of, being able to provide jobs for people around here that are interested in soccer. The summer of 2022 gave us our start, but the summer of 2023 was absolutely huge in terms of the amount of kids we gained in the program and the amount of classes we were able to offer on a day-to-day. In 2023, we were able to do two summer camps.”

Another important aspect to growing the company for Hudson was it helped him to be able to remain in America.

“One of my goals, personally, as well, was to be able to sponsor my visa to be able to stay in America. That’s the big factor: if I didn’t have that visa, I wouldn’t be able to run the company. I’d either be back in school getting a higher level degree, like a masters or a doctorates, or I’d be back home in England. So that was a big turning point and big deciding factor in being able to grow the company. In May 2023, I was able to use the company to sponsor my visa,” said Hudson.

In addition to more students and more coaches, Hudson has been able to offer a variety of new programs to assist students at every level of soccer.

Last week, on Wednesday, January 31, Hudson announced a new class, Finishing Friday. The first session was held on Friday, February 2, and saw 32 students come out to work on finishing drills.

“I got the idea from a guy I met in Anaheim, California at a convention a couple of weeks ago,” said Hudson. “He told me he designated one day dedicated to finishing, on a Friday, before the weekend games. He said every single week, it grew. So I thought I’d give it a go.”

Finishing Friday consists of game preparation. It facilitates students of every age, which are split into groups where they work on an hour’s worth of finishing patterns, movement patterns and ball striking.

“Pretty much, it prepares the kids for the games over the weekends,” said Hudson. “It’ll most benefit strikers and forwards. We also try to include a goal keeping aspect to it. It’s a lot of repetition for finishing at the goal, and a lot of repetition for the goalies as well. It’s non-stop shooting. It’s a less impact session and is more technique-based. It is scenarios around the goal. It’s basically a warm-up, then 50 minutes of straight finishing.”

Hudson said the first Finishing Friday session was a complete sell-out.

“It shows that our parents, our kids…our customers are trusting every single program we’re offering right now, and investing in it. We’re very grateful for that,” said Hudson.

Another important aspect of soccer is strength, and last year, Hudson began offering a strength training session.

“The past year has enabled us to open up a Strength Training Program, which is running on a weekly basis at the Beast Mode facility in downtown Dalton,” said Hudson. “The guys there are phenomenal; they open up a slot every Saturday for us and it gives our athletes time in the gym working on strength training.”

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Something Hudson is looking forward to bringing back this year is partner camps.

“In 2023, we were able to do two summer camps; in summer 2024, I plan to do the two camps I do with my coaches at Shankly Elite, but also do some partner camps as well,” said Hudson. “I did one last year with Heritage High School, and it was a hit. The partner camps involve me and the Shankly coaches going out and providing our services to the high school camps.”

Hudson said the partner camps are an important part of the growth on the community relations side of Shankly.

“The partner camps were a growth factor as far as what we do in the community,” said Hudson. “I’m very proud and happy with the coaches that have come on board. They are building great relationships with our students and almost getting their own clientele together, where they know they are coaching on a day-to-day schedule and they form relationships with these students and the parents. We’re very fortunate to have the support of the community. The parents have been great and very supportive.”

Another business aspect that has helped Shankly, and that Hudson highly suggests for any business, is joining the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, where Shankly Elite Training was named the Emerging Business of the Year in April 2023.

“Being a part of the Chamber of Commerce and winning the Emerging Business of the Year Award has been an honor,” said Hudson. “Winning the award was also a big thing for me in aiding the support for my visa. It showed that we were doing good things in the community. I don’t do what I do, and the coaches of Shankly do not do what they do, for the recognition. We do it in terms of what we need to be doing it for…to help the kids grow as soccer players, athletes and people. It’s part of our company motto now. Even though it’s primarily a soccer training company, it’s a company that concentrates on building better people. We want these kids to get to the highest level possible in soccer. For some kids, it will be high school; for others, it will be college. For a very, very few, it will be a chance to go to the pros, which is a bonus. But our goal is building better people, and making sure the kids leave our sessions happy and more confident in technical ability as well.”

It’s that motto that keeps Hudson and the coaches he works with inspired and focused on the job at hand.

“Even on the days we feel the most tired, the most exhausted, we are there to set an example,” said Hudson of his coaches. “The minute our energy level goes down is the minute the athletes’ energy level is going to go down in terms of what they’re going to give training. Our coaches are here to set an example and make an impact.”

A huge impact the coaches at Shankly make on the youth is through the encouragement and advice they offer during difficult times.

“One of our young boys, who tried to make a middle school team last year but just missed out, came and trained with us, here and there, to improve his skills,” said Hudson. “He was improving but then took a big break. He came back but was back to scratch since he took such a big break. I had a text from his mother last night because he was supposed to attend a session, and the mom told me he’s given up on himself and doesn’t want to play soccer anymore. So, I told the mom ‘bring him out to the session, not to train, but because I want to talk to him.’ I had a conversation with the young lad for about 10 minutes, and really emphasized what he could possibly do. I told him a bit about my situation and what happened with me growing up. He came into the conversation with his head down and shoulders slumped, but within 10 minutes, his shoulders were pinned back and his head was back up again, showing he felt a little bit more confident in himself again. That’s what we want to instill in all of our players, and it’s something the coaches can give back to these kids as well. That’s just an example of someone who may not get to even a middle school level, but can hopefully take the life lessons with him elsewhere.”

Partnerships like the one Shankly has with the local Chamber, along with other regional businesses and organizations, has helped the training facility grow and serve the community.

 “Mohawk Industries has been a big factor in aiding students to get discounted sessions, camps and clinics,” said Hudson. “With the camps being the higher priced training that we offer, Mohawk’s donation has enabled parents who have multiple kids and want to put them all in a camp or clinic to be able to do so at a discount. We are able to offer the discount because of Mohawk’s generosity. Their support has helped kids train more regularly, and to be able to attend camps and clinics. That support has been huge.

“Another partnership we are looking at being involved with is the Soccertown USA organization and Monday Night Futbol organization,” Hudson continued. “They’re also phenomenal people over there that we’re looking forward to working with in the coming weeks and months while the high school soccer season is playing.”

More growth has come with the addition of regional sessions as Hudson is hosting clinics in Signal Mountain, Tenn., as well as Atlanta.

“I’ve opened up sessions in Atlanta and trained two of the Concorde Fire’s girls’ ECNL club teams,” said Hudson. “I’m also in Signal Mountain with training. But Dalton is home. This is where I am and it’s home. Liverpool, England is home at heart, but Dalton is now home for me. (The word of mouth from Dalton) means our service area is spreading out. I have full confidence in my coaching staff here that they can lead sessions here in Dalton and do fantastic jobs while doing so. Whether it’s one-on-one training or group training, I’m getting fantastic feedback from parents on the other members of the coaching staff. That was hard at first; a lot of people just seeing me as coach. I had to get past that phase and make sure people fell in love with the Shankly brand and not just a single coach. Now, students have fallen in love with the brand and the coaches and are willing to train with any of the coaches because they know they’ll get the same energy and same guidance from whatever coach they’re training with.”

In the future, Hudson is hoping for even more partnership opportunities after attending the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Anaheim, California recently.

“I always thought it was centered toward college, club and pro coaches; I think I was one of the ones of just a few of the few thousand people there that was a private trainer,” said Hudson. “A lot of people were from international clubs, such as a lot of clubs from England had coaches there; the Scotland National Team was there, the U.S. National Team and clubs across the United States. We were fortunate enough to meet Brad Friedel who was on the U.S. National Team and an ex-Premier League player, Landon Donovan was there; I got to meet Javier Zanetti who used to play for Inter Milan. I got to connect with a lot of people that I didn’t even think I’d meet in this life. I took a lot away from the experience. Shankly has formed partnerships with really big brands, and we have a really good deal with Puma. We went to the private event that Puma hosted during the Convention and we met even more people. It was a way to connect with people, and was also an eye opener to see how far we can actually take this by connecting with people both state-wide and from other states. It will hopefully offer us ways to provide more services and programs and to continue to grow.”

And with U.S. Soccer recently announcing that their new training center and headquarters will be built outside Atlanta in Fayetteville, Hudson sees the possibility of other partnerships on the horizon.

“It’s a huge addition; it’s going to be absolutely fantastic for the state of Georgia,” said Hudson of U.S. Soccer’s move. “That’s also going to open up new opportunities. I think it’ll give our region more exposure to the national stage. It’s going to really boost soccer in our state. One of my goals in the next six months to a year is to connect with the people I’ve met recently to see if I can get some more of these pro players in to camps and clinics. We’ve had a lot of pros over the last year from the Chattanooga area come to our camps and clinics.”

Coming up at Shankly Elite Training, Hudson and his coaches will host Winter Camp February 19-20, which includes a two-and-a-half hour session each day. There will be both morning and evening slots available depending on the age group. Food and refreshments are included. Both camp slots will be held at Heritage Soccer Complex. In addition, there will be a Spring Break Camp, and summer camps this summer. Camps and sessions are competitively priced and financial aid is available.

For more information or to sign up for camps, visit Shankly Elite Training on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087267036256 or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shanklyelitetraining_llc/. Shankly also has a TikTok account at https://www.tiktok.com/@shanklyelitetraining_llc .

You can also find more information on Shankly's website at shanklyelitetrainingllc.com.