Flippens: From reluctant player to soccer standout

Jlon Flippens wore an Allen Iverson jersey to her first soccer practice, because after all, she really wasn't there to play soccer.

Now a budding star at Penn Charter, Flippens was destined to play basketball. Her mother, Tisha Williams, said the 6-year-old Flippens was a whirlwind inside their 24th Street rowhouse, and the practice at South Philadelphia's Wilson Park was a way to exert some energy.

Both of Flippens' parents played Public League basketball, her grandmother was the girls' coach at Camden High, and she was even named after her mother's favorite player, Jalen Rose. The Iverson jersey was a gift from her mom, along with a matching pair of his signature Reeboks.

Soccer was just a temporary diversion, Williams thought, so it took her a month to go to the field across the street and watch her daughter's practice.

"The parents were like, 'Oh my goodness, wait until you see your daughter,' " she said.

Soccer's temporary label was soon lifted, and the praise - from parents, coaches, and college recruiters - never seemed to stop.

Flippens is ranked as the best sophomore in the state by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 11 in the nation.

She has scored 45 times this season for Penn Charter and has at least three more games to reach her goal of 50. A win Saturday against Germantown Academy would give the Quakers sole possession of their first Inter-Ac League championship.

"She is very unselfish and makes good decisions," Penn Charter coach Darci Borski said. "And she has a real knack for scoring. She's dangerous up there."

The 15-year-old has narrowed her long list of college suitors to four of the country's premier programs: Maryland, Michigan, Southern California, and Stanford.

Flippens is a member of U.S. Soccer's under-15 development program, which meets across the country every three months to train. She will turn 16 in April, which means that Flippens' big test will be to make the under-17 team.

Her goal is to play in next summer's U-17 World Cup, which will be a challenge as the team is already in the midst of qualifying.

"It's stressful because you always have to be consistent," Flippens said. "But it's worth it in the end because you're getting better as you go and you get to meet players from around the country that are at the same skill level as you."

Flippens came to Penn Charter in the sixth grade and played for the varsity team as an eighth grader. It was intimidating at first to play with older players, Flippens said, but her teammates made her "feel like one of their own."

The team plays on a manicured field with landscaped shrubbery and an electronic scoreboard. The only complaint is a drainage problem in the far corner.

It's a long way from Wilson Park, where Flippens played for the Anderson Monarchs.

The field was muddied, thanks to its use by area football teams, and railroad cars rumbled on the bridge over 25th Street. Coach Walter Stewart lined the field before games.

Williams said Stewart used to pick up Flippens and her teammates on Saturday mornings at 8 and drop them off hours later. It was there that Flippens' passion for soccer bloomed.

The team went undefeated for four seasons, and Flippens met first lady Michelle Obama at the White House.

Flippens moved from the Monarchs to Continental FC (the former FC Delco) in search of stiffer competition.

It's a twice-a-week hour commute to the Downingtown club, which operates mostly in the summer, and Flippens and her mother usually do not get home until late at night. They watch soccer together on TV, more than they do basketball, and a Chelsea F.C. plate is on the front of their car.

Playing with the U.S. team paired Flippens with the nation's top talents and showed her that a lot of girls have the same goal: to get to the top.

"It's an eye opener to see how far I've come since I was in my Allen Iverson jersey," Flippens said. "I would never have expected it, and I'm really grateful."