On April 1, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio, 26-year-old **Justen Glad** became the first Real Salt Lake Homegrown to walk out of the tunnel with a captain’s armband around their bicep before a Major League Soccer match. Glad, who signed his first professional deal with RSL nine years prior, made history, while also encapsulating the development pathway each and every RSL Academy player hopes to play through.
From beginning in the Academy, cutting his teeth with Real Monarchs, to becoming RSL’s seventh ever Homegrown signing, making his first team debut at the age of 18 back in 2015 to now wearing the captain’s armband.
After the match, sitting in the postmatch press conference room, he took a moment to reflect on what it meant to captain the Club he grew up with.
“It’s a huge honor,” Glad said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was in the Academy so I’m honored that they bestowed me with it.”
Glad has been leading the torch of RSL Homegrowns for a while now, last season becoming the first Homegrown to be named Club MVP, just the third ever defender to win it, and the first domestic player since former RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman to be named the Club’s most valuable player. Additionally, he was the first RSL Homegrown to eclipse 100 appearances and will become the first to reach 200 when he does so later this summer.
“All the captains before me, I’ve looked up to and have been mentors, and incredible leaders so I’m honored to be in the same sentence as them. Hopefully there’s more to come and I can carry that torch like the captains that I’ve grown up with and watched and played with.”
When Glad was first breaking into the team, he credited previous captains like Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando with helping him grow.
“They help me a lot,” said Glad back in 2016. “Even just in practice they're always telling me little pointers. Even if you're just looking at them the way they take care of their bodies, the way they are professionals off the field as well, you pick up a ton of stuff.”
Now, nearly a decade into his career with Real Salt Lake the tables have turned, and he’s the one giving out said pointers, helping out the younger players developing behind him.
This includes up and coming Homegrown defender **Bode Hidalgo** who in many aspects resembles that of a young 21-year-old Glad.
From Beckerman and Rimando to Glad and now Glad to Hidalgo, the leadership of those before is paying dividends.
"It's been cool to see Justen get the armband,” said Hidalgo. “Us both being Homegrowns and starting so young, you kind of see a little bit of yourself in him. He's a really funny guy, just a genuine guy, but when it's time to be serious and get things done, he is also a great leader and he knows his role in being a big leader on this team.”
Despite having been with the Club for well over a decade Glad has yet to be given a leadership title in any official capacity. As one of the younger players, coaches have elected to give the captain’s armband to the likes of Damir Kreilach and Marcelo Silva, season veterans with global experience.
But from the beginning of his time in the Academy to now, his fellow players have viewed him as a leader.
This leadership began at the Academy level where he was part of the first RSL Academy team to win a U.S. Soccer Development Academy Championship in 2013, scoring the game winning goal in the U-16 championship game. Glad helped lead his Academy team to the Generation adidas Championship the following year, falling just short in penalties in the Championship match. In 2022, he was named in the GA Cups’ all-time starting XI. Glad’s time in the Academy to now just shows how far RSL Academy players can go.
Jordan Allen, a former RSL Homegrown player who played with Glad and current RSL Academy coach, explained how Glad is setting an example for all of RSL’s Academy players.
“I think we're always trying to use our Homegrown players as reference points for our Academy kids and showing them what's possible and Justen being named captain is just another marker that we can use,” Allen said.
“It’s another thing that we can tell the kids that they can work towards, being the captain of the Club that they're representing as a youth player. It's a great reflection of the Academy, the strength of the Academy system that we've been trying to build and hopefully Justen's the first of many Homegrowns that go on to Captain the club.”
And while much has changed since Glad joined the Academy back in 2012, his teammates have always believed in his ability to not just lead the backline, but lead the team.
“People gravitate towards him, he's an amazing person to be around,” said former Academy teammate and now first team teammate Andrew Brody.
“He has that kind of personality where people want to be around him. It has been cool to see his development of taking those leadership characteristics and developing those and kind of stepping into this role over the years.”
With all the leadership qualities he’s shared over the years, it’s hardly surprising it’s his teammates who are most excited to see him shine.
“When good people get rewarded like that,” said Brody, “It's really good to see. He works hard every single day in training and just to see his development over the years, how he's continued to progress every single year and try and get better every single day and for him to finally wear the armband is amazing to see his hard work is paying off.”
