Goodbye old friends

At the beginning of this year I wrote about the ever-changing nature of sports teams and, in particular, how the names and faces change year over year as players leave and players join the team. For better or worse, it's the time of year where we replace some planks on the Ship of Theseus for Tormenta as the team announced its first departures from the 2025 squad Tuesday morning.

Makal Rasheed, Aaron Walker, Gabriel Cabral and Austin Pack's time with Tormenta has come to an end. I don't know what's next for any of the players leaving, (Edit: After writing this, we found out about one players next steps, read on to see who) but I always wish them all well in whatever comes next.

I could regale you with tales of their stats and performances during their time in Statesboro. Actually, now that I think about it, I probably couldn't do that. "Regale" implies a level of skill or talent that, frankly, I don't have. I could tell you about some of their feats with their feet. But "regale"? I'm not sure I could write you a gripping tale that would keep you on the edge of your seat as you read. Especially because if I got long winded you'd just go look up the stats yourselves and that would kill our  engagement time on the site and hurt our ad revenue.

Editor: Umm, Luke, you know there's no revenue from this, right? Just the satisfaction of a job well done. Or sometimes just a job done.

Right, I knew that. Anyway, rather than attempt to weave a tapestry to suspense and intrigue, how about if I just tell you some of my favorite memories and impressions of the first four players leaving from the 2025 Tormenta squad. More announcements are expected throughout the week.

Austin Pack - My oldest clearly enjoys Tormenta games and the side benefits of tagging along with me to events. But he's not a huge fan that's following the ins and outs of the league on a daily basis. The next blog post of mine he reads will be the first. Despite that, when it was announced last year that Pack had signed with Tormenta, he was excited. He knew enough to know Pack was one of the best the the league and it was a huge get for Tormenta. 

Pack was always polite and professional, but I don't think doing interviews was one of the joys of his life. He was never rude or anything, but talking with me after games wasn't high on his priority list. He is a fierce competitor and incredibly vocal from his goalkeeper position, often directing play and regularly praising the guys on the field. I've told my kid that I need someone like Pack in my life. Someone who will say "Good! Good Luke" when I send that email like I'm supposed to.

Gabriel Cabral - I was at one of Tormenta's preseason games when Cabral arrived to join the team. Co-Owner Darin Van Tassell had picked him up from the airport and they drove straight to the game where Cabral sat with Van Tassell and a few other fans. He was gracious enough to spend a few minutes talking to me about what it meant to be back in Statesboro after his time in Miami and what he was looking forward to.

Cabral served as captain for many games and, as such, often drew the short straw of having to talk to me after the games. During the rough stretch of the season, he remained positive, believing the talent was on the team to go on a run and he turned out to be correct there. I always enjoyed watching Cabral's smooth play on the field. It was announced Tuesday that Cabral signed with Omaha. 

Makel Rasheed - Joining a team midseason can be tough. Rasheed knows that as well as anyone, joining the team in the summer after playing with Asheville City SC to provide depth at defense and ended up being a key contributor not just anchoring the defense, but adding four goals as well during his tenure with Tormenta. For the first month, my kid referred to him as "new guy" when playing America's Favorite Game because he couldn't always remember his name.

He might not have remembered his name, but he knew Rasheed's smile. The few times I got to interview him, he was always smiling and seemed to be relishing his opportunity with Tormenta. My extended family spent a long weekend in Asheville after Rasheed signed and I looked for an Ashville City hat when I was there. I didn't find one but got an Ashville Tourists hat instead. I regret not wearing it to a game while Rasheed was playing. That's on me.

Aaron Walker -  Remember Young MC? Bust a move. Yeah, you remember. You're signing it now, aren't you? Did you know Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, played bass guitar on that song? Now you do. Impress your friends at whatever holiday parties you attend this season. It was a huge hit and a lot of people's first introduction to rap music. But what you don't remember is that long after the hits stopped coming, he was still out there releasing music. Young MC's fifth album, released in 2000, was entitled "Ain't Going Out Like That" and that is where Aaron Walker finally shows up in this story. After a disappointing end to the 2024 season that saw Tormenta miss the playoffs, Walker said he was coming back because he wasn't going to end his playing career like that. 

He served as a player/coach in 2025 for Tormenta and, honestly, I didn't do a good enough job telling that story. In addition to all the training and work on the field, Walker was involved in coaching meetings and everything else that goes into preparing a team to play. I really fell down on that one guys. My bad. Like Cabral, Walker did more than his fair share of postgame interviews and while he would very occasionally lapse into coach cliche' speak, he handled it well and if that's a direction he decides to pursue going forward, I think he'll be a good one.

I can't promise to do this every day Tormenta announces players not returning, but I'll do my best to highlight something about the players leaving either here or on Bluesky.