Some Other New Beginning's End

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC

Being a sports fan is inherently a selfish endeavor.

We spend our time, our treasure and, more than we'd like to admit, our emotional well-being investing in a team. We follow the players and, here at Tormenta, get to know them during their tenure here. We watch them grow and develop and that's all well and good, but we want to see them win games for South Georgia. And there are players that you're going to grow attached to. Whether that be because of some connection we forge with that player or just because we like how they play or they signed an autograph for you, we want them to be here year after year.

The baseball postcast Effectively Wild has a term for this. They call it the "Jersey Guy." It's the jersey you can buy your 10-year old niece or nephew and feel confident they can wear it for a few years because that guy is going to be around for a few years. What kid wants to have the jersey of the guy who got traded four months after they got the shirt?

In the same way, we want players to be here in South Georgia year after year. 

Obviously there are some key differences between getting a replica MLB jersey and a Tormenta one. For starters, MLB is the pinnacle of the sport. There's nowhere else to go to advance your career. That's the summit.

With all due respect to the players who have worn the Tormenta jersey, South Georgia isn't the upper echelon of the sport. Ideally players who find themselves in Statesboro are harboring hopes of refining their skills, showcasing their talents and hopefully moving on to higher levels. That's kind of built in to the DNA of Tormenta, who use the motto "Pros Start Here" as part of their branding. Even in the announcement regarding promotion and relegation within the USL, the press release made a point to emphasize that motto.

Ideally, if pros start in Statesboro, they move on, hopefully to a level higher as they continue until they reach their full potential. And that's where the tension between wanting the best for the players collides with the desire to have a Jersey Guy that you can buy with confidence for the kid in your life (or yourself.)

All that leads us to the news that was announced New Year's Day that Niall Reid-Stephen, fresh off his 13 goal, 7 assist regular season, was transferred to New Mexico for a record transfer fee for a player going from League One to the Championship. Reid-Stephen was signed through 2027 and after his breakout performance in 2025, Tormenta fans were dreaming of watching him with a full season under Mark McKeever's system. After all, he scored in eight straight games shortly after McKeever took over. 

News of Reid-Stephen's transfer elicited mixed emotions. On one hand, my guiding principle here is that I want what's best for the players. I want to see them do well and succeed. Ideally that is with Tormenta but if it's not here, I want them to find success elsewhere. Gabriel Cabral in Omaha? I want to see him thrive there. Taylor Gray in Naples. I hope he tears up the league. Callum Stretch in Sarasota? Wishing nothing but the best. Reid-Stephen in New Mexico and Mason Tunbridge in Miami or Austin Pack in Tampa or Makel Rasheed in Detroit? I want them to all find success.

But back to my opening thought. Sports are inherently selfish and while I want them all to find success, I also want to be able to watch them week after week at Tormenta Stadium. I'm sad they're not going to be playing here because I liked watching them play.

As Alex Ashton wrote in his post yesterday, Tormenta is developing a reputation as a place for players to come before moving on to higher levels. In addition to those I mentioned above, who could forget Nick Akoto being transferred to Burton Albion in England's League One last season? 

From a club perspective, that's great. It's going to make Statesboro an attractive place for talented young players looking to start their career. Pros Start Here. A proven track record of getting players ready for the next level can only be a good thing.

But from a fan's perspective, it can be difficult. A player you'd hoped would be around for another season is no longer there. It's frustrating. When Akoto was moved last year after some build up about the announcement, my brother was annoyed with how it went down. 

"So the big news is we sold our best player?" he said. From a team perspective, and even a league perspective, it was big, exciting news. For the fans, it was saying "The team you've been watching is going to be not quite as good anymore."

One fan responded to Aston's post about the Reid-Stephen transfer by calling it "Moneyball League One style," a reference to the Oakland A's of the early 2000s and their general manager Billy Beane who looked to find undervalued players to compete at a fraction of the payroll of the bigger teams in MLB. 

If we're looking for an MLB comparison, Tampa Bay is probably the closer comparison. The Rays are known to develop talent, trade them as soon as they start to get expensive for prospects and repeat the cycle again and again. This reputation was so well known that 11 years ago, baseball writer Sam Miller once tweeted "LOVE this trade for the Rays. Who'd they give up? And who'd they get?" 

Maybe one day the quote becomes "Love that transfer for Tormeta. Who'd they give up? How much did they get?"

So where does that leave us? I'm not here to tell you how you should feel. You're feelings on the move are yours. For me, I'm both excited for Reid-Stephen (and Tunbridge, who was also transferred but had already spent two years in Statesboro and it wasn't as much of a surprise to see him move on) and disappointed that I don't get to see him in Statesboro. 

If this is the model Tormenta is going to follow, I hope they continue to find success in it. For one, that means standout players will continue to call Statesboro home. And the more talented players that come to Statesboro, the better chance they have of winning. 

So this is the end of Reid-Stephen's time in Statesboro. It's a bittersweet ending, but as Semisonic sang back in the late 90s, "Every new beginning comes from from some other beginning's end." We get to experience some new beginnings of new players coming to South Georgia in 2026. 

Other News: Tormenta released an update on how their roster is coming together for the 2026 season.