Levi Welch: From Culver City to the World Stage
Culver City High School freshman Levi Welch has already represented the United States on the international stage as a member of the US Youth National Soccer Team.
Welch started playing soccer locally. He attended Linwood E. Howe Elementary and Culver City Middle School. Welch began playing with Culver City Football Club at age 9, competing in tournaments, showcases and other competitions. During one of these tournaments, Welch was scouted and called to try out with Los Angeles Football Club. LAFC’s Academy Team is widely recognized as one of the best youth teams in the western conference and the US as a whole. Welch successfully signed with LAFC’s Academy Team four years ago, and has not looked back since.
Throughout these past years, Welch has maintained a rigorous athletic and academic schedule. He trains Monday through Thursday, with games on weekends, and on his days off, he does film review and gym workouts. However, the work does not stop there, as Welch also has to balance the time needed for his education. Welch is able to manage this through hybrid school, where he can take four classes in person and two classes online.
About a year ago, Welch was one of 24 under-15-year-olds selected to train with the USYNT. Welch’s call up to the youth national team came as a huge shock, but despite this, he was deeply excited. Since his first, Welch has been called up to several games, three training camps, and three identification camps. These camps and games are used to evaluate players and provide them with a snapshot of the collegiate or professional soccer experience in a competitive and challenging way. During his most recent game in Florida, Welch was selected as captain against Mexico’s youth national team, where he scored his first international goal. According to Welch, that moment was “Definitely the highlight of my career so far . . . [it] was such an honor and felt so surreal.” Since then, Welch has been called up to play in the US Youth National Team’s next event in Croatia, and he is ready to bring his best into this next performance.
Ultimately, Welch dreams of eventually playing professional soccer in Europe. “It's a long journey . . . lots of work was put in and I'm grateful for everything and everyone,” he says.