On Jan. 25, 2018, South Georgia Tormenta FC became the first club to join what would become USL League One for its inaugural season the following year. 

The club made the first signing in league history soon after and hosted the first game in League One history against nearby rival Greenville Triumph SC in March 2019. 

On Sunday night, the club will host the USL League One Final for the first time. The contest against Chattanooga Red Wolves SC at its newly opened permanent home of Optim Sports Medicine Field at Tormenta Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN2 | SiriusXM FC) offers the chance to cap a memorable year in Statesboro, Ga. with a second piece of silverware. 

Ahead of the game, we spoke to club Co-Owner and President Darin Van Tassell on a variety of topics, including the club’s USL W League success in the summer, the connections the organization has built across all of its teams, and what hosting the League One Final means at this point of Tormenta FC’s history.  

Q: We’re just over seven years since Tormenta FC officially launched a USL League Two club in 2015. What does it mean to have reached this moment, hosting the 2022 League One Final? 

Darin Van Tassell: I’m not sure our dreams went so far that we would host a final inside of seven years. We’re the smallest market in North America playing professional soccer, the next biggest market is quite a bit bigger than us, so to have a community that is supporting a team at our level and all the things that come with that – a brand-new stadium, and our decision also as an organization to field a W League team and USL League Two program and an Academy, all happening in the smallest market – it’s a probably the most ambitious on our part, but incredibly fulfilling to have arrived. We have a genuine responsibility to now make sure that this is a place that we can be each year. 

Q: This is comfortably the best season in the club’s League One history, what has it been like to experience over the course of the year for you personally? 

DVT: Winning is great fun. We don’t have to overanalyze it and be overly technical about it, but thank you for saying that because while it’s the best year in League One, we've had incredible success in League Two and we’ve had obviously just one year of success at the W League and won the whole thing. So, we do see ourselves as uniquely successful in that regard. I think on the men’s side, it’s so difficult to be good year-in and year-out and to put a team together. Our league is just in its fourth year, and any member of our league is good enough to play in the Final year-in and year-out, so being hot at the right time is great, but I think there are certain pieces that come with the success that matter outside of the soccer world. 

Having the game broadcast linearly on ESPN2 on Sunday is an incredible validator for what we’re doing, and all the trappings that come with being on that platform, those are legitimizers that I think grab those people in our communities who know about us, but haven’t quite connected yet. I think this opportunity to be in a Final, things that come with trophies and cups and notoriety are all the pieces that do that. Clearly now having our own stadium, and being in the initial phases of that, that has led to that legitimacy and validation that all clubs need, and ours has come here in 2022. 

Q: You mentioned the expansion on the women’s side, fielding a team in the inaugural USL W League season this summer and claiming the league title, it’s been a huge storyline for the club. How gratifying has it been to see that take off as part of a great first year for the W League as a whole? 

DVT: We played our League One Semifinal game in Greenville last Saturday. We had four members of our championship-winning women's side there and all wearing their Tormenta jerseys with the star above the crest. That right there basically says it all. I got cold chills just telling you that because those are just fantastic moments, and the fact that the women win a title before the men in their first shot at winning one, there’s few things that could have made us prouder. The guys were so connected to the women’s run, and everything, as opposed to this league feeling separate. And now the women, even though most of them are All-Americans that are off at their colleges and whatnot, they are now so connected to what men are doing. And that’s the sort of joy that an organization wants when it's cross-fertilized, when it’s pollinated like that, that’s what makes us feel like we're being successful.  

I think winning is not the only measure of success. Impact, ultimately, is I think the measurement that clubs have to be in, because you can't win enough. But when you’re winning on top of having an impact, that's some magical sauce. That stuff is rare, and you really want to breathe it in while it’s happening. 

Q: The club recently opened its permanent home, a project that has been highly anticipated within the local community and for the league. How exciting is it to host a League One Final at Optim Sports Medicine Field? 

DVT: Well, excitement is a little bit of an understatement, I think, on that space, the sentiments are clearly there. We get eyes on us, we go from thousands to millions of viewers when we’re in the final, and people get a chance to look into our living room for the first time.  

Q: The continuity throughout the club has extended to the USL League Two and Academy programs as well, and as you mentioned both continue to thrive. How proud are you of that success, and the opportunity it continues to provide for the club’s young players? 

DVT: The integration is the hardest part. Winning is actually easier, but the integration is where it’s the most challenging. Our club started on the Academy side first and it had 10 years in its existence before it was time to add a USL League Two team, a First Team in League One, and then the W League team. And now we’re really trying to go and be wonderful partners in the USL Academy program itself.  

For the stuff that has staying power, winning can happen, but Culture is what’s going to always keep that as an option every year. So, integration matters. Winning has helped with that integration. It’s a tough piece because you have to have coaches and staff who are involved in every one of those programs. So, you’re doing three and four times the amount of work when you’re integrated like that, but I harken back to when you’re a club our size – and we’re a smaller club – and that integration and culture is the single most important thing that we have to do as CEOs, and as owners, and as participants in that. For them to be successful, we have to be present. 

Q: One notable element for Tormenta FC on the men’s side has been the continuity in the First Team. What does it mean to see players like Josh Phelps, Lars Eckerode, and Pablo Jara, who have been longstanding players at the club, get this opportunity? 

DVT: For those three, I feel so much joy and they feel so much joy. In sports we throw around the family term very loosely, but this is a very tight family, and that family has been tight even in during years where we weren’t as successful in wins and losses. We were successful from impact standpoint, but we didn't necessarily have the same successes. So, the joy that we all get to deal with Josh Phelps and Lars and Pablo in large part was just to remind me of a couple of things.  

The first League One team to ever be announced was Tormenta FC. The first player to ever sign a professional contract in League One was Joshua Phelps. We were very fortunate to be amongst that first group of teams when the W League was announced. I think we’re proud of our First Team being in a smaller area. I think we wear those pieces inside the club culture. We are very proud to be partners in those things, taking some of the initial steps and we're so proud of that being part of that initial group of League One teams that came into existence right out of the gate. Our players experience that joy this weekend. And so, I think it’s fun for all of us across the USL partnership. 

Q: You’ve already got to lift a trophy this year, but it was on the road in Minnesota. What would it mean to lift the trophy on Sunday night in front of your home fans? 

DVT: Well, we had to make sure the champagne shower was in the bathroom, so we didn’t have to clean out the locker room for somebody else. I think we’re going to be able to have a little more liberty if we’re able to lift the trophy in terms of all that. It’d be so much fun. This would be the community’s trophy, and we have the players on the field who are the warriors for us on Sunday night. But those are the sports moments, I think. You capture them on film, set them to music. They never get old years into the future.  

If we're really serious about it, those of us that are the sports business, we’re not really in the sports business. We’re in the memory-making business, and those are the memories that stay with clubs and communities. They just don’t go away. They remain fresh even when decades pass.