Next up on our San Diego homegrown series is none other than Miami FC of the NASL's newest addition this year: Rhett Bernstein. Rhett grew up in Un
Next up on our San Diego homegrown series is none other than Miami FC of the NASL’s newest addition this year: Rhett Bernstein.
Rhett grew up in University City, and it was here where his father taught him how to properly kick a soccer ball at the age of 3. Looking back, his father has no regrets as his weekends were filled with Rhett pursuing his dreams of playing professional soccer with busy weekends of club soccer with the La Jolla Nomads. Rhett still remembers his first pair of Puma King classics he had bought at the local San Diego soccer store in Mission Valley, stating “They had the best selection of soccer shoes in San Diego.”
After attending University City High School and graduating from prestigious Brown University, Bernstein spent nearly 2 years playing in England, Sweden, and Israel. Trialing as a central defender in Norway with second tier team, Mjøndalen IF, Rhett landed himself a spot on the first team. Rhett admires former Manchester United defender, Nemanja Vidic, and relates to his style of strong aerial attacks and aggressive battles. Over his next five years, he helped lead Mjøndalen to promotion to the Tippligaen (Norway’s Premier Division), by scoring 5 goals from his center back position, which was also the most goals of all defenders in the Tippligaen.
Recently, Rhett has made the jump back to the United States signing with the newest addition of teams to the NASL, Miami FC. “It’s been really challenging. The NASL is a difficult league with a mix of players from all parts of the globe. We are a new franchise in the league and we’ve had a slow start, but I know we will have more success in the upcoming matches.”
Nonetheless, he is playing under Italian legend, World Cup winner and arguably one of the greatest central defenders in the history of the sport, Alessandro Nesta. They just so happen to share the same position and will gain experiences this season that will last a lifetime. Miami FC is currently in their bye week, but will return to play hosting the visiting Edmonton FC from Canada who recently took down defending champs, NY Cosmos last weekend.
We wish Rhett and Miami FC the best of luck closing out the spring season and reaching the final weekend of the season in the fall.
