The story of James Sands’ rise from 10-year old local club hopeful to New York City FC homegrown signing has been unfolding for years, but the young man’s trajectory has skyrocketed since this past winter.
In a matter of weeks, Sands went from being a U-16 NYCFC academy player to facing Ecuadorian powerhouse Emelec in front of over 40,000 wild fans alongside the likes of Andrea Pirlo and David Villa.
The whiplash caused by such a sudden turn of events simply wasn’t felt by Sands, whose level-headed attitude on even the biggest of stages is what stood out most to Patrick Vieira, the man who decided to give Sands a shot at this level.