RICHMOND, Va. - For James Sneddon, City Stadium has always been a special place. Like any other soccer fan growing up in Richmond, Virginia, the ground helped create countless memories as the home of the Richmond Kickers, who’ve been a professional team since 1993. 

At a game in 2017, 11-year-old Sneddon got to the match early to watch the goalkeepers warm up and experienced a moment he’ll never forget. 

“One of the goalkeepers at the time was Marcel DeBellis and he threw his gloves he had used up in the stands at me,” Sneddon recalls. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever.” 

Over the following eight years since that memorable moment, Sneddon has spent countless hours training, learning and growing as a young keeper. His dedication to the sport and belief in the professional pathway created by Richmond led him to become the starting goalkeeper for his hometown club at only 19 years old. 

Sneddon was introduced to soccer in the way that many are, kicking the ball around his backyard with his brother to get the competitive juices flowing. He joined local teams in elementary school before beginning to play travel soccer and seeing success on those teams. 

“That was where I think I grew a lot was with Richmond [United] with a lot of those coaches who played for the Kickers in the past."

Luckily for Sneddon’s early development, Richmond is a youth soccer hotbed. He made the jump to Richmond’s development academy, Richmond United, for his U13 year, joining their squad that competed in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy at the time, alongside many friends that he had grown up playing with.

The traits his coaches rave about him today are those same ones that helped him develop into the player he is. 

“I think his ability to learn is absolutely one of his top qualities,” Kickers Head Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development and Methodology Mika Elovaara said. “He’s demonstrated incredible ability to take on new information, take on detailed coaching and apply it immediately to continue to persevere through the journey that is required to become a consistent quality in a player.” 

The spring of his junior year of high school while playing with Richmond United ECNL, Sneddon was extended the opportunity to train with the first team, a moment a young Kickers fan could have only dreamed of.  

“I still remember going to the restroom after I found out that information and calling [fellow academy player-turned-pro] Beckett [Howell] and calling my mom and dad,” Sneddon says. “I was so excited.” 

Without an in-house academy team run by the Kickers at the time, Sneddon was thrown right into the mix working alongside Akira Fitzgerald, who at the time was the first team goalkeeper for the Kickers and served as their goalkeeper coach. 

“We threw him right into the fire,” Kickers Chief Sporting Officer and Head Coach Darren Sawatzky said. “I think the first time he trained with us, it was 100 degrees outside, and he got lightheaded, and we had to slow him down because the training was so intense. It was such a big jump for him.” 

The direct proximity to the first team gave Sneddon firsthand experience into the life of a professional before he had finished high school. Sneddon quickly impressed and signed an Academy Contract, allowing him to play First Team minutes, while maintaining college eligibility. 

“We had about 15 games left last season and we were struggling a little bit,” said Sawatzky. “We needed help to turn the tide, and we didn’t see any reason why he wasn’t ready for the pro game. He started in a game and won four games in a row for us and helped lead us into the playoffs.” 

After securing a 3-2 win in his debut against Spokane Velocity in the USL Jägermeister Cup, Sneddon tied a USL League One record for the longest clean sheet streak since a regular season debut. 

Starting in 2024, the Richmond Kickers began a partnership with Richmond United to field a USL Academy team, allowing top talent from the area to train and play in a professional environment. That team led by Sneddon and many other Richmond Academy products including Griffin Garnett, Beckett Howell, and Landon Johnson – who now feature in the first team – made a run to the 2024 USL Academy League Semifinal. 

“Even after I played eight or nine professional games, it was fun to play the game in a different way, fully express myself in a different environment, and be a leader for those guys. All of us still talk about it,” Sneddon said. “We’re a little bummed that we didn’t get over the line because with the talent we had on that team, we had no excuse not to.” 

Thanks to his USL Academy contract, as Sneddon neared high school graduation, he had professional games under his belt and college eligibility on the table. 

“[Going to college or not] was a really difficult choice for me.” Sneddon said. “I had planned on going to college the whole way because it would give me more time to develop and my family prioritizes education. What it came down to for me was the trust the coaching staff have here in me. And even though there were some really good college opportunities, I decided to put my faith in what we have here and haven’t looked back since.” 

Sneddon made seven starts in 2024, conceding just five goals, and took the net for Richmond’s playoff game. His sharp play earned him a multi-year professional contract.  

“He was doing everything the exact same way that he was in the academy; he’s just taking it up a level now that he’s signed a pro contract,” Kickers Assistant Coach Conner Cappelletti said. “He’s always asking for feedback because he genuinely wants to get better.” 

“A lot of times when you have a younger player that you bring into a pro-environment, they feel as though they’ve made it,” Sawatzky said. “I would say [James] did the opposite. He’s asking for more, he’s working harder and ultimately, he wants to make it to higher levels.” 

Sneddon in the Kickers’ world is known for his analytical thinking that pushes him on and off the field.  

“His brain, it’s special,” Kickers Goalkeepers Coach Evan Munn said. “He reads things at a different level you don’t see from 18-year-olds. He really understands the game and can make quick decisions on the ball and understands his decision’s impact on the players.” 

While doing a mentorship with the Kickers in high school, Sneddon completed a data analysis for the club recapping how effective the team was at creating chances and converting the opportunities they had. As a player, he’s eager to analyze his own performances quickly after the game ends. 

“He wants to do film almost within two hours of the game being over,” Sawatzky says. “He’s super hard on himself, but his brain’s fast, and he can pick up on the information.” 

“It’s a lot of moving pieces with how you facilitate your team and how you the level of trust you have with your back line to narrow out the windows. I think ultimately, it’s a position about decision making,” Sneddon said when asked about how he sees the role of a goalkeeper on the pitch. “The positioning of the attacker, their body shape, where your defenders are, how the ball is spinning, what foot it’s going off, all those things you take into account, and then you make the best choices based on that.” 

This season, Sneddon has taken command of the Kickers’ net as the starting goalkeeper. The Kickers have had an “up-and-down" season, and Sneddon is reflective of the fact that a goalkeeper’s season often goes the way of the team’s. But he remains poised to continue developing his young career.

“A big thing coming into this year was continuing to get stronger and continuing to develop physically,” Sneddon says. “I believe it’s been a season where I’ve had a lot of instances where I was able to fix it the next time and do better on certain things.” 

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