Midfielder takes unusual path to MLS

FC Dallas midfielder Ryan Hollingshead has spent this season proving his versatility on the field.

One of two FC Dallas players to compete in all 20 games, Hollingshead, 24, has played five positions, attacking opponents as a winger and protecting his own goal on defense. Although he has scored only two goals, Hollingshead’s play has helped Dallas sit atop Major League Soccer’s Western Conference standings.

“It’s the options we have with Ryan that make him valuable,” coach Oscar Pareja said. “It’s exciting to see him take this step up.”

Since Hollingshead entered the league in 2014, he has been on a quest to recapture the physical form that earned him 2012 Pac- 12 Conference player of the year honors as a senior at UCLA.

“I’m probably at 90% of where I want to be,” Hollingshead said. “I didn’t think it would take this long to get back.”

FC Dallas drafted him in 2013, but Hollingshead quit soccer to start a branch of his church, Chicago- based Harvest Bible Chapel, with his older brother, Scott, in their hometown of Sacramento.

Ryan Hollingshead spent more than a year away from the sport, working full time for a residential real estate firm to pay his bills. During his free time, he jogged for fun and played pickup basketball to stay fit, but he didn’t play soccer.

Both Hollingshead brothers played at UCLA. Scott quit soccer to become a pastor with Harvest Bible Chapel, and in 2011 he began making plans to start a church in Sacramento. During a conversation over Christmas break in 2012, Ryan told Scott he would help him with the project after graduation in 2013.

Scott, 28, said he was hesitant to bring his little brother on board with the project.

“I didn’t want to pull him away from soccer,” Scott Hollingshead said. “People said it would be career suicide for him.”

Ryan enjoyed a dominant senior season at UCLA, compiling seven goals and eight assists. The breakout year caught the eye of MLS recruiters, but by mid- 2013, Ryan had made his mind up to forgo a professional career.

Ryan skipped the MLS combine and draft to complete volunteer work in Haiti. FC Dallas chose him 20th in the second round, but Ryan told club officials the bad news.

“We had dreamed about the church, and in our plans it always included me,” Ryan said. “I knew what I was leaving behind.

Ryan moved back to Sacramento, and he and Scott held prayer meetings and solicited funds for the church. While Scott received a salary as pastor, Ryan managed the church alongside his day job.

The church grew faster than both expected, expanding from six parishioners to more than 150 within six months. Today, it has 300 regular parishioners. By early 2014, the Hollingshead brothers had secured funding to hire fulltime staff.

With the church on strong financial footing, Ryan Hollingshead reached out to FC Dallas, which gave him a tryout for the 2014 season.

After a two- month fitness crash course, Hollingshead earned a roster spot but found that the year away had eroded his soccer form. He spent most of the 2014 season playing in the reserve league with varying success.

“Moves I could make in my sleep in college, I couldn’t do them,” Hollingshead said. “I felt so slow.”

Pareja, who described himself as a Christian, said he never considered cutting Hollingshead, even when his form appeared shaky.

“To see the commitment Ryan had for God — that is very unique for me,” Pareja said. “For me, that value of personality is important.”

ROBERT STANTON, USA TODAY SPORTS Before joining FC Dallas, Ryan Hollingshead, right, took a year off from soccer to help his brother form a church.