Can you remind us of how your organization got started? Who founded it and why?
Our club was founded in 2008 by Anderson DaSilva. At the time, it was exclusively a youth club, aimed at bringing high-level soccer training to area players. Anderson is still our Director of Coaching for our youth program and is also the head coach of our USL League Two team. We still offer our youth programs, both recreational and competitive. In 2016, DaSilva and Dr. Maen Hussein purchased the Ocala Stampede, a PDL franchise, moved it to The Villages and renamed it The Villages SC.

We noticed a wonderful rebrand - familiar but fresh - what inspired the upgrade, what are the elements,and how does it connect to your community?
We rebranded from The Villages SC to Brave SC in December of 2023. When we were founded as The Villages Soccer Club, The Villages (the largest master-planned community in the United States) was kind enough to allow us to use their trademarked name and logo in our crest, which gave us some recognition and immediate community ties. However, as the club has grown, there are issues that come with not owning the entirety of your logo. The decision to remove "The Villages" from our name was a mutual decision with The Villages' marketing department and it allows us more freedom to branch out.

We've also developed a following outside of The Villages, in Lake, Marion, and Sumter Counties, and wanted to embrace them a little bit more by not limiting our name to just one location. We felt that "brave" defined the way our teams have played and how our organization has operated, remaining ambitious despite our humble location and small beginnings.

In the new crest, we retained the Buffalo as our mascot, as well as the Florida-shaped scar that puts his left eye right over our location in Summerfield. You can also see that the "V" in "BRAVE" is highlighted as an homage to our time as The Villages SC. The branches along the side are also from our old crest and symbolize our mission to grow the game of soccer.

2024 will be a busy year for Brave SC - it looks like you'll be in the US Open Cup! Tell us about how you qualified and what that event means to a USL League Two side like yourselves?
We're extremely excited to be back in the U.S. Open Cup this year with our USL2 side. Missing out on the 2023 Open Cup after finishing second in the Southeast Division definitely stung, but reclaiming our division title en route to a Southern Conference championship and league semifinal appearance put us back in the qualifying range for USL2 teams. Being part of one of the most historic athletic competitions in North America is always a huge privilege.

What history does the organization have in the tournament? What do you hope to achieve in this year's iteration?
Dating back to the franchise's time as the Ocala Stampede, we previously had one of the longest streaks of consecutive appearances by a non-professional squad. While the Open Cup has become even more of a challenge for USL2 teams in recent years with the early rounds moving to earlier in the year (our first match will be in mid-March, six weeks before our NCAA players are released to join our team), it's still an awesome opportunity for us to showcase some of our local players and also a chance for players on our second team, which competes in UPSL, to show their skill and make their case for a spot on the USL2 roster. Our last two times out, we've run up against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the second round and have come out on the wrong side of the result, but we love the opportunity to showcase our team in front of a different audience and hope to one day break through with a victory in St. Pete.

Last year you finished 2nd in the SouthEast Division - upon reflection, was that right about where you wanted to be? What areas will you be focusing on to improve in the league in 2024?
Coming in second in 2022 was certainly a disappointment. Our expectation every year is to win the Southeast Division, so a runner-up finish was a subpar ending for us. We did manage to keep our playoff streak alive, though, even if it ended early against an incredibly tough North Carolina Fusion team.

That season and its ending fueled a lot of our players who returned in 2023, and the determination of that group to accomplish something bigger was evident early on. Bringing the Southeast Division title (our fourth) home to Summerfield was a huge point of pride for us, and it took some heroic efforts in some very challenging games, but our team always found a way. Their run through the playoffs to a second Southern Conference title was incredible to watch, even ending in heartbreak on penalty kicks in the national semifinal.

This year, we're hoping to further build on what last year's team accomplished. The baseline standard for our club is to win the Southeast and make the playoffs. Adding a third Southern Conference trophy to our collection would be great as well, but we're still aiming for a USL2 championship. We felt our team was good enough to do it last year and missed the opportunity to prove it by the slimmest of margins, but it's only driving us more going into this season. We'd love to play the regular season in a way that we aren't dependent on results elsewhere to help us clinch the division title, but we also understand that our division is now hyper-competitive since Florida was split into two and the late-season drama keeps things interesting.

Last year you rocked the Admiral kits and they looked great - we apologize for missing them in our Top Tops list! Will you be sticking with Admiral this year? What do kitnerds and the players who like to look good while working hard, have to look forward to?
Short answer: TBD. Long answer: Last year's kits were very special to us — a tribute to our fans and our history, made possible by the creative freedom Admiral afforded us with the design process. We're still in the process of deciding our kits for this year, but our players developed an attachment (and a good deal of superstition) with our gold kits. After a couple of disappointing results in the black unis, the gold ones became our every-game kit and they took us as far as we've ever been in the postseason. There's still a possibility we go with something new this year, but there's definitely some momentum for running it back with last year's kit, just with the new crest.

It's also our best-selling kit ever with our fans, and they've expressed some desire to see our team in those shirts again.

Want to know more or get involved?
Follow Brave SC on Facebook HERE
And give them a follow on X/Twitter HERE