All he does is Winn, Winn, Winn: UNC men's soccer forward matured through success

Life came fast for North Carolina men’s soccer player Alan Winn.

There were no days off. No sleeping late on weekends. No carefree high school moments.

All of those experiences of a typical 16-year-old were replaced by constant training on the soccer field with the United States U-17 Men’s National Team at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Traveling around the world for tournaments and international friendlies — coupled with training every day and attending classes — forced Winn to grow both on and off the field.

“It made me realize how lucky I was and prepared me for being on my own,” he said.

Back in his hometown of Garland, Texas, Winn routinely put in the extra work off the practice field — whether it was juggling a ball in his spare time or trudging up and down bleacher steps in the Texas heat.

But at the academy, Winn learned what it meant to treat soccer like a full-time job.

“Alan was always a mature kid for his age,” his father Jimmy Winn said. “After he came back from Florida, he had that ‘aha’ moment about what grown-up life is like and what it means to work every day.”

‘You need to pick one’

Alan’s mother was tired of chasing her 4-year-old son around the house. She had to do something.

“Alan was just so active,” Marcela Winn said. “His father and I were like, ‘We need to put him in some activities to calm him down.’”

It started with a local YMCA soccer league. Soon, Jimmy spent his weekends shuttling Alan to and from soccer, baseball and football games — all in one day.

But Alan wasn’t just playing — he was dominating.

In third grade, he became the first player in his youth football league to make a field goal. His team won three straight league championships.

He also patrolled center field for his father’s baseball team and scored more than his fair share of goals in the Garland Soccer Association.

When Alan was 13, he was torn between soccer and baseball. So his parents gave him an ultimatum.

“We told him that he needed to pick one,” Marcela said. “I think he liked that he could run around more in soccer, and that’s what his heart told him.”

Alan certainly had an affinity for running around. But Alan enjoyed one thing about soccer more than anything — winning.

“Something just clicked where winning just gave me a rush,” Alan said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m just going bowling or playing soccer tennis. I just love to win.”

The dad on the field

When it was time for Alan to take his soccer skills to the club level, Coach Kevin Smith quickly noticed his newest player’s fierce mindset.

“He was absolutely ruthless,” Smith said. “He had that killer instinct where he wanted to go straight for goal and didn’t care who was in his way.”

Smith grew up in England and played with Charlton Athletic before his playing career led him to Dallas, where he eventually became a coach for the Solar Chelsea Soccer Club.

And when Smith first laid eyes on the 13-year-old Alan during a camp, he saw the makings of a future star.

“When I first saw him play, I just said, ‘Whoa,’ because he could really fly,” Smith said. “The pace he played with caught my eye and he was a physical specimen. We had to put the rest of his game together, but I knew he had great potential.”

During the countless hours spent practicing and travelling, Smith started to see himself in Alan.

“We both eat, sleep and breathe soccer,” Smith said. “We’re both perfectionists and we like to have fun.”

And over time, Alan saw Smith as more than a coach.

“Coach Smith was like my dad on the soccer field,” Alan said. “He helped me mature as a player and a person.”

‘Where I wanted to be’

Winn’s play with Solar Chelsea at national tournaments showed he belonged among the nation’s elite.

And when Alan was 16, the United States U-17 national team came calling.

“For him to be one of 25 kids in the entire country to be picked was incredible,” Jimmy said. “There was no guesswork for us, because how often do you get an opportunity to represent your country?”

For Marcela, watching her son take the field as a starter in the 2013 U-17 CONCACAF opening round win over Haiti filled her with emotion.

“We knew there was no guarantee that he was going to play,” Marcela said. “It brought tears to my eyes watching him out there, because so few kids get that experience.”

While the 17-year-old Alan made his name on the international stage, UNC coach Carlos Somoano had the young phenom on his radar three years earlier — patiently waiting until the teenager became old enough to start recruiting.

“After getting to talk to him, I thought he checked all of the boxes,” Somoano said. “He was a well-rounded kid that cared about the academics, came from a great family and had a strong work ethic.”

When Winn was ranked as the top recruit in the Texas region by Top Drawer Soccer, he had his pick of nearly any school he wanted to attend.

Fortunately for UNC, former player Cameron Brown was a native of Garland and an alum of the Solar Chelsea Soccer Club.

“Cameron told me, ‘You need to visit this place,’” Winn said. “And when I saw the campus and had the chance to talk to Carlos, I knew this was where I wanted to be.”

‘A sense of the bigger picture’

Three years later, Alan is coming off a sophomore season in which he earned second team All-ACC honors and finished second on the team in points. But the forward still wants to develop his skills and become a better leader — something Somoano noticed this offseason.

“He’s kicked it into another gear in terms of maturity and becoming a leader,” he said. “He’s getting a sense of the bigger picture and seeing how his actions affect his teammates around him.”

But this shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, he took on similar challenges before.

Life came fast for Alan. But now he’s ready to mentor other players who still have some growing up to do.

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