Meet Concord Christian soccer player Army Eckles

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Army Eckles is accumulating impressive statistics in athletics and academics during his senior year at Concord Christian School (CCS).

He has played football on the CCS/CAK cooperative team and was a starting offensive lineman his junior year. He attributes much of his success in sports to Coach Travis Mozingo of CAK football. Though he was an outstanding member of the football team, his passion has been soccer since he was four years old. Ironically, his current high school soccer coach, Fernando Lopez, was also his first ever club coach for FC Alliance. That team advanced to the Tennessee State League final game in 2019.

Army has been a starter for the CCS Lions soccer team all four years, and has served as captain his junior and senior years. He won All District recognition his junior year and has a goal of winning their region in the State tournament this spring. This would be a first for CCS Soccer and Army would like to be a part of making history at the school.

Army will be leaving behind an academic legacy as well as being a name in CCS Athletics. He was named valedictorian, is a National Merit Commended Scholar, an AP Scholar with Distinction, a member of National Honor Society, and an alumnus of Youth Leadership Knoxville. He also works as a coach for ACTPrep.com.

Army uses his studious nature to improve his soccer game as well. “The biggest challenge in soccer is mental preparation,” said Army. “Training your body is simple, compared to the hours of study required to really understand the game.”

Army leads his team (as captain) with confidence, focus and intensity, and aims to inspire others to reach their full potential. He has been admitted to the University of Tennessee’s Honors Leadership Program.

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