Real Colorado is a nationally recognized club soccer team that develops boys and girls ages 3 to 19 and has developed three of the players currently on the Summit.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Jordan Nytes, defender Janine Sonis, and midfielder Meg Boade (who is training with the Summit) all played for Real Colorado before making it to one of soccer\u2019s biggest stages.<\/p>\n
Lindsey Heaps, the U.S. Women\u2019s National Team captain and Summit midfielder, also grew up in Golden and played for rival youth club, the Colorado Rush.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/tuula-tarkka-striker-real-colorado.png\")
Tuula Tarkka, striker for Real Colorado<\/p>\n
Now, the club teams\u2019 current members are drawing inspiration from their former training partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt motivates me more,\u201d said Real Colorado midfielder, Tuula Tarkka, a high school junior from Highlands Ranch who has verbally committed to play soccer for the University of Kansas. \u201cTo see that some players from the club that I’m at are on [the Summit]; it just pushes me more to work harder, because playing professionally is definitely a huge goal of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarkka, along with her longtime friend, Sarah Schecter, who is Real Colorado\u2019s goalkeeper, will both be going to the Summit\u2019s home opener against the Washington Spirit on March 28.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a date Real Colorado\u2019s CEO Jared Spires knew the team couldn\u2019t miss.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sarah-schecter-goalkeeper-real-colorado.png\")
Sarah Schecter, goalkeeper for Real Colorado<\/p>\n
\u201cOur state association scheduled games on opening day, and the first thing was, \u2018Hey, we’re canceling our game, right?\u2019 Because we got to go to that,\u201d he told Denver7, laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it’s almost a huge confidence builder,\u201d Schecter said. \u201c[Jordan Nytes] trains with the same people I did \u2014 same coaches, everything. So, you really just get to envision yourself where somebody who was your same age few years ago is now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schecter is also a junior and has played for Real Colorado since she was 10. <\/p>\n
She verbally committed to play soccer for the University of Baylor in September.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jared-spires-ceo-real-colorado.png\")
Jared Spires, CEO of Real Colorado<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [our current players] get to see it, touch it, see the players, and those players will come out and interact with them,\u201d Spires said. \u201c[Having the Summit here allows their goals] to become real. It’s not this dream of what might this look like. They get to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spires says he coached Janine Sonis and Meg Boade while they were with Real Colorado and anticipates once the team gets the new season underway, Summit FC will become a big draw to their mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ve really expressed a desire to interact with the youth clubs all over Colorado,\u201d Spires said. \u201cSo, I would expect there to be interaction, and would hope there would be, because these are their fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 2026<\/p>\n
Sat, Mar 14<\/p>\n
4:30 PM<\/p>\n
@ Bay FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
Fri, Mar 20<\/p>\n
6:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Orlando Pride<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/thespot-denver3-cobalt-no-ew-236x133-use.png\")
<\/p>\n
Wed, Mar 25<\/p>\n
5:30 PM<\/p>\n
@ Gotham FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Mar 28<\/p>\n
12:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Washington Spirit<\/p>\n
Home*<\/p>\n
April 2026<\/p>\n
Sat, Apr 4<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
@ Seattle Reign<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Apr 25<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
vs. San Diego Wave FC<\/p>\n
Home**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
May 2026<\/p>\n
Sun, May 3<\/p>\n
1:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Boston Legacy FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, May 9<\/p>\n
6:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Houston Dash<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, May 16<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Orlando Pride<\/p>\n
Home**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, May 23<\/p>\n
4:30 PM<\/p>\n
@ Utah Royals<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fri, May 29<\/p>\n
6:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Racing Louisville<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
July 2026<\/p>\n
Fri, Jul 3<\/p>\n
7:30 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Kansas City Current<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sun, Jul 12<\/p>\n
5:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Houston Dash<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
Sat, Jul 18<\/p>\n
12:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Portland Thorns FC<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
Sun, Jul 26<\/p>\n
5:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Washington Spirit<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
August 2026<\/p>\n
Sun, Aug 2<\/p>\n
7:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Boston Legacy FC<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
Wed, Aug 05<\/p>\n
8:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. North Carolina Courage<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Aug 8<\/p>\n
2:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Utah Royals<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fri, Aug 14<\/p>\n
8:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ San Diego Wave FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Aug 22<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
@ Portland Thorns FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Aug 29<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Chicago Stars FC<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
September 2026<\/p>\n
Sun, Sep 6<\/p>\n
12:00 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Gotham FC<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
Fri, Sep 11<\/p>\n
8:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Angel City FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wed, Sep 16<\/p>\n
7:30 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Bay FC<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Sep 19<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Seattle Reign<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Sep 26<\/p>\n
10:30 AM<\/p>\n
@ Kansas City Current<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
October 2026<\/p>\n
Sun, Oct 4<\/p>\n
2:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ Chicago Stars FC<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Oct 17<\/p>\n
6:45 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Angel City FC<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sat, Oct 24<\/p>\n
4:30 PM<\/p>\n
vs. Racing Louisville<\/p>\n
Home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
November 2026<\/p>\n
Sun, Nov 1<\/p>\n
3:00 PM<\/p>\n
@ North Carolina Courage<\/p>\n
Away<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are officially 30 days away from Denver Summit FC\u2019s inaugural game at Empower Field at Mile High.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,200621,200622,200623,200624,200625,200626,200627,200628,200629,200630,561,82],"class_list":["post-502365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-denver-summit","tag-denver-summit-fc","tag-denver-summit-fc-assists","tag-denver-summit-fc-games","tag-denver-summit-fc-goals","tag-denver-summit-fc-information","tag-denver-summit-fc-news","tag-denver-summit-fc-players","tag-denver-summit-fc-plays","tag-denver-summit-fc-roster","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}