Jerome Watson (born September 28, 1974) is an American former U.S.

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who spent time in the

Western Soccer Alliance Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

and

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. Watson grew up in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and attended

La Jolla High School La Jolla High School (LJHS) is a comprehensive high school for grades 9–12 located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. Opened in 1922, La Jolla High School (LJHS) is the second-oldest campus in the San Diego Unified School Distric ...

. He played college soccer at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, where he was named All-Conference four times and Conference MVP once. In 1988, Watson joined the

San Diego Nomads Nomads Soccer Club (formerly San Diego Nomads) is an American soccer club based in San Diego, California. From 1986 to 1990, the club fielded a professional senior team, but has since operated as an amateur and youth club. History The Nomads wer ...

of the

Western Soccer League Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

. That year he led the Nomads in scoring with six goals which also put him in second place on the WSL goals list. The following season, he topped the league’s points list with 10 goals and 7 assists. Despite that, he was not selected to the WSL All Star team. He also was never considered for the U.S. Men's National Team in the lead up to the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1990, despite that team's dearth of quality strikers. Before the 1990 season, the WSL and the American Soccer League merged to form the

(APSL). However, at the end of the 1990 season, the Nomads withdrew from the APSL and Watson moved to the

Colorado Foxes The Colorado Foxes were a professional soccer team, based in Commerce City, Colorado, that played in the American Professional Soccer League, and later in the A-League, between 1990 and 1997. The Foxes won two APSL titles, in 1992 and 1993. In 19 ...

(APSL). He remained with the Foxes through the end of the 1996 season. The APSL, which had been renamed the A-League, merged with the USISL between the 1996 and 1997 seasons. With the merger, Watson moved to the

California Jaguars California Jaguars were an American soccer team that played in Salinas, California at the Salinas Sports Complex. They joined the USISL in 1995 as the Monterey Bay Jaguars, but changed the name a year later. They played in the A-League in 1997 a ...

for a single season with the team. In 1998, he made his last move as a professional player when he joined the

San Diego Flash San Diego Flash was an American soccer team based in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1998, the team returned to competitive play in 2011 and most recently played in the Southern Conference of the West Division of the National P ...

. The Flash were the old

and this was their first season in its new city having moved from Colorado. Watson remained with the Flash through at least the 2001 season, spending some time as an assistant coach with them. In 2003, Watson spent a single season as coach of the

San Diego City College San Diego City College (City College or City) is a public community college in San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Community College District and the California Community College System. San Diego City College is accredited by t ...

soccer team. He continues to play rec league soccer with the San Diego Nomads senior team in the San Diego County Soccer League.Vyuz San Diego
/ref> He currently is the assistant coach for San Diego United of the NPSL and also coaches their Under 23 team as well as the head coach for the

, and coach for the

References

External links

1989 San Diego Nomads roster
1960 births Living people American soccer players American soccer coaches American Professional Soccer League players California Jaguars players Colorado Foxes players San Diego Flash players Nomads Soccer Club players USL First Division players Western Soccer Alliance players University of California, Davis alumni Association football forwards {{US-footy-forward-stub