Another local player turning out regularly in the N.I .F.L Premiership for Carrick Rangers who started his football career at Carniny Youth is ex Buick Memorial and Cullybackey College pupil Chris Rodgers. He started at the Carniny club with Cliffy Wothington, Alastair Lowry and Billy O'Flaherty with the under 11s winning the East Antrim knockout cup against Carrick Rangers Youth in 2001 at Taylors Avenue. The following seasons under ex Ballymena United and Carrick Rangers players Kenny Spence and Sammy McAuley he continued to improve and eventually joined his local senior club, Ballymena United FC moving up the levels at the club via 3rds and reserves before eventually turning out for the 1st team. After moving to Larne FC a former coach of his, Cliffy Adams, got him to join him at Ballyclare Comrades before moving to Carrick Rangers where Cliffy had joined up with Nial Currie as his assistant. Cliffy ( himself a former Carniny coach ) speaks highly of Chris describing him as under-rated and someone easy to work with and very keen to learn. Chris would say it was a good move joining Carrick which he describes as being most enjoyable as a player with a good atmosphere in the changing room. When I asked him about his time taking his early steps at Carniny he said,

'Carniny Youth was were I began to play football and I have really fond memories as a kid there. My parents took me as a little boy and I was very shy about going but after my first time I wanted to keep going back as it was brilliant. Everybody was very welcoming, the coaches John McIlroy, Rodney Gault and Roy Hutchinson were great and all the kids just loved running around and playing football. At that age it’s all about the enjoyment and I certainly enjoyed every moment of it. The mini soccer days are up there with my greatest childhood memories with the pitches packed on a Saturday with crowds of parents watching and seeing goals scored and celebrations like you they had won the World Cup. I made really good friends, a lot of whom I still have contact with now all these years later. Sometimes in conversations we often speak about those mini soccer days and how good they were. Each year with age, I improved as a footballer and Carniny first provided me the platform to be brought into the County Antrim set up and get involved at that level and I played in some really good teams with other good young kids. This helped me develop as a player and have those opportunities. Another major memory being involved with Carniny Youth was the chance to go over to Norwich City as a group and play over there. This was a fantastic trip to play against some top young players at an academy in England and also watch a Norwich first team game against Walsall and meet the then manager, Nigel Worthington, himself from Ballymena and an ex Northern Ireland International. A funny story, unfortunately for me, was arriving to find my luggage hadn’t made it, I had nothing but the clothes on my back. However being surrounded by good people, I was well looked after. I remember one of the clubs staff, Wilma McIlroy taking me to the Tesco’s across the road from the hotel to get the basics of what I needed for the week. When we played the matches against Norwich I was given first team player and ex N.I international Philip Mulrynes boots so I guess it wasn’t all bad. These are experiences with Carniny I hold to this day and I really look back to starting out there as a large part for any success I’ve had, because if I didn’t enjoy it and progress there I wouldn’t have continued to play at a good level growing up.'

Chris certainly has progressed from a shy young boy to a very good centre back playing in the country's top league and all the staff at Carniny wish him every success in the future and are proud to call him one of our own!