KRAIG CHILES AND THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

It's not every athlete who can retire on their own terms.

But then again, there haven't been too many soccer players like Kraig Chiles.

Last week the 41-year-old San Diego Sockers forward announced that the 2025-26 Major Arena Soccer League season would be his final as a professional player.

"Being a player in this locker room for 17 seasons, I've had some fantastic teammates," he said. "I've seen some really good teammates and influential members in the organization that maybe did not get the farewell that I feel they deserved. I've also seen a couple of players make the announcement early to call that shot. It seems to be the best way to do it.

"It makes you really appreciate each of those final road trips, practices and games. It gives you a little bit of an extra motivational push for the year. I'm really fortunate to be in the position to be able to make that call and have the backing and support of the organization."

And what a career it has been.

Let us count the ways and numbers.

Including the regular season and playoffs in two leagues, Chiles has tallied an astronomical 568 goals and 268 assists.

That can be broken down in two ways.

For the MASL record books, he ranks third in goals (302) and fourth in points (464). He also ranks fourth all-time in MASL shots taken (979). With 162 MASL assists, Chiles is two assists away from moving into the top six in that category.

For the Sockers, he has scored a team-record 505 goals and 742 points.

And let's not forget Chiles also has performed for the U.S. Futsal National Team, the U.S. National Indoor Team and competed in the 2019 WMF World Cup.

It’s more than numbers

But the 5-11, 185-lb. forward’s career is much more than just goals and assists. It is about winning, showing grit, and winning championships.

The San Diego native has paraded around with a championship trophy six times in his storied career, on four occasions when the Sockers competed in the Premier Arena Soccer League and twice in the MASL.

After a short stint with Chivas USA (Major League Soccer) in 2008, Chiles began his indoor journey with the Sockers during the 2008-09 campaign.

"It's unbelievable to think that I bridge the gap from the older generation where my rookie year, I had the ability to play with Paul Wright, Aaron Susi and Sean Bowers and some really big-time players from the 90s, and to be able to pass that torch," he said. "I'm passing the torch to some of the younger, more influential members of the team.

"It's been an unbelievable journey. I am an advocate of the sport. I am an ambassador of the league. When I'm not on the field, I'm preaching the benefits of indoor soccer and the fast pace and the excitement of the game. It's something that I hope I'm a part of forever. I'll always be watching and supporting indoor soccer. Hopefully, I'll be coaching or in in the league in a different capacity, down the road. The indoor game is a fantastic American spectator sport. I know it is a little bit of a niche sport. I feel a little bit responsible to help continue to keep the flame alive."

One team, one city

In an era in which players in every sport move around as free agents trying to find the highest bidder, Chiles realized how fortunate it has been to play in his hometown and for one team his entire pro career.

Now, that is rare.

"It's special. Everything happens for a reason," he said. "There were so many moments where it could have gone a different direction. I almost continued to play outdoor in the NASL [North American Soccer League] in Minnesota after MLS. The San Diego Sockers magically just started up that next month when I made the decision to head back to San Diego. A few years into my third or fourth season, I had the ability to preseason [trial] at one of the MLS franchises. I decided to stay. Four or five years after that, I had an opportunity to go to MLS for a little bit more money. But when it was all said and done, I knew that I had so many friends and family in San Diego, I knew it was an unbelievable organization that was competing for championships, year in and year out.

"As a player, I made a conscious decision not to chase money and extra dollars. I made a conscious decision to set my feet here and build something around my career. Being able to stay in San Diego for my entire career is special. … Loyalty is not something that's super common in youth soccer and college soccer right now. The landscape has evolved. I'm super proud that I maintained my loyalty to the city of San Diego and the Sockers organization when it could have deviated many times."

That championship feeling

After winning those four PASL titles while earning league MVP titles three consecutive times, Chiles' next challenge was to parade around an arena with the Ron Newman Cup. For six years, similar glory had evaded the Sockers.

Until the 2021 playoffs.

After finishing fifth during a truncated regular season with a 4-6 record, the Sockers went on a roll in the playoffs, and defeated the Ontario Fury, 2-1, in the finals’ tie-breaker game, 2-1. Chiles set up Cesar Cerda for the winner at 14:04.

Chiles finally had his MASL championship.

"The first thing I think about when I recap the last moments of that game was how relieved I was. It was a weight off of my shoulders, more than a static celebration," he said. "I could take a deep breath. We accomplished something special."

Late in a deadlocked game, Chiles was awarded a blue card, a two-minute stint in the penalty box.

"I put my team in a really tough situation," he said. "It was a power play for the other team in a tight game with four minutes left. I remember going to the bench and asking the boys to bail me out. I owe them. When I came out of bench, it was like a gift from God. [Goalkeeper William] Vanzella threw it right to my chest. I had a really tough game. I just made the one play that helped Cerda put that ball in the back of the net and help us grab the championship."

At the age of 37, Chiles and finished the 2021-22 on top again, defeating the Florida Tropics in the Ron Newman Cup championship series.

"It was one of those seasons where everything I touched went well," he said. "We had such a good team and something special was watching over us. It was nice to win that championship with Chihuahua in the league and having to go through them. There really weren't any loopholes or excuses. We beat the best of the best. It just clicked for me. I was so ecstatic to win that one. I remember being happy and joyful and over the moon.”

Chiles' most memorable moment of his career came in the final match, connecting for the winning goal to lift San Diego to a 4-3 lead over the Tropics.

"I took three or four touches and curled that ball in from the red line," he said. "We held on another 20-something minutes to kill that game and keep that score 4-3 for the championship win. I look back on that as a special moment. Not a typical goal that I would score. Not a goal in the box with a one-touch finish or a ball to the back post. It was a unique position where I got to turn and face the goal and dribble a few times at frame. I'll look back on that as a really special moment for me, being so old and later in my career, yet still influencing the big game.”

His legacy

Chiles realized that anyone's legacy can be complicated. He noted that he was more than just goals and assists.

"When people look back on my legacy and what I've done for the organization, I think they'll look at a lot of individual stats and look at goals scored and points accumulated," he said. "But I hope my legacy is being a competitive player that pushed to win every single game. I hope they look at my win and loss column in that category. I did my best in every single game to win, whether it was the national championship or trips to small arenas. I hope that was recognized as my competitive nature in every single game, and the desire to win. Sometimes individual points came, but other times, the focal point was to just make sure we got the W."

There are many reasons why a player will call it a career. Injuries can play a factor. Other times Father Time catches up to the best of us. Being a professional athlete can take players away from their family for long stretches of time. Chiles and his wife Stacy have an 11-year-old daughter, Peyton, and 10-year-old twin boys, Brady and Austin.

"One of the things that I'm factoring most into my retirement is these kids," he said. "I know they want me to continue to play. They love going to the games. They love watching me and my teammates. But at the same time, having 10- and 11-year-olds and being a professional athlete is a little bit abnormal. It's a big responsibility, but they love the game. I love having them there. That's helped me kept going."

Chiles already has something to transition, as he is the executive director of San Diego Sockers Youth Club, which is affiliated with the MASL team.

"There have been some conversations of me jumping into the coaching staff and helping the Sockers first team down the road, but nothing's been set in stone at the moment," he said.

Still hungry after all these years

Three games into this season, Chiles hasn't found the net yet, which is surprising for someone who scored 20 or more goals in 15 consecutive seasons (the short Covid-19 season in 2021 not included).

"I'm hungry to get that goal," he said. "It's funny. They say, once you get that first goal, the floodgates open a little bit. We haven't had the best offensive start to the season. We can all admit that in the locker room, but as long as we continue to defend and we keep games tight, we know we'll have the offensive ability to put the ball in the back of the net. We have so many talented goalscorers and so many talented attacking midfielders. I've scored a lot of goals in my career. At this point, I’m really focused on the W's. I know my goals will come, but winning is what's most important to me right now."

The Sockers are 1-1-1, but the 24-game season is young. Chiles and his teammates have off until they take to the field until Dec. 30, hosting the Tacoma Stars.

Winning a third Ron Newman Cup would cap off a Hall of Fame career.

"It would be unbelievable," Chiles said. "In our locker room, we’re all hoping that at the end of the year, I can lift that cup over my head and share that special moment with my teammates. It's a little bit of extra motivation for myself and a lot of the rest of the locker room. It's a competitive league this year. Everybody looks well balanced and very competitive. We know it's not going to be easy, but we feel like we've got a really good team. If we can continue to gel and build a little bit of continuity between each other, we're really going to give ourselves a good opportunity to win that 17th championship."

Michael Lewis, the sixth recipient of the Clay Berling Media Career of Excellence Award in 2025, can be followed on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky at @Soccerwriter.