From Flying Kiwis. Turns out he was playing a bit in NZ, not that long ago.
Don’t be fooled by the “American Under-19 international” stuff, Tyler Bindon’s kiwi sporting blood runs deep. Most notably his mother is Jenny Bindon who earned 77 caps for the Football Ferns as a goalkeeper, though father Grant also represented Aotearoa at volleyball. Jenny was born in Illinois but moved to NZ after meeting Grant at university and became a naturalised citizen playing for a bunch of Auckland clubs during her career. She’s also been a pretty successful coach in NZ, USA, and also a bit in England. Tyler Bindon played for East Coast Bays for a number of years growing up – and returned to play for them at a couple of U17s National tournaments whilst temporarily living back in NZ during the Covid period.
He had been doing his thing in the Los Angeles FC development teams but this Reading move was not a sudden thing. His family moved over there initially because Jenny had gotten a job coaching with London City Lionesses – where she’d have worked with current Ferns international Grace Neville. Not sure if she’s still in that role because LCL have had a bit of a tumultuous offseason and there’s been a lot of player and staff turnover. Tyler had been trialling with Reading since late last season however it’s this preseason phase under new manager Rubén Sellés which really seems to have sealed the deal. Bindon featured in four friendly games and trained with the first team throughout. Now the 18 year old has signed on the dotted line of a two-year contract with the London outfit.
Bindon’s been on the USA path for a couple of years now. He was first called up to their U19s in March 2022 and earlier this year played his first games for them on a tour to Argentina. That’s not ideal... but he’s still in the age range where he can go back and forth. Frankly, the Yanks still owe us for Tyler Boyd. We’ll see how it goes. That accent is more Kiwi than American, just sayin’...
