Growing up, I played baseball, as soccer wasn’t as popular in the United States back then. It’s important to understand that in the 1980’s, the St. Louis Cardinals were on quite a heater and dominated the local sports landscape. So, my formative years were spent going to Busch Stadium II with my parents, the Boy Scouts, and Khory League teammates. That is to say, I wasn’t watching Liverpool run roughshod over the Premier League, but rather watching a tarp eat Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith doing flips, and Willie McGee running down everything.
Despite how bad I was at baseball (and reader: I was bad), I loved going out to the backyard with my dad and playing catch after dinner. I loved going to practice with my friends and goofing off for a few hours in the summer heat. I loved going to the local ice cream shop after games and getting that chocolate-vanilla twist soft serve cone.
The march of time
Having kids of your own is a real paradigm shift. Suddenly, you're the one taking them to practice. You're the one they're asking to go out back and toss around a ball. You're the one sweating it out on the sidelines while they practice and play the games.
Kids are great – they have this amazing knack for sensing what you’re passionate about and trying to do it to make you happy. For my kids, and many of our friends and neighbors, it was finally time for baseball to take a back seat to soccer.
I was known as “Coach Daddy” to the other 5 and 6 year-olds because my daughter would cling to my leg as I tried in vain to anchor kids to a position on the field instead of bunching. We’d run simple drills, which almost always ended in someone crying. We’d practice the basics: passing, receiving, and shooting on goal. On game days, we’d practice another set of skills - losing or winning gracefully, having fun with friends, and not taking things too seriously.
Both of my kids stopped playing soccer by 2nd grade, unceremoniously ending my illustrious coaching career. But despite all those frustrations of trying to get 11 kids to work together, it only made me love the game more.
Brick by brick
We were fortunate that our school district had no barriers to kids playing sports. If you wanted to play, you were on the team. We didn't have a travel elite set-up or were pay-to-play like some of the local soccer academies.
That's why I'm honored to have been elected to the Gateway Football Group transition board of directors as Vice Chair – I'm all-in on growing soccer culture in the region with an intense fan-focus – no gatekeeping! We're long past due to return soccer to the people, not the academies or top leagues in the U.S. Pyramid that forego tradition or accessibility in favor of profits.
In the coming weeks, we'll be launching a lot more information about what it means to be truly fan-funded and fan-driven. If you haven't already, please sign up for updates and be the first to hear about events, contests, and get-togethers as we build this new movement for lower league soccer one brick at a time.
