Welcome to the Sporting Kansas City Supporter Spotlight on SportingKC.com. As the opening of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park approaches, we want to highlight the stories of the fans that will make the stadium atmosphere inside LIVESTRONG Sporting Park the best in MLS. In our latest feature, we had a chance to speak with John Moore, a youth soccer coach from Sedalia, Missouri.
SportingKC.com: Hey, John, thanks for taking a couple of minutes today. Quickly, give us a little background on yourself as a supporter and the kinds of things you’re involved with…
Youth Soccer was started here in Sedalia in 1963. It’s one of the oldest youth programs in the state, so I started playing when I was like eight years old in 1968! I played through high school, through college and came back here and got involved in officiating and youth soccer. We are also big USA fans and have been to the World Cup in 1994, 2006 and 2010 and go to see the USMNT play whenever we can. I am a long time Newcastle Supporter and can’t wait until July 20th!
We wanted to create soccer fans here in Sedalia, and I wanted to pass along the passion for the game that I have, so we started taking our friends and players and their families to matches in person. You can’t tell somebody to like something. They have to experience it on their own. This is the first spring where we haven’t had games to go to after our team games. It’s been sort of weird. So come this summer, now we have a reason again for everyone to get together after the youth soccer season is over.
SportingKC.com: How long have you been attending games? What do you remember from the first match you attended?
I went to a game or two in ‘96, because I still have some of the handouts from those days. But ‘99, 2000 is when we really started to follow the team, I’d say. Obviously you had [Manager Bob] Gansler coming in then and that was just unbelievable winning MLS Cup and the Supporters Shield and sometime after that we finally became season ticket holders.
SportingKC.com: Now, John. Sedalia, MO is about 100 miles from LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. I’ve heard people as close as Lee’s Summit complain about having to drive all the way to the stadium. What exactly is the reason for coming so far, so frequently?
Definitely because it’s professional soccer. That’s all we have around here and it's an extension of what we love and what the kids love, and it's really the only game in town. Having this stadium anywhere within two hours is awesome, that’s what we keep talking about. Almost everybody involved in our little group have only ever experienced live pro soccer in CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Now think about that, and think about what they’re going to experience when they get to see it in a real stadium? They already love it. It’s just going be amazing and it’s going change the way people view soccer that haven’t gotten it any other way.
SportingKC.com: Tell me a bit about what you’re involved with from a youth soccer perspective out there. Obviously your kids play, but you do some coaching, as well…
Yes, Sedalia Soccer 305 Spin. We have U10 and U11 competitive teams that play in the KC Metro League A1 divisions, and we’re actually fairly successful considering we don’t really have tryouts. We’re limited in numbers so we come up against these big clubs and we do pretty well. It’s just a good group of kids and a great group of parents. We host watch parties, we have a place where we can play indoors, we had a New Year's Eve party because the kids wanted to see who’d be the last player to score a goal in 2010 and the first to score in 2011, so it’s just a really great group of families out here. All of these activities are an extension of training and playing games. This total experience is what will grow their love for the game for life.
SportingKC.com: So I’m sure that you’ve seen some pretty special moments in all the years you’ve been coming, can you think of a favorite?
Oh my gosh, there are so many. Things that jump right out are (Jose Luis) Burciaga’s goal against D.C. United, that looping effort. Watching (Tony) Meola play was pretty special. Preki, obviously, with all that he did. Once you start going to every game though, it starts to run together. Probably at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, whenever the players score and jump into the Cauldron to celebrate. Being a part of the team and the effort from a 12th man viewpoint is probably what feels the best and that will really be heightened once we move into the new stadium.
And actually, we worked out a deal once where the team came to Sedalia to play an exhibition match against the Brass. I think it was Jimmy Conrad’s first year. And I remember there was this meet-and-greet that year and Jimmy (Conrad) showed up in a green leisure suit, getting attention as only Jimmy could.
After the game in Sedalia, H.A. Perez, owner of El Tapatio restaurant, hosted the team for dinner. I remember Gansler, he was saying “Get ‘em in, we’ll get ‘em fed and we’ll get ‘em outta here.” They had this whole thing set up with all this great food, and Burciaga, (Nick) Garcia, (Diego) Gutierrez were on the team and El Tapatio had a Folkloric dance show and then Garcia danced, next thing you know its two hours later and the guys are still there!
SportingKC.com: In that same vein, is there a particular player or coach that stands out when you think back, either for your, or for your kids?
In the past, obviously Jimmy (Conrad). My son Riley and Jimmy always hit it off, and he actually presented Riley with the shirt he wore in the World Cup, which was pretty special.
But presently I’d say for the boys it is C.J. [Sapong], We were at the meet-and-greet at Johnny’s and the kids were at one of the high tables in the front and C.J. walked in and just sat down with them for about 20 minutes. They really hit it off and then that first game, when he scored that first goal, we were watching it here at 305 and the boys went nuts. He was just so cool with them and he gave them this celebration move he said he was going to do when he scored and now when they score in a game they do that as well. And that’s what its about, that accessibility.
SportingKC.com: LIVESTRONG Sporting Park opens on June 9th, what are your plans for that day?
We have a group of about 50 or so for the 9th coming, and we have a group of about 80 coming on Tuesday for the National Team. And you got to remember those are both weeknights and we’re coming from Sedalia.
We’re definitely going to be there early, with our big crew, and like I said for most of our group it will be the first time they have ever been in a stadium that’s meant for soccer.
And as for the Gold Cup, I mean Kansas City made itself the epicenter of soccer in the US over the summer, I think. Donovan’s goal against Algeria and all the people watching at Power and Light and their reaction. I think everyone around really noticed what was going on here, so I think people from all over sort of want to come to KC and relive that somehow in person.
SportingKc.com: To end it we’ll play a little word association game. I’m going to throw out a quick phrase, and I want you to repeat back to me the first thing that jumps into your head when you think about said phrase. Ready?
Kei Kamara...
Well he’s definitely the team prankster, I’d say.
10 game road trip…
I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
Kerry Zavagnin...
Glad that he stayed around. He’s an important person to branch the past with the future. Gives us that connection.
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park...
It’s got lots of potential. Just a win-win situation.
