First, it is important to note that my grandfather was in the Navy and served mainly during the Cold War. My mother, her three sisters, and one brother, Kevin, and grandparents had to move many times up and down the east coast throughout the 80s. Kevin played three sports growing up: soccer, hockey, and lacrosse. He was an all-around athlete but was truly gifted when it came to the soccer. His love for the game was not truly there during his younger years. Even though the game wasn't in his heart, he was still by far the best player on the pitch. Kevin only lost 8 games between the three different high schools he attended. When Kevin was a freshman he was called up to the varsity squad only after playing three games for the JV team and was almost immediately made a starter, playing left forward.
Midway through high school, he had to relocate, this time to the the Washington, D.C. area, where he resides today. He attended Landon which is an all-boys school and has an incredibly preppy reputation, which is a bill he does not fit. They were not very good at soccer and only had one player go on to play at the college level while he was there. Yet, Kevin carried Landon as best as he could. He was their top scorer, All-Met and All-Prep. He was still struggling to find someone or something that would make him love the beautiful game infinitely. He graduated from the Norfolk Academy, located on the southern Virginian coast, in 1983 where he was still dominating, scoring goals almost effortlessly. The fall of his senior year he was winning awards such as MVP of the Conference and Prep League and was also voted Most Outstanding Soccer Player in the Tidewater area, which included all the private and public schools in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, etc.
The day of the awards ceremony, he received a call from the local newspaper asking him how it felt to be selected to the Eastern Regional All-Star Team. He was unaware that he was selected to be on the team and had to phone the head coach of Old Dominion University. The coach told Kevin that a total of 23 players from the East Coast, stretching from Maine to North Carolina, were selected, and that he was one of them. They would be training with players from the U.K. Kevin was obviously excited about this opportunity, as would any young athlete who is at the top of their game.
The training would take place over the course of two weeks in the spring and it was clearly going to be an intense session with the players. So, he trained as hard as he could during the months leading up to it. The training was going to be top-notch consisting of technical drills, video assessments, one-on-one's with the players, etc. He had no clue who the players would be or where they were from. When he showed up on the first day he saw Liverpool bags, balls, equipment, and kits. The players were from Liverpool. He looked around for the coaches but couldn't find any. They were not allowed to be there. It was only going to be the 23 American boys and the pros from Liverpool. The first thing the Liverpool players asked them was if they wanted to do drills or to play. I'm sure we all know what the boys wanted to do. So, they just scrimmaged for two weeks. All day, everyday. The players would stop the games at times to talk to the boys and even have the boys talk to each other. By talk I mean, critique, make fun of, scold, praise, or just offer thoughts on what was happening at the given moment and they never knew what was going to be said. It was a way of getting players to work together and it was successful.
Communication, according to the Liverpool players, was more about having respect for the game than having respect for your teammates. They taught Kevin and the boys that the game was always bigger than any player, tournament, or match. Having respect for the game was the most important thing. Kevin was the only local player so he had the honor of hosting some of the players at his house for dinner. One night at dinner, the players began to share stories with Kevin about life back across the pond in Liverpool. It was then that he learned some hard truths about the players. They all had other jobs back in the U.K. and playing for Liverpool was a privilege for them. These were not the starters for Liverpool, or even the substitutes, they were the reserve players for the team. Those who were not featured in games but eventually could if the time came. They mostly trained with the first team.
Kevin noticed that the reserves shared three or four cars for between all of them. Meanwhile, the boys that he was training with all had their own cars. All the boys had scholarship offers to play at some of the best colleges in the U.S., the reserves never attended college. The reserves worked for each cent they earned and certainly struggled at times. Kevin would ask them if they ever had any intention of coming over to the States to play. They had no interest at all. Liverpool was there home and they could never leave it. They loved the city and the club too much to simply kiss it goodbye. Many of them were waiting for a promotion at the blue-collar jobs back in Liverpool, others were providing for their families, some were just trying get enough money so they could maybe buy a home.
Kevin said that he was by far the best player out of the 23 called up for the training but he was completely out-played, out-classed and out-worked by the reserves. Not only was this a humbling moment for Kevin, but he had also found what he was looking for: the players that loved the game more than themselves and that were enthusiastic about the game. They wanted others to love it just as much as they did. In the end it worked. It was infectious and it spread to Kevin. Those players, the memories, and especially Liverpool have stuck with him throughout all these years. Even though this all happened decades ago, my uncle has been able to spread the game to my family and many others. What exactly happened to the careers of the reserve players is unknown to us but they were ambassadors for the game and the club and successful ones at that. They are responsible for making my uncle a fan of the club and therefore are responsible for my fandom since it was my uncle that introduced me to Liverpool.
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| One of the players even signed Kevin's scrapbook. It says, "All the very best for the future, Kevin. Hope to see you playing for the USA sometime. Love to have you in England. Great to have known you." |
I know I have made other people fans. I'm sure some of the boys Kevin trained with became fans as well. Who knows how many people they converted? It's funny, my family and I joke about how accurate the club motto, "You'll Never Walk Alone," is. It seems that everywhere we go, we run into a fan or at least see one wearing a kit. I just wonder who it was that made them fall in love with the club and the game itself?
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