Meet the Team Night at FC Dallas!

Moving to the UK when my kids were 3 and 5 meant that they had an entirely different exposure to team sports than their friends back here in the US; for my son, it meant choosing between soccer, rugby and cricket.

Soccer it was, and has been ever since. My mud room is littered with soccer kit, my car often filled with the funk that can only be caused by sweaty goalkeeper gloves, I’ve pulled things shooting on my kid in the yard when friends weren’t available (and trust me, it’s not a pretty sight), my kid can cite player stats better than any bookmaker in Vegas and the battle for recording space on the DVR gets ugly when the English Premier League and MLS are both in season.

Needless to say, one of the first things we did when we moved to the DFW area was to buy season tickets for FC Dallas, and it’s been a blast. In addition to the scheduled matches, season ticket holders mean get treated to a few special events. A few weeks ago they hosted Fan Appreciation Night, and my kids were lucky enough to get to “bench warm” while the teams warmed pre-match.

It was a pretty cool experience.

Most recently FC Dallas put on a “Meet the Team” night, offering season ticket holders the opportunity to get photos and autographs from the players. The club thoughtfully provided team posters to be signed, as well as food and drink.

As the autograph session started, requests ranged from the more obvious (the provided posters, soccer balls, and jerseys) to the eyebrow raising (and nose curling) soccer shoes – nose curling, because the kid pulled the shoe OFF HIS FOOT and handed it to the players to sign.

Did I mention is was really hot and they had big ice-filled bins stuffed with water bottles everywhere to help us beat the heat? Just no.

And then there was the young couple who get to share the award for Most Clever Fan: using what looked to be an LG phone, they took selfies with the players, then handed the player a stylus and had them sign right on the selfie.

GENIUS!

Given the number of players signing autographs in relation to the number of fans present that evening, the lines needed to move quickly, leaving enough time for a quick photo. However, we were able to ask Chris Seitz, one of the FC Dallas goalkeepers, a very important question: this soccer mom needed to know what could be done to prevent the keeper glove funk!

(The answer: nothing. If you’re curious, he suggested washing the glove in water only, no detergent, then letting them air dry, and using baby powder.) I’m betting it was the weirdest question he got that night.

While we didn’t make it around to all the players, the kids were happy with those they did get, so after visit to the shaved ice truck for the kids, a quick trip to the Pro Shop (20% discount for us, yippee), we grabbed some seats to watch the first team practice.

It was a really cool event and I saw a lot of really happy fans. Check it out:

Season tickets are going on sale right now, and in February, the U.S. Women’s National Team will be playing THREE Olympic qualifiers in Frisco. A little bird told me that season ticket holders will be getting first dibs to buy tickets for the events. Just something to think about..

We’ll be right back here on Saturday night, when FC Dallas plays the LA Galaxy. Right after the Boy plays two matches of his own in the first tournament of the season…

Yay, soccer.