Since joining the Rapids as the Fan Engagement Specialist in 2023, what has been your impression of the supporter culture of C38 and Mile High Lokos and how do you think you can impact the supporter culture through your position?
I've been really impressed by the dedication and the history that C38 has. They’re an organization that has a long lineage with the club and you can really feel that just by talking to the members, attending their events. It's exciting to have that to work with in my role in terms of how I can help, I just really want to help uplift them and say yes to as many of their questions as possible. And that's essentially going to be part of my full time role here is, is being there a person of contact that can connect the dots with the club, with community events, whatever it is, so I want to help as much as possible help cultivate the fan culture here and help build onto what has already been created.
What other clubs do you feel like you were able to see the supporter culture from a very close perspective to build an understanding of what supporters want and how clubs can help?
I've been very lucky to get very close to many different supportive groups and different clubs. Other than MLS, I was also really involved with the U.S. Soccer side of things. I helped build a more Latino centric support group for the U.S. national teams. And so we had people reach out from all over the country, from different clubs, from different support groups, and I got to make lots of friends, make lots of connections, visit people around the country from FC Dallas, Houston, NYCFC, Inter Miami, the Galaxy, Chicago Fire. There's a real understanding in American supporter culture that we need to be part of these cities and part of these communities in order to grow the sport. And that's part of what I love about soccer is that its community is so important with the game. And so just seeing how each group and each fan culture around the league really interacts with their city, interacts with their club, interacts with their community has been, I think has been the most rewarding part of the last few years of what I've been doing in soccer.
What are the key ingredients to the relationships between supporters and the club?
I would say open honest communication is really important. At the end of the day, supporter groups and the front offices have the same goal of building the sport and growing the club. From my perspective, soccer is like a religion to me, and I care so much about developing the game and really building it in a way that slowly solidifies its growth in the sense that like, it's here to stay, instead of just being a trend. So the fact that C38 does have that understanding of football culture is great, but just making sure that we're all on the same page and understanding that we're on the same team, and I want to help them grow as much as I want to see the Rapids do well. Just building those relationships is always important.
And what unique elements of fan culture, do you think C 38 brings to this club, C 30, and Malchut logos
They're unique in that they're one of the few supporter groups that really has a long lineage and a long history with the club. The Rapids are one of the original founding clubs in MLS and a lot of the fans of the Rapids and members of C38 have been here for decades, so they have an understanding of the history of the club of the history of the sport, the game in Colorado, that a supporter group for a club that's only three or four or five years old, just won't have. There's a certain footballing intelligence and understanding of the culture that you don't really need to teach here because it already exists. Whereas with other clubs and other projects, I've been a part of, you're building that from scratch, but here that exists. And it's really exciting to have that foundation to build upon instead of just having to start from zero.
Do you have a favorite piece from the new line?
I'm going to go with the black hoodie just because it's simple. It keeps me warm. It's got the block letters on it. It's no nonsense and it reminds me of that casual culture of soccer where people will just wear their favorite hoodie or wear their favorite piece of gear to the game. It doesn't necessarily have to be a jersey or the team scarf.
