The Soccer Life - Kevin

1. Name:
Kevin Thompson

2. Role (Player, Parent, Coach, Referee, General Spectator, All of the Above, None of the Above, Other):
- player, referee (youth league, very limited), spectator

3. Soccer-specific Nickname (and any story behind it):
Two nicknames.
- Catfish: This is the nickname that dad (my coach for many years) gave me because a catfish is all mouth and no brains. I would get a lot of yellow cards for talking back to officials. The name just caught on and my teammates would call me Catfish too.

- Twig: this was my high school nickname. Drew’s nickname was Stump (which makes no sense really) so they called me Twig because we’re related and thin like twigs. We should have been called Twig and Twig Jr.

4. Age started playing:
- 4

5. First recollection of the game:
- scoring a lot of goals and looking in the paper where they would show how many each kid had. I liked having a lot and usually had more than any of the other kids

6. Highest level of play achieved:
- high school, intramurals in college

7. Last competitive match – Date (if known) & Level of Play:
- fall of 1995, loss in sectionals (high school)

8. Position:
- primarily midfield and forward. Played some goalie whenever we had big leads…I usually gave up a goal to the other team. I played sweeper too as a youth, but preferred midfield because I could play both offense and defense. I wanted as many chances as possible to touch the ball and help control the game.

9. Jersey number:
- 17, 21, 10, 7, 14

10. Most memorable moment(s):
- winning a tournament when I was around 14 that we had no business winning. I believe the game went into overtime.
- Also I recall an undefeated season on a youth league.
- Indoor games at Indy Indoor are also very memorable.
- Bus trips in high school were fun.

11. Least memorable moment(s):
- missing several games of my senior year due to being on crutches after a surgery to remove a gland in my leg.
- Getting kicked in the face by Coach Scanlon in a “don’t flinch” free kick contest. It hurt even worse because I was wearing braces on my teeth. I’ll never forgive that jerk. 
- Getting a very bloody nose (broken?) from Coach McNabb during a scrimmage. He was 40+ years old but was ripped and in as good a shape as any of us. It bleed instantly and lightly blackened both my eyes. Nose was sore for weeks.

12. Favorite team:
- Indy XI,
- Everton (because they’re known as “Everton Blues”, which I like),
- Argentina (because I like Lionel Messi),
- USA of course

13. Favorite player:
Historical:
- Pele,
- Valderrama (the hair!!),
- Alexi Lalas,
- Tony Meola

Current:
- Lionel Messi

14. Indoor vs Outdoor:
- I loved the speed of indoor. Outdoor was fun too because I enjoyed being outside and the length of the game. Being able to run long distances is better than indoor too.

15. Grass vs Turf:
- definitely grass. Getting grass raspberries was much better than turf. Turf hurts in every way. We played on some crappy grass fields full on rocks and ruts but still better than turf.

16. Coaching experience:
- very little. Worked with some kids during high school at summer camps

17. Refereeing experience:
- youth league. I was around 13-14 years old. Also worked as a sideline official.

18. Favorite World Cup moment(s):
- mostly revolve around the women’s team since they’ve had more success. Watching the men’s team improve and consistently make the World Cup has been cool too. Seeing the USA host in 1994 (still the highest attendance in history of WC).

19. Honors/Awards:
- letter winner in high school.
- Academic all state in high school.
- Some team MVP awards on youth teams (can’t remember specifics)

20. Other sports played (and to what level):
- basketball (rec leagues)

21. Other Comments: