About Me
Hello fellow soccer fan,
My name is Dave, and it’s a pleasure to meet you! Creating this content and exploring soccer from different angles has been my dream for a long time. I’m happy to share it all with you. Before diving into other articles that may interest you, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and answer a few questions.
First, my goal is to attend as many soccer games as I can this season, both semi-profession and professional. This season I will attend games in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL), National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), United Soccer League Two (USL League Two), United Soccer League One (USL League One), United Soccer League Championship (USL Championship), and the brand new Major League Soccer Next (MLS Next). I close out the season with the cream of the crop, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), and Major League Soccer (MLS). I’m excited to have the opportunity and can’t wait to see what the season brings.
An excellent question you might be asking yourself is - why? Why am I going to all of these games? Why am I focusing on lower league soccer and not just the top? Do I really go all the way to these games just to see local teams play? Perfectly reasonable questions.
Through these articles and (soon to come) videos, my goal is to convince you to go to one of these games. No matter how far away or what club you’re a fan of, I believe that each game has something special you can experience in person. You don’t have to know everything to be a soccer fan, and you don’t have to go to see a high-profile team to have a good time.
That’s why I’m covering games from as many leagues as possible. Lower league soccer may not sound interesting to most. However, I find that as soccer continues to grow in popularity in the United States, the lower leagues are where you can find the true state of the game. It’s where players, coaches, referees, administrators, athletic trainers, assistants, fans, and families come together to make the game happen. Whether it’s coordinating travel to away games or ensuring everyone has the right opportunity to play for a club. It could be tending to an athlete’s wound or translating tactics into another language. Even the smallest cheering sections echo loudly to players and coaches. Ordinary people become extraordinary on and off the field in places you may not hear from unless someone is there to tell you.
That’s where I come in.
I will have two articles for every game I go to a match report and a guide. The match report is the highlights, interviews, and written account of the game as best as I can bring it to you. The guide is tied to the town or city of the home team. It’s designed to help anyone traveling to the game. It might feature directions, what to expect with parking, how much a game costs, or where to buy merchandise. With my journey to each match, I also seek out one historical attraction and one restaurant to try in the area. Just like supporting lower league soccer, there are a lot of hidden gems you wouldn’t otherwise hear about.
Finally, what makes me qualified to write all of this? In general, soccer fans tend to be very particular about where they get their news and whose opinion they respect. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a fellow fan argued with me on this very article because I didn’t consider the full range of lower league soccer. Just like the game, I am growing with each passing season. Professionally speaking, I have a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Hunter College in New York City. I also have a master’s degree in teaching English adolescent education from Mercy College in Westchester, New York. I am quite the groundhopper (a term for visiting soccer games away from home). I have attended games across the United States, both club and country, and Spain, Iceland, and Argentina.
The term away day inspired my name Away Dave. Some English teacher humor for you. I appreciate your support, and if you have any questions (or words of encouragement), feel free to message me on any of my social media platforms.
I’m Away Dave, and where I go, you should follow!