Insider Secrets for Fans and Families at Nashville SC with Jamie Wright

On this episode of Clarksville Insider, host Josh Atkins sits down with Jamie Wright, longtime Nashville SC superfan, as she shares how her family has turned soccer into a fun and unforgettable experience everyone in their family. From insider tips on parking, tickets, and the best seats, to kids’ club perks, tailgates, and pre-game festivities, Jamie walks us through everything families need to know to enjoy a match. Whether it’s meeting players, parading into the stadium, or witnessing Lionel Messi in action, this episode shows how Nashville SC brings fans together in a welcoming, family-friendly environment and how the team has become a meaningful part of their family’s life.

Transcript

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Welcome back to Clarksville Insider. I am your host, Josh Atkins, like the diet that'll help you spell it better. And today we have a real treat for you. Usually get, try to get guests, people that can help you get to know something a little bit better, or maybe offer some insight into something you've never even thought of or thought would be capable, thought you'd be capable of getting, achieving, seeing, experiencing. And today we have one of those guests. I have a friend from years ago, I would say probably 10 plus from when we first moved here. her name is Jamie Wright. First of all, welcome to the pod, Jamie. Well, thank you. Thanks for having me. And I'd love for you to just introduce yourself a little bit, give the people a chance to get to know you and your family a little bit, your connection to Clarksville, maybe how long you've been here, a little bit of bio info, and we can jump right in because I'm really excited to get to what we're here to talk. Okay, awesome. So then I'll keep this short because I'm excited for what we're going to talk about too. my name is Jamie, Jamie Wright, and I am an educator here in Clarksville. And I came to Clarksville by kind of a roundabout way that a lot of people come to Clarksville, and that's the military. But it was because my best friend was stationed here. So I was coming to visit and I just fell in love with the fact that Clarksville feels like a small city but has big town amenities. So I quit my teaching job in Southeast Missouri and moved here. And I've been here about 16 years now. Met my husband about four months after I moved here. And we've been stuck together ever since. met Josh, as he said, singing at church. And I've really loved being part of the Clarksville community. I taught for eight years at Kenwood High School and have since moved over to the central office side of things. I have a student in the school system and my husband also works for the school system. So we're super, super excited and happily involved with Clarksville schools. But that is not what I'm here to talk about today. So. Yes. And so, so in all of that, first of all, first of all, usually when people say the military brought me, it was a parent or like a spouse or something like that. That's the first time I've ever heard somebody say, I came to visit a friend and never left. I mean, that's kind of what it is. So it's funny, we've been actually country dancing together since we were 17, 18 years old. And so I would come down and we would go, this was back in the day when you could go down on Broadway in Nashville and actually dance at all the places. And I just fell in love with it. So I made a lot of friends coming down to visit Aaron and ended up staying. And so in all of that, once you... get married, have a kid. A lot of the path that parents take is, all right, let's sign them up for sports. Let's get them into activities and see what sticks. And what seemed to stick with your daughter kind of initially? Well, our rule in our house has always been one musical instrument and one sport. You have to do one of each. And it could be whatever you wanted. we tried, my husband is a f- is a former football coach and was a huge softball baseball guy in high school and college age. And so we tried, we tried blast ball and softball first, no go. We tried soccer and she was sold super fast. Part of it was we had an amazing coach through Montgomery County Soccer Association that kept the team together and playing season after season. And so we just fell deeper and deeper into soccer. I never thought I would understand what things like offsides meant, but I do. feel like I'm still learning and my daughter is trying out for middle school soccer and I'm like, wait, so there's a line? yeah, so I'm working on it. Every day I get about 3 % more understanding of it. And so up through the soccer, lot of playing, but there was more than just playing. It sounds like you were looking for other soccer connections and we're kind of to where we're going here. like we're... Because we really want to talk about the Nashville soccer club. That's what we're here for. And your connection to that, which is deep and wide, it's like over here and over here, but also really, really into it. so just how in the world, because when I saw they were coming to town, I'm not sure when it was. I don't remember exactly, but it was like, oh, we should go sometime. And I think it was not until last year that we went to our first game. And apparently it was, hey, they're coming to town. This is, we should check it out. Like, how did you first get to it? Because you guys are very involved in it, it seems like something you guys love to do as a family. so getting into it, how did you go from playing just local Clarksville soccer to probably go into a game and just kind of getting that feel? How did that jump, that progression? Well, it actually comes with a little down before the up so Ellie had transitioned to travel ball and and Was we were full-on playing all the time and we had a bit of a rough season with a coach that I'm just gonna say did more harm than good. And so I think, you in life you have people that you either click with really well or you don't, and this just happened to be a situation where she didn't, but she still wanted to be super involved with soccer. So we were looking for an outlet. She also loves to dance. So we weren't worried about her having another sport. We had a backup, but she still wanted to play. So we were looking to keep that love of the game going. We actually, with her travel team, ended up going to a Nashville soccer club game and we had the best time. And this was when they were still playing at Nissan Stadium. And we were shocked by the environment. So we are huge sports family. As I said, my husband is a football coach. I love football. I raised a huge football and racing fan. And it's been pretty good to you as a football fan. It is because I'm a Chiefs fan. So yeah, we're in now listen I had like 30 some years of bad before we got to the last seven or eight of good, but okay. I'm hanging on brief side note What you just did right there Do you feel like you have to do that with everybody you talked to like defend your well length of fandom? just the last just the last couple of years and I will tell you that I absolutely love what has happened to the sport because the best tight end in the game happens to be dating a global superstar. But a lot of times as a female sports fan, the first thing people will say to me when I'm wearing a chiefs jersey is, oh, you like Taylor Swift. And I'm like, no, I had to start wearing red and yellow at birth because otherwise my mom would not have allowed me to continue living in her house. So I've been a lifelong fan. And so my husband's made that correction too. He's looked at a people have said that and have said, she's probably had that sweatshirt longer than you've been alive. So yeah, things have changed a little bit, but when you have a team as successful as the Chiefs have been for almost the last decade now, people will constantly assume you might be a fair weathered fan. And like I said, I'm probably a little more defensive as a female fan also. Yeah, you're like, no, no, no. I know what I'm talking about. I've been through the Neil Smith. Derrick Thomas era, like all that kind of stuff. So you went to, I didn't even remember that they were playing in Nissan Stadium before they got their own stadium. it was so much fun. So we're used to sporting events where there's breaks. And there's no break in professional soccer. It is straight 45 minutes for half, 15 minute break, straight 45 minutes for the second half. And the whole time there are drums playing and chants happening and the crowd is... Crazy, and we just had the best time. So when we were looking for that outlet to stay involved with soccer for Ellie, we kind of decided, we went to the very first game at Geotis. We took a huge group of our soccer buddies. We bought group tickets set on the very top row of the stadium. So you would think, well, how could that have been fun? But there's not a seat at Geotis, which is where Nashville Soccer Club plays. That's our home stadium now in Nashville. There's not a seat that's more than 150 feet off the field. So even though it's a 30,000 seat stadium, the largest soccer specific stadium in the United States or Canada, yeah, I'm bragging about that. There's not a bad seat in the house. And again, we just had a blast and we kept going back. We were finding ourselves buying tickets really often because they're super affordable. It's very family friendly. And we just loved the stadium. So it took us about two seconds that first season at Geodes to decide to become season ticket holders. so that was the first that was like, all right, let's make the jump. Let's get some tickets and plan our time around it. Yes. Yeah. So we decided we were going to dedicate time. And again, If you know me at all, I claim all the time that we are not just poor, we're also cheap. So when you work in public education, that's a pretty common thing. Being able to have season tickets that are really nice seats in the stadium for less per year than it costs me to go to one and a half NFL games is, I mean, that makes the decision a pretty easy call. So we kind of dove in. And like I said, Ellie was willing to dive in with us. She knows so much about the game that she was teaching her dad and I. And as she transitioned more into dance and then out of travel ball and back into rec ball, my husband took on coaching their rec team when her rec coach decided to take a break. so then the two of them are talking strategy and positions and mapping things out. And it was really impressive. So of course, Being a teacher, loud and in front of people has never been a problem for me. So I'm like, ooh, how can we get involved in that side? So we noticed there's a standing only section where all that chanting and drumming and things comes from in the stadium, and it's called the supporter section. And it's made up of people who belong to supporters groups. So basically soccer fan clubs. Because I learned soccer people are nuts. In the best way are these like Facebook groups or just like actual actual groups like we have meetings and officers and all the things, okay, so two of the largest groups for National Soccer Club are the roadies And their motto is first in last out. They were the first official supporters group the supporters group also This is where it's gonna start sounding wacky the supporters groups form a collective called the backline collective and we meet with the club Like we worked together with the club to do fun fan things at the stadium. So I say that because we of course dove right in. We're at the tailgate for one of the games and walked past all the different supporters groups tables. And I was immediately drawn in by the roadies table because it had something called the table of love. And there were free sunscreen for kiddos, free drinks. Water and not water. And all they requested was donations and all of the donations went to charities in Nashville and every month they picked a different charity to support. And I thought, I want to do that. I want to get involved. this is, if this is a community that's about giving back as much as it is about having fun at a sporting match, let's do it. So we joined the roadies. Another really large group that was interesting to our family is LaBrogada. which is our Hispanic supporters group. And my daughter is a student at the Spanish Immersion School here in Clarksville. being around a community that is very Spanish speaking focused, that was fun for her also. So we dove in and joined. so between Ellie's love of the game, breeding a love of the game in her dad and I, and then getting involved with the supporters group, we went from zero to 60 very quickly. So I can give you some good insider tips on how to enjoy a game at the stadium. So what is it like? Because when I went, or we went last, I it was last summer, to our first game, we got there and went to our seats and watched the game. And there was a section of not roadies, but it seemed like rowdies. I would imagine you found yourself in that section real quick. Is that where? So that's not where our seats are, but that is anybody can go to the supporter section. And those often are where people start because they're the least expensive seats. They're not seats. You stand in the stadium. They're about 20 bucks a ticket. Sometimes you can even find them for less. People sell them on the Facebook page, Facebook pages all the time if they can't go to a game. And most of the time, It's just nobody's trying to make money off their tickets. It's just, I can't go. I'd like to get what I paid. Go enjoy the game for me. The soccer community's real understanding like that. There's not a blow up of tickets. The only time I've ever seen that happen in the years that we've been fans is the first time Miami came to town. Tickets were bananas. For a certain player. Yes. Yeah, and I can tell a story about that in a couple of minutes when we get there. But you can just come to the stadium and sit in your seat and enjoy the game. But if you wanted to hive in and be part of the chanting and the jumping and the crazy, buy in the supporters section. I think everybody should experience it at least once. It is generally family friendly, but I will say this, your child may hear some profanity. And if we're scoring a lot of goals, A lot of times people will fling their water bottles around, but on occasion, one of the guys will forget it's not a water bottle he has in his hand. So I have had beer in my hair before on numerous occasions. It's a rowdy section for sure. noted, like, just everybody just be aware, you know, it gets a little wild. Yeah, it can. when they're cheering and got stuff to cheer. And but I can also talk about another aspect in the fact that my husband Mark is just a really cool. mean, I think he's cool because I'm married to him, but he is a cancer survivor and stem cell transplant survivor. And over the years, his body has just been through a lot dealing with all that. So we've had some breakdown in how, you know, he's had a hip replacement now and knee surgery a couple of times. And so he qualifies as disabled. So I will say if you are a family thinking about coming to this and you're like we would need ADA access, I can't think of a sports venue that I have ever been to that is as accommodating to people with accessibility needs as Geodes Park is. So we sit right on the concourse. That's where our season tickets are. So Mark doesn't have to worry about tackling the stairs and we have a blast. So it's really a nice nice stadium. So if there's Let's just say there's a family out there that's like, really like soccer. We're just not sure about the drive. We're not sure about the commitment. Can you, as if I were the family, like if I was getting ready, it's like, oh, we'd love to go sometime. We're just not sure what to do, where to get, and really experience it in a way that wouldn't be just a big ball of stress. Is there? As far as like, what would you, do you have any like, just helps? okay, here's, first of all, it's not like, just little stair steps to really ease maybe some of that stress for somebody that's never been there before. Yeah, for sure. So again, I will say there is not a bad seat in the house. So don't stress about where your tickets are for the first game. Upper deck tickets will be a little bit cheaper. So keep in mind that if you're buying in the 200s, you're gonna be conquering stairs. And they're steep ish stairs. They're not terrible Marks been up and down them when we've when we were first starting to go there And didn't have too much trouble But keep that in mind if you need that to keep if you need to think about that the 100s are slightly more expensive But you're still only gonna pay 35 40 bucks a ticket max even for the lower level seats so again, don't stress about where your seats are and if you were to perchance try the supporter section for example, because they're super cheap tickets and you don't like it, you can go to guest services even during the game and they'll move your seats. So they're very helpful and very accommodating. They want you to have a good time while you're there. Parking, the stadium is plopped right in the middle of a neighborhood. It is right next to the old fairgrounds and racetrack. So there are lots where they sell parking and you can, they'll give you... Usually like a week before the game, they'll open parking and you can attempt to buy parking from the actual soccer club. But there are dozens of homes around and also groups, Facebook pages like Parking with Terry. I'm a big fan of his. That you can buy parking spots so you don't have to stress about parking for the game. You'll have an address to go to and a place to be and they're all easy walking distance. And I can attest. you're parking with Terry because when we went, I reached out to you and said, hey, we're going to our first game. Where should we park? And you sent me a link to the Facebook group. And we ended up there and paid and was like, oh, there's the stadium. And we walked because you got to walk anywhere. But like it was right there. so I would imagine there's some other ones too. And just really a little bit of legwork on the front end can save you from just. You probably don't want to just show up and start driving around because it's like, at least try to have a plan before you get there. Because I didn't see any just like mega parking structures because it's really, as you described it, in the middle of a neighborhood right next to the old fairgrounds. So at least have a plan or try to get something in place before you get there. Yeah, I 100 % recommend that. And the soccer club does sell quite a few parking spaces. The only time I've ever seen it be a real issue is when there's been an event at the fairgrounds at the same time and we can't use that like in field parking as a parking lot for the stadium, etc. So there are good options. I would just encourage you to look around. There's also a really great Facebook page, the official Nashville SC fan page. And you can ask just on the Facebook page, hey, I'm coming to the game where's the best place to park. And a lot of times people will volunteer their favorite parking lots, links to get a good spot and to buy ahead. So, highly recommend getting on those groups and looking. Parking, I think, is probably the most stressful part, and if you plan ahead, it's not stressful at all. we found it's really easy to get through the neighborhood and get up to the stadium without too much trouble. There's also, if you like to get to places early so that you don't have to worry about parking, I also highly recommend that. They do a fan zone for about an hour and a half before they open the gate. And they open the gate an hour and a half before the game. So you could literally get to the game two and a half, three hours before it starts, and there's gonna be stuff to do. So there's a fan zone right up by the stadium. If you're coming from down the hill, and down the hill will become very obvious if you go to the stadium. Lot 5 parking lot, which is near a dog park and other things. It's a big open area is where all the supporters groups have their tailgate and you can go down. They'll have music playing. There's free food. Some of the groups do face painting sometimes, so there's always something to do or see around the stadium for a good couple hours before the match and the team stores open. So that's fun too. One thing I remember is we were walking from the parking lot and we could hear the music, but it wasn't like a CD. or like it was. Lomborgata brings a live DJ to every single tailgate. And then across the street, apologies for tapping the table and probably having that right in your ears. but like across the street on the like adjacent corner was the other teams group getting themselves worked up into a frenzy. so then so we were like, oh, what have we gotten ourselves into? not realizing that a mere 30 minutes later they would be parading themselves down or up into the area stadium and to their upper top right hand, I assume that's the visitor area. so we experienced all of that, but it was like loud and wild and we were like, oh, okay, buckle up. We're here for an experience. you found it loud and wild in the best kind of way. I think as a fan of sports, that's what appealed to me is that everyone was, it just seemed people were super excited to be there. that caveat. It was loud and wild, but everybody was smiling and happy. wasn't like, here we go. It was more like, there they go, and let's go to our seats, and we're going to have a good time. So it was just. Yeah. And the visiting fans, a lot of times they will do a parade into the stadium, but the supporters groups always parade in about 45 minutes before the game. Drums, flags, chanting, the whole way up the hill and into the stadium. We have a particular gate that they come through. And I think that brings an element of fun to the match. And also the other thing I love about soccer is you see some sports rivals and it gets ugly. Like. People are yelling things at each other before the game, profanities are exchanged, it's not nice. We often invite the other team supporters to our tailgate and we'll feed them and we'll give them water bottles and drinks and all the things. And I've got to experience that the other way as well. We went to the away game in St. Louis this weekend and the St. Luligans, which is the largest supporters group in St. Louis, invited us to their pre-match party and we had a great time and they were super friendly. It's just a great community. think soccer fans want more soccer fans. So it's the nicest bunch of people. it does seem like when you... almost like make that connection like, wait, you like them too? Yes. Or what can I do to help you like them as much as me? it's very evangelical, sounds like the wrong word, but it sounds, it's very like, let me tell you about why they're awesome so you can join us. Like. Yeah, it's not quite cult-like, but I will say this. The first season, everybody that we, the first season we were season ticket holders. Every person, we didn't miss many games, the, cause you get 20 games in a season. And the, I think three to four that we missed, every group that bought our tickets from us, every friend we were able to gift or sell our tickets to became season ticket holders the next year. So it will suck you in very quickly. say it, just say it. Yeah. And then I had no idea how deep I would get in supporters collective. Like if you'd told me I would have staff members numbers on my phone. four years into this, I would told you you were crazy. But yeah, so I'm often one of those people yelling at everyone and banging on drums at a game. How does it work being from Clarksville and being so connected and plugged in with a team and an event that's 45 minutes away, that's 50 minutes away? I imagine there's like midweek games sometimes, night games, kind of things. And just how do you make it work because you have? it's something that I know you've... you as a family have decided this is important to us and it's a great connection for us, to each other, to them and all those kind of things. How do you make it work in just not being in Nashville and just having to go back and forth and just kind of navigating that? I think it's a lot easier than people would assume. If you think about it, it's five o'clock in Clarksville, it takes 25 minutes to get across town here. So for us, 45 minutes down the interstate didn't seem like that big a hassle. I think part of the charm of where Geodes Park is being in a neighborhood is that it is free from a lot of the traffic jamming to get to it, if that makes sense. So we just kind of, make a day out of it. We make it an event. So it doesn't interfere with our lives more than we let it. If there's a Wednesday night game, On occasion, we make the call to sell our tickets, but 90% of the time we go. And what that looks like for us is just we leave when school and work are over and we head down there and grab something to eat and go to the match and come back home. On Saturdays, we tend to do the tailgate and all of the things. And I think once you've done it a couple times, it just makes sense. I like to get to places early. But I think it's so much easier than people would assume it is. And as much fun as the games are, it's definitely worth the drive. Can you think of a time or tell me about a time that you went and either something unexpected like fun happened or something like you were expecting just a normal game and it was like, oh, this is next level. I didn't know this was gonna happen. Just like some cool experiences that you would have only had if you went and had made this a part of what you guys do. Well, I will start, let me start with a small sales pitch for the family side of things. The mascot for National Soccer Club, Tempo the Coyote, is phenomenal and offers a kids club that is super inexpensive to join and then has all these events we didn't think would be a part of being soccer fans, like movies outside the stadium that we'll go down and watch or he's available every match before the match for photos and... and the kids have a special concession stand they can go to and skip the line if they're part of the kids club. then- I think I will join the kids club. That sounds like something I would like to get in on. But it's opportunities to do things too. So Ellie has been in the kids club since we started going. She's about to age out because she's going to be a teenager in January. Let's not talk about that because that stresses me out. All right, moving on. But Ellie's been involved since age seven or eight years old, and she has gotten to be a player mascot. So she's walked players onto the field. walked Dan Lovitz onto the field for a game and has gotten to fist bump and shake hands with all the players. She has done a bunch of on-field skits with Tempo. He invites different members of the kids club. He tries to rotate through the whole club during the year. And you can buy in tiers. And the higher tiers get to do. And when I say higher tier, like the most expensive it is is like, 60 or 70 bucks for the whole year and all 20 games. And it starts at like 20 bucks to join. But she's gotten to do a bunch of on-field skits with Tempo and be down on the field when the game starts. So she claims to have a secret handshake with Walker Zimmerman. I don't know. I think she says that to make me jealous. But for those of you that are like, who the heck is Walker Zimmerman? is our team captain and has been captain of the US Men's National Team for World Cup and several other major events. But then there's all kinds of other experiences. People love this sport. And so there's a lot of people in Nashville that have invested in it. you might see some of the Preds walking around. You might see former and current members of the Titans walking around. Seamus, the wrestler. from WWE is a huge Nashville soccer club fan. And in fact gets his haircut by soccer Moses who is one of our fun little mascot characters that comes to every game. And he'll be at the game a lot and they're also nice and welcoming. Just getting to run into them and say hi is pretty fun. And the team offers great like meet and greet opportunities. So things that we didn't expect to happen, like if you told me that one game I was going to get a picture with Seamus and then the next game I'd get a picture with one of the singers who was featured on Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album. And then the next week we would see somebody who'd competed on America's Got Talent. Like, so it's just fun. You never know who you're going to run into walking around the stadium. Messi comes to town. Oh, geez. I feel like his name is just synonymous with just excellence and just people outside of soccer definitely know who he is. can you give us just like a few minutes on what it was like getting ready for the game, being there? I'm sure people were maybe asking you for tickets or connections or can you get us something? So just I want to hear all about it because It's about as wild as I would imagine it could be. It is the craziest experience I've ever had with tickets where people were offering us upwards of a thousand dollars a ticket. And it's very tempting to try and take that. Right. But we wanted we already had the tickets. We wanted to have that life experience for ourselves. mean, Messi is the greatest of all time. He really is. I have a love hate relationship with Messi because he's on the other team. He's on the other team. Yeah. So and you'll find a lot of soccer fans have mixed opinions about Miami in general and the how they have. This is where I get into the business of soccer and how exactly are they making that salary cap work to have all those European players and and to face them in League's Cup. And it come down to us versus Messi essentially was one of the most fun games I've ever experienced. And quite unfortunately for me, I was on the Capo stand. I guess, unfortunately or fortunately, I was on the Capo stand, which is the stand where there's four stands in front of the supporters section, and that's the person who leads the chance. And I'm standing behind the goal trying to get our side amped up when Messi scores. And that was both amazing, because I'm like eight feet from Lionel Messi, and very sad if you're trying to get a crowd amped up. It was such a cool experience and to know they're going to be coming back. and again, the stadium, that particular game was filled with more famous people than I think I've ever seen in one place. And so, I mean, you've got like you can see it's a it's a tight stadium. Like I said, there's no seat more than 150 feet off the field, but it's also very comfortable and airy. But you can see kind of everybody. So to see the owners boxes across the way and. and people ducking out of them like Reese Witherspoon and David Beckham. I've never experienced a sporting event like that. And it was wild. And I can only equate it to probably like what it was like to see like Michael Jordan or someone like when he was coming through and it was like, okay, everybody in Cleveland is going to see Michael tonight, everybody in wherever. And so that's, and it was just little old Nashville. Because when did they start? mean, it wasn't that long ago, right? No. The team, look, and I'm going to get it wrong, and I'm going get yelled at by a lot of people. The team's been around just over a decade, 11 years, believe. And that was USL days. So that's like the lower league before you become Major League Soccer. So then when they become, Nashville's granted a Major League Soccer franchise. And we become Nashville Soccer Club. the big guys, you get that shift and that excitement where you're going from playing at college arenas or going and playing in Vanderbilt to we're going to build a stadium. This is really cool. Yeah, that seems like a big like and next step. Yeah. And now we have our own farm team. So we have a team in Huntsville and that we're growing players at that team. We have an academy. We're growing players that team. So but it's such an approachable sport. Like, I don't think people realize we have. Granted you're not having players. The eno Messi is is you know making a good billion dollars a year, but You have really well-played players that could play anywhere in the world playing Major League Soccer There's a designated player rule where you get to play the pay the player a little bit more so you have these guys who are making millions of dollars a year to play this game and At the meet-and-greet. It's like they're they're just a friend from down the street I'm always amazed and impressed at how approachable soccer players are. So that has been a pleasant surprise and lots of fun as well. What is the soccer, the Nashville Soccer Club, the continuing connection to soccer? What does it mean just like to your family in general? I think it's just something we can all share and do together. So Ellie was the soccer player and Mark was the football guy and I'm the general sports fan who's really loud and yells at referees a lot. So it has kind of brought us all together at something fun we all enjoy as a family unit and there's something for all of us at the games. You know I'm the social butterfly of the group so it took me about two seconds to end up on the roadies board and then Mark loves analysis of the game and he has befriended, I think, three fourths of our section of seats. Like, we've made friends with people who we don't live anywhere near and we'd never known before. But they know our lives in and out and we know theirs. And it all started with a conversation about how, man, the coach really should have gotten the defensive guys to stay back closer to the box. We're leaving ourselves wide open. And why don't we have a clearly defined center mid in this game? And then it goes to, oh, hey, I saw you guys got a new car. it's, you just become this community. And I think that's what we really love about it. And with the players as well, because it is such a close knit community. And I mean, it's a professional team, but they don't have hundreds of staff. They have dozens. And so you can get to know the staff quite easily. And then that makes going to a game fun. You're seeing, let's like our chance to check in with our friends. And in addition, same thing, you get to know some of the players going to meet and greets. We ended up getting involved with one of the charities we saw at the table of love, which is Dominic's Toy Chest. And Taylor Washington, who's one of the original National Soccer Club players, still on the team. This is last season under contract, but we've ended up doing events, helping him with charity events. And it's just... Like I said, don't think I can express how much it gives our family just something fun that we can all enjoy together. I would imagine there's probably a lot of people or lot of families that are looking for something like that because it's like, okay, well, this is a lot of times everybody's favorite thing is something else. Okay, we have four kids, four people in our family and we have four favorite things to do and they don't overlap at all. And what I'm hearing is the Venn diagram started just with like little crossover and now it's just fully engulfed. in this thing that allows you to connect with the sport that started years ago and obviously with each other, but also sounds like you never know what you're going to get or what you're walking into when you show up also. And I think you can build your own level of involvement too. You don't have to like, we are a little nuts. And I admit that as far as when we dove in, it was full on. And we absolutely love every minute of it. But it's just to see, we have a ton of friends who just come to an occasional game because it's gonna move fast. You know, you're done. even if there's 10, like they'll add minutes to the end of a half if, because, sorry, I'm stumbling. We're gonna break it down a little There's no pauses in soccer. There's no timeouts. You can't take a timeout, nothing. The game never stops. So if you get to the end of the 45 minutes and the ref did have to pause the game long enough for like training staff to come out, or if he had to go check VAR, which is the video assisted referee, there's a guy up in the booth that's keeping track of how much time was not necessarily wasted, but drifted away during the half. And they'll add those minutes to the end of the half. I've never seen, I have seen a ridiculous amount of minutes. I've been there when they've added 13 minutes to the end. of a half, but on average it's like three to four minutes. So you know you're never gonna be at the stadium longer than two and a half hours. That's it. You're two and a half hours in and out. That's appealing to a lot of families. There's gonna be something happening the whole time. It's Nashville. So we usually have some sort of fun music act at halftime, either local up and coming or somebody who's been around for a long time. There's fireworks at every game and... not necessarily like a fireworks show after, but to start the game there's fireworks and flames and all kinds of fun stuff. There's a DJ, there's constant music playing before the game. You can visit with a mascot. It's just, it's a fun environment to be in. And so I think you could know absolutely nothing about soccer, which is where I started, frankly. I just knew I went on the weekends on Saturdays and I sat in my chair and I yelled for my kid to run fast. Like if you'd told me, I would say words, like I said a few minutes ago about center mids and all of that, I would have told you were bananas. But you don't have to know a thing about the game to have a really good time at the soccer matches. It's just a fun family activity. And I would highly recommend if you're looking for something fun to do on a Saturday with your family to check it out. It's inexpensive. Even if you hate it, you're not going to be out that much money. That sounds like heck of a pitch. Even if you hate it, you're not out that much money. I always think about that. I'm going to spend money on a family experience. I want it to be worth it. like I said, the first season, everybody that bought our season tickets ended up with season tickets the next year. But even so, everyone we've taken since then, I've never had one of Ellie's friends complain. I've never had one of our friends complain. This year, we even had a friend call our ticket rep and ask, would there be any way to ask the people in our section to move down a seat so he could buy the seat next to us and come to every game with us? but we love it. And as I said, I know I dove all in and I'm now down on the capo stand yelling cheers at 30,000 people are on the drums and playing at some of the games. And that's super fun. But I have just as much fun sitting in my seat talking over the game with my family. So if somebody wants to go for the first time, get their family together, jump in the car and head down, sounds like do a little research on parking first. Tickets, is it just probably best to go through just the website? Yeah. Yeah, you can just buy tickets straight from National Soccer Club. Single match tickets are easy to buy. You can look for them online as well. People sell them on different. ticket trading sites, but I think the least expensive is just to go through National Soccer Club and Ticketmaster. And who knows, a year from now they could be... Well, we're having a pretty dang good season this year. I will say that. We had a really rotten season last year. So there were a lot of tickets for the picking. But this year we have... Gosh, one... I'm going to get the number wrong. We've only lost like... two of our last 16 matches, something like that, which is ridiculous. We are number three in our division rankings and not down by a lot of points out of second or first. If you watched the St. Louis game this weekend and that was your first chance to watch them on TV, let me apologize on behalf of the club. I don't know what happened. That's one of the games we've lost. It's like they had an out-of-body experience. We were down two defenders and I think that really killed us to be honest. other pro tips, I will say, you got to have a clear bag. They're very, very picky about the size of bag you can bring in. Even if you're doing like a Lululemon cross body, those are a big thing at my house. Cross body bags are all the rage. It has to meet a certain, they'll hold a five by seven card up. And if your bag doesn't fit in the five by seven card, I think it might even be four by six. You have to rent a locker or take it back. So bring a clear bag. If you don't have a clear bag, come to the stadium a little early because most of the tents set up for businesses at the fan zone give away clear bags for putting your name on a card. So, and then bring water bottles. They have to be squishy. You can find information on them on the website. They have to be like the Gatorade squeezy bottles that everybody had as a kid. If you buy the clear versions of those, those are great because there's bottle filling stations and ice is free. Ice and water are free at all of the... the concession stands because the concessions are quite expensive just like any sporting event, but if you plan ahead You can save yourself a lot of headache and a lot of money frankly Wow that was a So bring a water bottle and clear bag And just get some tickets and go. Yeah, just try it. Yeah, just try it one time. Yeah, so well any any last minute or Those actually sounded like good last minute tips there. Do you have anything else you want to share? The mom tip in me is going to tell you that if you check the weather before you go. So the first time I capo'd a game and I got to stand on a stand and yell at people, I thought I was really cool. Because I got out on the stand, off the stand, and people were like, you did a great job. Until this group of guys sees me on the concourse and they're like, you were so great up there, soccer mom. I lost all my cool. They're like, can you throw juice boxes and orange slices next time? But I'm kind of notorious for being soccer mom for a reason. And that's because there's little things you can do to be ready for anything. Those cheap 90 cent ponchos from Target, I always keep them in my clear bag for whatever sporting event we're going to. Some sort of wavy fan in my bag. I have hot hands when it's cold outside. The website and the National Soccer Club staff are super helpful. So if you check it out, I think they have one of the best websites for what to expect before a game of any sporting team I've ever seen. And they also will answer the phone and help you. So I would encourage you just to dive in and see what it's about. And like I said, now you've heard me say it's loud and it's crazy, but it's also heavily accessible. So don't be afraid to go if you have, again, a family member with accessibility needs. They even have kits for kids who have sensory issues. They give away free headphones and activity books for kids. actually took advantage of that. So I just I can't think of a more family friendly fun activity. So I highly recommend checking out. Now, if you want to talk about the mechanics of the team sometime, we can do that too, because that's my favorite. But we have some really amazing players on our team that are playing for their national teams and play all over the world. And so they're fun to come watch. Well, Jamie, seriously, thanks for coming in and talking soccer. I figured we could just start talking and get through it. And you definitely didn't disappoint just with tips and connections and all that kind of thing. So thanks for coming in and being a part of the podcast. Thanks for having me. I feel like I got to do a little bit of a sales pitch for my new favorite sport. So I mean, I'll be a lifelong. football girl, Chiefs girl, and we still love our other sports, but man, there's something special about soccer and the soccer community. Yeah. Well, cool. would definitely encourage you to take advantage of some of those tips and just ways to connect. And there's just nothing like live sports, like live events, like concerts and sports, like those kind of things. So if you're looking for a way to really connect with each other or just even with live events, I would say. get on it, get down there, and really experience it, because it sounds like it could be really something cool for your family. But thanks for listening all the way through to Clarksville Insider. Again, my name is Josh Atkins. I'm the host. And I love having people in to actually talk through some things instead of just a long monologue, which is what you get sometimes. But thanks again for listening. If you want to find updates or anything or interact with us you can find us on Instagram at Clarksville Insider or can email me Clarksvilleinsider at gmail.com but hope you have a great weekend and we'll catch you next time.