Louisville City FC’s players all seem to have their superstitions, whether it’s eating the same pregame meal, putting one boot on before the other or listening to a standard game day playlist.
Ben Newnam recently added to his routine amid a breakout season at defender. He doesn’t step on the pitch at Louisville Slugger Field without first greeting his biggest fan, 8-year-old Aspen Stucky.
“If you’re a little kid, that’s a big deal,” said Aspen’s mother, Brandi. “They see these big, professional players out playing soccer, and when one comes over to talk to you, that makes you feel special.”
Aspen’s hard to miss. She sits next to the tunnel leading out to the field and wears a white and gold LouCity kit; on the back is Newnam’s number, 2, and the words “good luck.”
She’ll be there again Saturday as LouCity hosts the Charlotte Independence at 7:30 p.m. The club’s regular-season finale is also Fan Appreciation Night, on which LouCity will crack 100,000 in attendance this year.
“To be able to be so welcomed by the fans and have special relationships with certain ones is really cool,” said Newnam, a North Carolina native. “It makes it like a home away from home.”
Newnam’s not alone in getting to know LouCity supporters. Before leaving for medical school, goalkeeper Scott Goodwin spoke of eating dinner with fans. Others, like defender Sean Reynolds, have forged similar bonds with families who attend the games.
A Wake Forest product, Newnam just last week went for ice cream with Aspen and her older brother, Max. Earlier this summer, they zip lined and, one other weekend, he attended both of the Stucky kids’ baptisms.
“We all like him — me, my husband and my son, but Aspen is definitely most attached to him,” Brandi Stucky said. “I don’t know any other sport where that happens, when outside the game players can become your friend. Soccer brings people together like that.”
The support, in turn, is quite the motivator. Reynolds has been told stories of people walking or driving by Slugger Field during a LouCity home game, only to hear the crowd noise inside.
The club ranks third of 29 United Soccer League teams this year in average home attendance.
“I think we have some of the best fans in the league,” he said. “They’re always loud, always supporting us and always have our backs, especially when we’re defending. I can always hear them.”
Newnam played briefly for Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids but has mostly grown up in his home state, last season appearing in 11 games on loan to the Charlotte Independence. Coming to Kentucky, where he knew nobody, aside from a few teammates, meant making new friends.
Newnam connected with the Stuckys while working a youth soccer clinic over the summer.
“He’s just a good mentor for both of them, really,” Brandi Stucky said. “The things that matter to us matter to him.
“For my kids to have a role model like that is just great.”
