Young KC soccer player on his role as a World Cup ball boy: ‘An amazing feeling’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Gabe Johnson is a Kansas City high-school junior and a World Cup ball boy at GEHA Field.
- FIFA rules prohibit ball kids from interacting with players or handing balls to them.
- Gabe worked one match already and is scheduled to work the quarterfinal match on July 11.
You’ll have to excuse Kansas City high-schooler — and soccer player — Gabe Johnson for feeling like he’s living a dream these days. He scored a job during the FIFA World Cup matches in Kansas City that would make any fan of the game oh-so-jealous.
The high school junior is a ball boy and has already worked one match at Kansas City Stadium, otherwise known as GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. His next one is Saturday.
It takes a lot of restraint not to ask for autographs out there, a big FIFA no-no. And don’t even think about waving to mom from the pitch.
(FIFA is famously a stickler — what’s a stronger word? — for its rules and regulations.)
Being so close to the pitch is “almost surreal when you’re kind of in that area. You’re closer than the fans … and you look around and you see the waves, you hear the chants, it echoes, you really get a feel for the World Cup experience,” said Gabe.
“It’s a blessing that I was chosen to be here for that in my lifetime because I know a lot of people don’t get that chance.
“It’s almost hard not to be like a deer caught in headlights as soon as you get on the field because it’s just such an amazing feeling. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for the players.”
He shared his experience with University Health, which is streaming a limited-edition podcast during World Cup.
Gabe’s mother, Dr. Traci Johnson, is an OB-GYN in maternal and fetal medicine at University Health.
FIFA has given the ball boy and ball girl volunteers clear instructions on how to comport themselves on the pitch and Gabe is taking the rules seriously.
“I try to just keep it professional, stay normal,” he said. “They tell us to just keep a straight face and just do your job, so I just try to do that basically.”
They’re not allowed to cheer for any team or show any preference.
The bottom line of this job, per FIFA?
“Just get the balls and put them where they’re supposed to go, basically,” said Gabe.
At World Cup matches, balls are kept around the pitch on small cones. The ball boys and ball girls are not allowed to directly hand a player a ball.
Instead, when balls go out of bounds the ball kids place them back on the cones and the players retrieve them from there.
Ball boys are not allowed to have any interaction with the players.
“We can’t even give them the balls,” Gabe said. “We just have to put them on like the area. There’s like four spots per side, two spots behind the goal.
“So if you’re on the side, you can’t even interact with them.
“There are even times where our locker room is near them. So there are times we’re super close and we just have to keep our head down.
“I can’t look at them in the eyes. I can’t.”
Gabe comes from a soccer family. His brother, Andrew, is a left-back defender on Northwestern University’s soccer team in Chicago. Gabe is a left wing on his team.
Their mom said the talk of soccer, soccer, soccer has been constant in their home since the World Cup got underway. The boys went to their first match with their dad for a Father’s Day outing. It just happened to be the one where Argentina’s Lionel Messi scored the first World Cup hat trick of his career on June 16.
“They woke me up at 12:30 in the morning,” Johnson said. “My daughter and I are asleep and they’re screaming about the Messi game ...
“Every day, all day, there’s nothing but highlights and games and playbacks and who should have done this and who should have done that. So it’s just been absolutely insane in the Johnson household.
“I’m kind of sad that it’s going to be gone in two (weeks) just because something that they love so much is being championed and put on every single TV channel ... they’re in hog heaven.”
Watching the game as a ball boy, though, Gabe said, “is much different than like on TV, because you kind of get, like the players are a little more transparent on the field.
“Like, you see them, you see the gears turning in their head. And that allows me to, you know, raise my vision. And I think it makes me a better player, honestly.”
He gets to work the quarterfinal match on July 11. The teams are undetermined so far but if he could choose, he’d like to see France or Germany up close.
“I definitely want to see France because I know their attack is probably the most unstoppable attack assembled in the World Cup history, probably,” he said.
“And I’d like to see Germany as well because their midfield and all around is just really high in skill. I could learn something.”
The ball boys, like the hundreds of other World Cup volunteers working in Kansas City, got official uniforms, including shoes, by Adidas, the official World Cup sponsor.
Even on the way to the stadium, ball boys are required to wear Adidas gear, Gabe said.
The ball boys arrive several hours before the matches, he said. For his first match, slated for 7 p.m., he had to arrive at noon.
“So you really got to get ahead of the traffic,” he said. “We got to do rehearsals. We kind of chill in this little tent area. So it’s ... really this whole experience, even for us ball boys.”
Watching the last few World Cups, “I never dreamed I would ever be this close to the field,” said Gabe. “And now that I am I just want to hold onto it as long as I can.”
And who knows? A few ball boys have gone on to become pros and play in World Cups. Manchester City’s Phil Foden is one.
Maybe then Gabe can wave to his mom from the pitch.
.jpg)