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With NFL Draft in Music City, Nashville SC Players Reflect on Draft Day

April 25, 2019 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Nashville SC News Release


NASHVILLE - This weekend in the heart of Music City, 254 names will be announced on stage in Lower Broadway. Normally reserved for the countless singers and songwriters that frequent the downtown Honky Tonks with live music, these names will belong to NFL-bound athletes as the 2019 NFL Draft occurs Thursday through Saturday in Nashville.

In just eight months, the Major League Soccer SuperDraft will occur and Nashville Soccer Club will be in the spotlight making its first-ever MLS draft selection. Some on the current Nashville SC team have gotten to experience that moment - having a MLS general manager call them and tell them that they will be a professional soccer player.

Nashville SC keeper Connor Sparrow was one who got that call, as a college student getting out of class at Creighton University. Drafted 65th overall by Real Salt Lake in 2016, Sparrow bided his time with RSL's affiliate USL Championship club, Real Monarchs SLC before getting the call up to Real Salt Lake last season for a U.S. Open Cup match.

"I was in a class and saw my name pop up," Sparrow remembers about getting drafted. "My teachers kind of knew what was going on that day, so they told me I could leave if I got picked."

It was a dream come true for Sparrow who had excelled as a collegiate keeper, but didn't know if the chance to play at the next level would materialize with the draft.

"I was in a class and saw my name pop up," Sparrow remembers about getting drafted. "My teachers kind of knew what was going on that day, so they told me I could leave if I got picked."

It was a dream come true for Sparrow who had excelled as a collegiate keeper, but didn't know if the chance to play at the next level would materialize with the draft.

"Right when I left class, I got a call from Jeff Cassar, who was the head coach at Real Salt Lake at the time" said Sparrow. "He kind of congratulated me, told me he was looking forward to having me in camp and things like that. It was kind of just that ice breaker. And of course I called my parents and family afterwards to let them know, but they were keeping up with it too, so they were up to speed."

Another member of Nashville SC took a little longer to find out he was drafted. Defender Kosuke Kimura was at Eastern Illinois University over winter break working as an athletic trainer while completing his major. When his name was called, he had no idea.

"I had to work as athletic trainer, so I was covering I think a high school basketball tournament or something and my coach came to me and told me I had to check this website," said Kimura. "I said I'll check it when I get back home, but I was working for 12 hours, I went back home, and I just slept. I got the call from my coach again asking if I had checked the website. He said 'You got drafted, man.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about? Drafted for what?' He said 'You got picked in the MLS.' I'm like 'Really?' And the next day I got the call from Colorado, and I was so excited. I knew the draft was coming, and then I heard they put my name in, but you never know if you're actually going to be picked. The Rapids picked me, and it was a dream come true."

At the time of his selection, Kimura was the first Japanese-born player to ever be drafted to Major League Soccer.

"I felt responsibility for being the first Japanese guy to set a good standard for Japanese people to come in the future," said Kimura. "That was a little thing I had always in my mind."

This weekend 254 more professional athletes will get that life-changing call. Knowing the NFL draft is coming to Nashville, Sparrow, Kimura and the rest of the Nashville SC draftees know the emotions that come with being selected.

"It's an exciting moment for anyone when you realize that someone thinks you're a good enough player to join their organization," said Sparrow. "It's exciting, and just seeing the emotion on people's faces when they realize they were picked is really cool. It does bring me back to that moment when I was sitting in class."



United Soccer League Championship Stories from April 25, 2019


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