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A few years ago, Carrie Epperson barely considered herself a soccer supporter. Now, as the head of Surface Tension, a drumline that’s part of Kansas City Blue Crew, she’s not only built an impressive musical ensemble, she’s discovered and grown a community, shared her passion with others, and in a way, reignited a spark in herself.
Epperson had casually followed the USWNT, but got especially into it during the team’s 2019 World Cup run. Then a friend alerted her to the existence of a top-flight women’s team in Kansas City, but it was too little too late, as the club had already moved to Utah in 2018.
“I was really mad because by the time I knew about them, we didn’t have them anymore, they were in Utah,” said Epperson.
When it was announced that Kansas City would be awarded an NWSL franchise and begin play in 2021, the high school band director and her wife decided to get involved right away with KC Blue Crew, the club’s supporter group.
“The goal was that it was supposed to be my thing that wasn’t band,” said Epperson. “We went to games, we started painting some tifos, we met a couple Blue Crew members.”
At the time, Blue Crew had one or two stray drums that they would half-heartedly smack with makeshift drumsticks, usually dowel rods with tennis balls on the end. The musician in her saw the state of things and knew it could be better. She reached out to Blue Crew leadership and offered to help heighten the group’s drumming presence at matches. Epperson and her percussion teacher from school grabbed some drums from the high school’s closet and started playing some basic beats, the stuff they’d teach their students. But even the basic stuff sounds cool in the context of a soccer match, and people immediately loved the new addition.
“Everybody was really nice, and asked us if we could come back again,” said Epperson.
The season ended, and as the next one neared, Blue Crew sent out feelers to fans about getting involved. Epperson expressed an interest, and Blue Crew leadership called her almost immediately, asking her to head up a more formal iteration of a drumline, which would come to be known as Surface Tension.
“They’re like, ‘I hope you don’t mind, you’re going to be calling things up during games, you’re going to be coordinating all of the game day stuff,” she said.
To an educator, scheduling, coordination and organization is the equivalent of basic passing drills, so the band director was unfazed and launched the group. She recruited her coworkers, and friends in the beginning, but the pull of the drums brought in even more interested people.
“I can’t get over how many people I’ve met,” she said.
Surface Tension is now in its second full season, and Epperson has enough drummers to fill all 11 slots for most matchdays. She’s even started to include reserve spots, so when a drummer wants to take a break during the match, someone else can step in. It’s gotten to the point where she can actually take a break and enjoy the game, and allow new members to ease themselves into it.
“I only want to have four or five new people going at a time, so this way, an experienced person can help them,” she said. “But I’ve noticed, it’s gradually getting us more drummers, which is really cool. More and more people are starting to feel comfortable.”
Surface Tension drums non-stop for 90 minutes and the rhythm during the entire match has drawn in fans from other sections of the stadium, and is appreciated by players.
“I’m starting to see more and more people that are yelling, clapping along, standing up and dancing, and that's been really fun to see,” she said. “I’ve had a chance to talk to a few of the players and they’ve always said really kind things about us. It’s been a really positive experience.”
The growth of Surface Tension, and the Blue Crew, is a beautiful example of how supporter culture can create meaningful connections among people who may not have met otherwise.
Epperson has attended weddings between Surface Tension members, and was blown away when members of Blue Crew fulfilled her entire Amazon Classroom Wish List at the start of this school year.
“I never had to pay for a reed for a kid all year long because of my soccer friends,” she said. “That’s really kind of cool.”
Surface Tension is thriving, and the journey has allowed Epperson to blend her work with her passion. She encourages her staff and students to come to games to drum, is constantly sporting KC Current merch at school and even uses the band room to paint banners.
“We’ve got two banners sitting out on the floor right now, drying from Tuesday night,” she said. “We’re going to touch them up tight and get them ready for the game on Saturday.”
More than that, Surface Tension has rejuvenated Epperson, who just finished her 19th year of teaching.
“I was barely even an active soccer fan five years ago,” she said. “But I can tell you at the time I was really struggling with being a teacher, and thinking about maybe wanting to walk away. When your hobby is also your job, it’s hard to find pleasure in that sometimes. I very genuinely love what I do, but I needed something. I’m very thankful that this feels like the best mix of a hobby and still enjoying music for music’s sake. Being able to do this has reignited a lot of spark in me as a teacher and just me as a person, and I Just kind of get up every day and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I get to do this. This is awesome.’”
Although the whole experience has come as a bit of a surprise, Epperson believes that’s part of its success.
“I think sometimes when you try and force something to be great, it doesn’t always live up to your expectation, but if you just sort of act naturally and let it happen, and let people do what they do, really well, it’s sort of taking a life of its own,” she said. “I never thought this could have been what it is now. I think a lot of it is because I didn’t try and have too much control. I just tried to organize and communicate and let people do really cool things. I’m really excited for the future because I’m still hoping to leave it organic and open, and accepting to anybody and everybody which is what I think supporter culture is.”