In the theme of Growing Up and Growing Old with Sounders FC, SoundersFC.com sat down with Season Ticket Member Karl Picard and his six-year old daughter, Kasen, to see what the club has meant to them and their family. Below is a transcript of the interview, edited for brevity and clarity.
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SoundersFC.com: How did you initially become involved with the Sounders?
Karl: It was 2009 or '10 and there was a scarfing the city promotion and there were all these scarves in my neighborhood and I was like, "What’s this all about?" We found out that the Sounders were going to be in MLS. I signed up I think for tickets as soon as you could sign up. Then it was just me and my wife and it just seemed like a fun thing to do as a couple.
SoundersFC.com: How do you think the club has influenced your life?
Karl: Our Sundays and Wednesdays are often taken up during the summer. We’ve kind of made it a thing we do as a family now that Kasen is around. A lot of our time on the weekend is scheduled around Sounders games and even talking about them at the dinner table, right?
Kasen: Yeah.
Karl: What’s your favorite number to give for how many goals the Sounders are going to score?
Kasen: 5 to 1.
Karl: Yeah, that’s a common score.
SoundersFC.com: How have the Sounders impacted your relationship with your family?
Karl: It gives us something that we can all talk about and do together. We do a lot of the events, meeting players. On game days we kind of have a schedule: we eat at this one restaurant, come down early, take in the march to the match. The games and the days become this big event. It’s more than just our family, the section we sit in has become an extended family. You hang out with the kids in the section. The kids are growing up in our section, most of us didn’t have kids when we started. It’s really an extended family. We’ve built relationships just by being a part of the club and being at the games.
SoundersFC.com: Is there a moment that you can think of that really defines what the Sounders mean to you and your family?
Karl: I think when we went to that practice. MatchPass used to have this open practice. We went there and you [Kasen] watched the guys practice and met so many of them. We were into it before but I think that’s what made it more of a family thing. And now your [Kasen's] shirt is hanging signed and framed right outside your room right?
Kasen: Everyone says, "Why do you have a shirt hanging outside of your room? It’s weird!"
SoundersFC.com: And what do you say back to them?
Kasen: Because it has so many autographs.
SoundersFC.com: Who’s your favorite autograph on the shirt?
Kasen: Brad Evans.
SoundersFC.com: You had mentioned you have a fun story about Kasen being born during a Sounders game, can you talk about that a little bit?
Karl: April 3, 2010, it was a home game against the Red Bulls and we were up the hill having Kasen. Our section mates were texting us updates so we had already become that kind of a group. Kasen was born just after, so we got to watch the whole game. You could see the stadium lights form where we were but we were getting updates and kind of watching it on TV.
At your [Kasen's] first game, you were four months old. You couldn’t even see her inside the Baby Björn with her headphones on. And she’s been going to games ever since then. Well, technically before then.
Kasen: In my mom’s tummy.
