SportingKC.com will feature exclusive content leading up to the club's 20th anniversary match against the Colorado Rapids on April 13 at Children's Mercy Park. This week we take a look at some of the supporters groups that have brought life to the game throughout the years. Earlier this week we talked the past, present and future of the KC Cauldron. Today we take a look at a newer supporters' section invigorating the opposite end of Children's Mercy Park — the South Stand SC.

As the Cauldron flourished in its new home at Children’s Mercy Park following the club’s rebrand, more supporters' groups began to pop up around the new venue. The Members Stands boomed with chants new and old, yet on the opposite end of the stadium, the South Stands still felt particularly removed from the excitement and raucous atmosphere.

Many of Sporting KC's new fans explored the park’s atmosphere from the affordable seats of the South Stands. One of these fans was Matt Killingsworth, who had carved out a home for himself in the “The Wedge,” the small section immediately in front of the Boulevard Beer Garden, and invited friends and family to watch games with him. As time went on, Killingsworth watched the Cauldron and grew determined to develop a similar type of energy on the south end of the stadium.

“The Cauldron is a great role model in terms of getting the fans involved and engaged and being and vocal and all that stuff, but from the South Stand end, they’re little tiny dots,” Killingsworth said. “So I thought it would be nice to have great chanting on the other side of the field.”

Meanwhile, at the other end of the stadium, Christian Sinclair struggled for his own supporters' group, Ad Astra KC, to be heard above the noise of the Cauldron. And in a section with assigned seating, it was difficult to coordinate chants and additional support. Sinclair had already considered moving his family with two children to the South Stands when other supporters, including Matt Killingsworth, reached out to him.

The Wedge, under Killingsworth, and Ad Astra, under Sinclair, soon joined forces with the Boulevard Battery, headed by Charlie Pederson and Drew Moberly. The three groups would come to make up Children’s Mercy Park’s newest powerhouse: the South Stand Supporters' Club, launching in late 2011.

“We wanted to do something in the South Stand to really help amplify what the Cauldron was doing, but also create our own thing,” Sinclair said. “We wanted to create an umbrella type of group and allow people to create their own smaller groups, because we thought that would be a good model towards sustainability. That allows you to identify with the people in your smaller group but all work together toward something much larger than any one small group could do.”

With the help of Sam Pierron, Sean Dane, and other Cauldron leadership past and present, the South Stand formed a nonprofit to cement the group’s organization before it hit its growth spurt. Sinclair described the move as one that would further the group’s legitimacy and promote sustainability. And as the South Stand SC’s leadership filed the proper paperwork and checked the proper boxes, their new supporters' club slowly began to grow one member at a time.

“A lot of it really just started out with tailgates, with me bringing my little 2-foot grill and just meeting people,” Killingsworth said. “And that was really the concept behind all of it. You know, no one wants to go to a sporting event and sit there by themselves. They want to go with a friend. They want to know the people around them. But as I started to slowly get to know some of the other folks in the South Stand, it was nice because then going to the game you’d walk in and see your friends.”

Four years later, the South Stand SC has become a force to be reckoned with, providing a level of support on the south end of Children's Mercy Park to balance that from the north. At the same time, the group has worked to craft a different experience for fans, providing an engaging fan experience while maintaining a family friendly atmosphere.

“Our end of the field is probably a little more family friendly,” Killingsworth said. “It’s not intended to be the super rowdy, super intense fans. That function has its role and I love the Cauldron for it, but we also needed a family friendly section where the kids can learn chants. We usually have two to three kids a game that want to come down and bang on the drum, so they’d come down and do that for a few minutes and learn some of that soccer supporter culture. The thing I’ve always liked is that I can bring a friend of mine and their kids or I can bring a college buddy, and we still have fun no matter what.”

Killingsworth’s successor as president of the South Stand SC, Corbin LeGrand, also cites the section's inviting atmosphere as one of its unique selling points.

“The whole intent is to make a family-friendly area, so you can get a little bit of each thing you might want,” LeGrand said. “So if someone comes to a game and they want to stand and chant and sing, they can do that, but can also sit and watch if you want. There’s not really a whole lot of limitations, whereas in the Cauldron it’s kind of expected that you’re going to get involved and make noise. And then in the East and West Stands you can’t stand. So it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”

But the South Stand SC has also become a family of its own. Painting rail banners has turned into painting full tifos, and quiet cheers have developed into a united section with its own chants and traditions. Each home game, fans of all ages and backgrounds file into the southernmost seats at Children’s Mercy Park and find themselves next to friends and family, cultivating new relationships and sharing their love for the game, Kansas City, and Sporting KC.

“This was always about family,” Killingsworth said. “It’s about having fun, knowing the people around you and building that support network. It’s just fun to walk into that stadium and feel like you’re at home. It's a beautiful thing."