Q: How did you get involved in this effort?

Trey Mitchell: At the very end of the USL season in 2017 there were passive talks among the players in the locker room in Pittsburgh, as well as other players such as Tommy and Connor. We were just starting to think of organizing a union, which is now the USLPA. There had been efforts to do this in the earlier years, but they weren’t able to gain recognition from the league. We thought that this was the year in 2018. We felt like it was needed and this was the best opportunity for it to be executed. That’s when the three of us put our heads together to decide on what would be the best way to move this forward and this is where we are now.

Connor Tobin: I’ve played the majority of my career in some variation of the lower division of the United States. This is something that has always been talked about, giving players a collective voice. I think we finally had a group of players that were able to get unified behind a common goal to create a platform for the next generation of players to make this profession more attractive and really improve the overall health of the US Soccer landscape.

Tommy Heinemann: I’ve been up and down the US Soccer pyramid for the last 10 years in the USL, NASL, MLS, and even the USL back in the first and second division days. So I’ve also seen the need and I think other players have too. Our whole desire in this was to form a unified voice, to be able to have a voice for the players. That’s how I personally became involved, and I think we collectively share that as an executive committee that is part of a larger player council. I think that each of those members is also sharing in that motive and desire.