PORT ANGELES, WA— A single moment won’t define Kyle Trussell’s life, but it has helped shine a light on the soccer community in Port Angeles.

goalWA.net reported recently on Kyle’s workplace accident in which he was run over by a bulldozer. The article “went viral” via Facebook and has been viewed thousands of times since October. We knew we wanted to learn more about Kyle, his soccer career, and his fight to heal and return to the pitch. So we sent Kyle a series of questions.

We used the term “Legend” in the previous story headline. Kyle’s friends have gotten a lot of mileage out of that term since then. What can you say? Kyle got back to our questions right away. How? He texted them via cell phone while in an ambulance heading back to Seattle for more therapy. Legend indeed!

Go Fund Me: Kyle Trussell

Port Angeles from U-9 to Adult Co-Ed

“I have a natural love for soccer,” Kyle tells us. “I remember when I was 6 or 7, My mother tried to make me play tee ball and I cried the whole way there. “I wanna play soccer!” I said. When I was 9 I heard of a “select” team called Dare and at the time I was a goalie. I called Jeffrey Pitman and asked if I could play for D.A.R.E. He noticed I was one of the faster kids on the team (back then of course, haha) so I played striker. Then as the years passed Jeffrey noticed I had a higher soccer IQ than most of the other kids and put me at center mid. So year after year Jeffrey advanced us and in 1993/1994 we got a sponsor named Todd MacFarlane, the creator of “Image,” a budding comic book at the time and we went from “Classic” all the way to P2, higher than any team from the Peninsula had ever gone. Well since I was a year younger than everyone I joined another another team called Elan out of a nearby town called Poulsbo at U-19, also a P2 team coached by Dan Atkinson, another great coach. Pitman received the coaching position at Peninsula College so I played a half a season there at center mid before a hamstring injury ended my season. Then I was nominated team captain at U23 Regionals (we lost). Now I play in tournaments and a local city league which has evolved into a greatly competitive co-ed League with some great soccer being played. Special thanks to Tim Tucker for making it such a great soccer community up here in Port Angeles/Sequim and Dave Brasher for being a catalyst also.”

Super time at the Super Cup

Kyle played at the first annual Super Cup pitting Port Angeles against Sequim. It was a soccer high coming just before the big emotional low of the accident. “The first ever Super Cup was amazing! Tim Tucker and Dave Brasher pioneered the event. Just being asked to play was an incredible honor because there are lots of in-shape young guys representing Port Angeles and on top of that coach Kanyon Anderson and coach Chris Saari decided I was a starter at offensive center mid! The Super Cup is huge because Sequim is our rival town in high school sports and is also rivaled in city league soccer. To be one of the best 25 in our area still at age 32 means a lot to me because at my age you constantly wonder “Can I still play with these young guys?” Being able to perform with the college boys is a lot harder now obviously but it’s alot of fun having the competition.”

Every day is “Talk like a Pirate” Day

The Peninsula College Pirates Men of the NWAC won the league title on Sunday. Afterwards they posed with a jersey marked “Trusseller” and signed by many in the Port Angeles area. Kyle was touched by the gestured and remains a fan of the PCC soccer experience.

“The Pirates program is something else. New coach Cale Rodriguez did an excellent job keeping the program prestigious, just the way coach Andrew Chapman left it. Both the men and women’s programs have evolved into monsters of the NWAC. Kids from all over are coming up here to this astounding soccer community and the support they are receiving is another thing that gets them through their grueling seasons.”

The Road back to the Soccer Pitch: Assist to Port Angeles

Trussell suffered serious, life-threatening injuries in the accident. (Do you really want to see a photo?) Since then he’s had numerous surgeries and work inside and out. The whole time his family, friends and soccer community have been there.

“Holy Wow! is what I have to say about our soccer community,” Kyle says. “So far, no exaggeration, I have had a visitor every day during my recovery helping the days go by and most are from the soccer community. It has been overwhelming the response and there have been lots of tears of joy including as I write this. What an incredible response!”

The work to recover is daily, hourly, minute by minute. If only a “Full 90” was enough. “The road to recovery is going to be a long one,” Kyly acknowledges. “I suffered major nerve damage in my highly dangerous left foot (he jokingly adds – “sorry goalkeepers!”) and we don’t know how long that is going to take to come back to normal but I can tell you I’ve played with rolled ankles and muscle pulls before so I will not let this stop me. Also, doc says that since I now have a rod in the bone marrow of my femur I’m in danger of a knee injury, but I see it as “aren’t we all always in danger of a knee injury all the time?” I’m ahead of schedule on my recovery by about a month. We did x-rays and everything looks good so he lifted the 90 day non-weight bearing on my legs. Now all I have to wait for is skin graft surgery on December 2nd and the “x-fix” on my pelvis. I have cheated death and all I want to do is get healthy so I can play soccer. It really is true love.”