This was my first taste of a true supporters culture, and I fell in love. I never found anything like this in Baltimore. I continued to go to all of the World Cup watch parties and started to introduce myself to some other American Outlaws from Charleston. I met a guy named John Lotterhos who started telling me how he wanted to take the American Outlaw culture and bring it to Blackbaud Stadium (now MUSC Health Stadium) and support our local professional club the Charleston Battery.

That was exactly what I was looking for. I was beyond excited to start supporting a local pro soccer club, especially one with as rich of a history as the Battery. At that time, they had already been in existence for 21 years and were considered a large part of the foundation of professional soccer in the US.

The Holy City Outlaws (Charleston, SC American Outlaws Chapter) created a Facebook event to try and get USA soccer supporters to come out and support their local pro team.

I immediately said I was going, and on July 12, 2014, I headed off to the Baud.

On the way there, I was not sure what to expect for my first USL game. For every US World Cup match, there had been capacity crowds. I was hopeful but realized pretty quickly that this would not be the case for Battery matches.

My first Battery tailgate. (Photo Credit: Me)

There were only a few supporters at that first tailgate, a tailgate that had a donated tent and table from the club but was unofficially sponsored by a local brewery Frothy Beard Brewing Company and had a food truck from Zombie Bob’s Pizza. (That’s ironic because they are now officially partnered together in West Ashley.)

While slightly disappointed, I did not let this deter me. I had a few beers, met some new friends and we headed into the stadium for our first March to the Match.

This was my first March to the Match. I’m on the right and John Lotterhos is on the left. (Photo Credit: Kim Morgan Gregory Photography)

There were only five of us when we entered the stadium and, sure, we were singing American Outlaws chants and just changing USA to Charleston and/or Battery, but it was so much fun. Everyone was watching us and wondering who we were and what we were doing.

Throughout that first match, a number of Battery supporters came over to introduce themselves. This is where I was first introduced to the Regiment, the official supporters club of the Charleston Battery.

We stood and sang for the entire 90 minutes, and at the end of the match, captain Colin Falvey made the entire team come over and thank us for our support.

Players now come over to E01 and thank the supporters after every home match. (Photo Credit: Kim Morgan Gregory Photography)

I had never experienced this before. Professional athletes coming to thank us? That never happens in other sports, and I knew at that moment I had found my club. Over the next few years, I learned so much about the history of the club and found the extended family I was looking for most of my life. I ended up making friends I would have never met if it wasn’t for our love of soccer and the Charleston Battery.

Captain Colin Falvey with us in the Three Lions Pub after my first match. (Photo Credit: Me)

Now, when people ask me why I support a lower league club (Previously D3 and now D2) instead of a NASL or MLS club, I always respond the same way.

I wanted to feel like I was actually a part of something and not just on the outside trying to fit in.

From day one as a Battery supporter, I felt like I was a part of the club. I think that’s something many of you can identify with. I mean, where else can you watch a professional soccer game and then go hang out with the players, coaches and even the club president in a pub at the stadium after every home match?

Getting to hang with players in the Three Lions Pub after games was amazing! (Photo Credit: Me)

There were five of us from the Holy City Outlaws who formed our own Battery supporters group: Queen Anne’s Revenge. We marched into every match, sang our hearts out for 90 minutes and lived and died with every touch of the ball. The club actually recognized us and would talk with us about ideas for not only bringing more people to games but specifically into our section and joining QAR and the Regiment.

Five of us came from AO Charleston and formed Queen Anne’s Revenge (Photo Credit: Kim Morgan Gregory Photography)

Every game day was awesome, and it felt like at every match we would meet people who said they were looking for the same thing as us: a place to come and support local soccer and be able to hang out with people who loved the beautiful game as much as they did.

They were looking for something they could really be a part of.

The front office in Charleston did a great job of finding ways to grow the supporter culture as well. Dan Conover, the former Director of Marketing and Communications for the club, even began using a hashtag we started (#OatmealPower) and turned it into a club scarf.

(Photo Credit: Me)

This was one of those ridiculous stories that seems to only come out of lower level clubs. Prior to a match in 2014, a local bakery, Kind Street Cookies, decided to have the Battery players conduct a taste test to determine the club’s favorite cookie. The players ended up voting for the oatmeal raisin cookie.

The following week, the Battery had an away game. King Street Cookies sent a box of their oatmeal raisin cookies to the players and they ended up winning the match. I jumped on twitter and posted that the win had to do with that #OatmealPower. The club ran with the hashtag and started using it in their gameday posts.

We even started eating oatmeal raisin cookies before every game for good luck and, for a long time, it actually worked. The Battery went on a historic home streak of 29 matches without a loss. That streak started with my first Battery match and ended in May 2016 vs. Louisville City FC.

Supporting the Charleston Battery has changed my life. I have made life-long friends, made countless memories and have found a club that realizes how important every single supporter is.

They put my face on a matchday ticket! Who does that? Every professional sporting event I have gone to either has players from the team or some sort of sponsor on their tickets. But not the Charleston Battery.

This club means the world to me, and I love everything about it.

They do not need to play in the MLS or play in front of 20k fans.

They just need to continue doing what they have been doing for 25 years: put their supporters first, connect locally, and stay competitive on the pitch.

I will leave you with a song we love to sing in E01 which was written by a band (First World Problems) that supports the club from E01: We The Fleet!

Thanks for reading my story, I hope you have a local team you can fall in love with the way I did with our Battery.

Be sure to check back for more articles about the Battery, make sure you read about our efforts to chronicle 25 years of supporting the Battery, and of course, follow @SoccerNSweetTea on Twitter for all the latest Carolina soccer news. Oatmeal Power.