The champions league

Wylie Crews, sports writer| January 19, 2023

The Unpaid Workers (Graham Stevener, Austen McKee, Max Burns, Trey Zimmerman, Quinn Judge, Parker Gammon, Xavi Arguedas, Jake Clutes, Sean McSwain, Billy Wingbermuehle, Griffin Buening)

It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday night: You’re exhausted from a long, tedious school week and you’re finally

able to lay down and binge watch whatever TV show you have been watching that week. But for players of Vetta rec soccer teams like The Unpaid Workers and Friendship Football Club, it’s game time.

The Unpaid Workers is a rec soccer team that is made up of 11 KHS sophomores who mostly play on the KHS JV soccer team. The team can be seen playing in their infamous bright yellow jerseys, (aka construction workers vests). Max Burns, sophomore and player, said last year the team under the name Flamingo F.C. but at lunch this year they thought of changing the name to The Unpaid Workers.

“We were sitting at lunch one day, and we thought of the name Unpaid Workers from a YouTuber named Vikkstar123,” Burns said. “Flamingo F.C. was a thing of the past.”

The Unpaid Workers are one of eight teams in their “not-so-competitive league.” They play eight games and whichever team has the most wins by the end of the season is crowned the league champion. Austin McKee, sophomore, said this is what the team strives for every time Vetta has the pleasure of hosting their games.

“We aren’t here to mess around,” McKee said. “We are here to win, [and] when we enter Vetta, everyone knows that the big dogs have arrived. We try to have as much fun as possible, but [keep in mind] that we want to win.”

“

We aren’t here to mess around.

— Austen McKee

It might seem all fun and games, but there are some preparations that go into playing at such a high caliber. The founder and self-proclaimed best player of the team, Graham Stevener, sophomore, said he has responsibilities that the other players don’t have.

“I would say I am the organizational operator,” Stevener said. “I created the group chat and ordered our worker uniforms. I do a lot of the behind the scenes work that goes under the radar, [and] if you ask me, I’m the real MVP.”

Stevener said The Unpaid Workers not only try to win and have fun, but also try to incite fear into their opponents. Stevener said the player that does this the most efficiently, is all around soccer machine, Griffin Buening.

“When Griff-dog is there, we don’t lose,” Stevener said. “If you are our opponent, you better hope he’s not there [because] Griffin is truly a masterclass of a player who inspires millions through his play.”

The Friendship Football Club is the team to beat in the Vetta soccer world, according to their winning record at the time of print.

Friendship Football Club (Owen Welsh, Wheeler Kruger, Ben Tomlin, Cooper King, Tristan Tucciarone, Finny Buckley, Connor McGraw, Charlie Smith, Michael Hupp, Nico Bean, Arno Archard, Leo Marino) (Cassie Sprang)

Friendship F.C. is composed of six KHS varsity soccer players and five other juniors. Ben Tomlin, junior and player of Friendship F.C., said that the team has exquisite team chemistry because they have played on the same rec soccer team since freshman year.

“We had some older brothers who were on Vetta teams and we knew they had fun,” Tomlin said. “We have wanted to do it since the beginning of high school, and it’s a fun way for us to hangout on the weekends.”

Because their players are mostly varsity-level soccer players, Cooper King, player and manager of Friendship F.C., said their higher skill level allows them to go out and have a good time. Winning is always the objective, but having fun is the goal.

“Sometimes we play legit, but most times we mess around,” King said. “Depending on our opponent, some games require more effort than others but most of the time we have fun, sometimes a little too much fun.”

Unfortunately for last year, “having a little too much fun” ended up hurting the team. Due to their competitive spirit, Tomlin said a couple players were suspended and the team was unfortunately told to change their name.

“Let’s just say we have had some issues in the past with our name and playstyle,” Tomlin said. “We changed our name to Friendship F.C. so the refs knew that we were a group of respectful lads.”

“

We changed our name to Friendship F.C. so the refs knew that we were a group of respectful lads.”

— Ben Tomlin

Even without a goalie, one of the most crucial positions in soccer, the team is off to a winning start. King said the team looks to strike gold at the end of the season with the help of varsity soccer player and star of Friendship F.C., Wheeler Kruger.

“We are the best to do it, regardless of our goalie situation,” King said. “We are looking to be the champs this year, [which] should be easy because we have Wheeler Kruger.”