109. Fans In the Stands

The photographer for the Minnesota Aurora soccer team shares why shooting the fans in the stands is her favorite part of the job.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Nora:  I’m Nora McInerny, and this is It’s Going to be Okay, the show where we bring you a little okay to start your day or to end your day. Some of you listen to this in the evening, and that is okay. This podcast is a group project because the okay things are different every day and for everyone. And today’s okay thing is from Rebecca. 

voicemail beep

Rebecca: My husband and I have two little girls, three years old and five and a half months. Our oldest is fiercely independent. She’s physical. She’s active. She’s non stop active. We’re just starting to figure out what our youngest is like. But so far, she’s pretty chill. Super smiley. Also pretty active. Rolling front to back, back to front. Creeping, crawling, kind of inchworming her way around things. She wants to have your full attention. Eyes on her all the time. Anyways, with recent events, you know, those headliners, I felt pretty uneasy about what their future looks like. What freedoms they’ll retain. Will they have some of the same opportunities that I’ve had? Or will those rights be stripped away? That just got deep. I’m a photographer. No, I don’t shoot weddings. But I do photograph people. 

My most recent big gig has been photographing for the Minnesota Aurora Women’s Soccer Club. They’re a pre professional team here in the Twin Cities, and they’re really good. Like, division champs good. But guess what? I don’t really photograph the soccer game. I photograph the people. Which means I people watch a lot. In fact, most of the time, my back is toward the game. 

[ fans in the stands cheering, fade under]

I’m watching the fans in the stands, and watching the game through their eyes. I watched fans walk through the stadium, stopping mid stride, usually tripping up the folks behind them, just to see one of our athletes head toward the goal.

[ dance cam music] 

I watched families dance for the dance cam. I watched the families, the couples, walk and hold hands around the stadium. They seemed to feel safe, accepted, and welcome to be in that space together. I listened to the superfans chant the Ravon, Ravondelet. Wow, I can never say that. Revontelet? Whatever. Wear blue, wear green, wear something in between.

Wear teal, wear teal. Adapted from the Rory Kent chant from Ted Lasso. I watch kids race towards Rory, the teal and orange dragon mascot, to grab a hug or a high five. I watch the fans as they’re sitting on those hard bleachers. Their bodies, they completely tense up. Their eyes are wide, they’re frozen till one of our athletes scores. also happens a lot. 

Then, as they jump to cheer, they yell at the top of their lungs, they wave their scarves around their head, they show the most amount of joy that I’ve witnessed in such a long time. I can usually tell when things are going our way. I can hear it, I can see it, and I can feel it. And it’s experiencing some of these kinds of emotions in this way is one of the coolest things that I’ve been a part of in a long time.

The other cool part? Seeing nearly 6, 987 people show up, they fill a stadium for women’s sports. Wow! You know, seeing all of these people show up, it lets me know that it’ll be okay for my girls as they grow up. Because I think that there will be people like them who will love them, accept them, support them.

It’ll be okay. At the end of the game. 

Dancing Queen plays. The fans line up around the stadium. They reach their hands out, outstretched, over the metal fence, or through the spaces, just to give the team members a high five. The team makes their way around the entire stadium, not missing a hand. The fans then make their way to the autograph alley. They sign autographs, say hello. I listen to them talk to the kids and ask questions. I listen to the athletes interact. Wow. You know what? It’s gonna be okay.

Nora: We love that Rebecca Slater sent us so much good audio from that soccer game. So if you are sending us an okay thing and it involves sound. We’d love to hear it. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You can press record on your voice memo app and just let her rip. And then you can email those OK things to IGTBO at feelingsand. co. And if you don’t want to do that, you can just write up your OK thing and we’ll read it. It’s going to be okay is different every single weekday. That’s what makes this fun. And we are a production of feelings and co. We are an independent production company that brings you all kinds of feelings, even sporty ones.

Which is really, I mean, we’re going to use the word sporty very loosely to mean a story where someone says they turn their back on the game. Which is my kind of sporty. I’m Nora McInerny, the rest of our team here is Marcel Malekebu, Jordan Turgeon, Claire McInerny, Megan Palmer, and Michelle Plantan. Thank you so much. for making this show possible by listening to it, by sharing it with a friend, by rating and reviewing it, and by sharing your okay things with us and with each other. It is, we’re pretty sure, going to be okay.