Portraits from the Winter Classic

As part of our coverage of the Timbers Army Football Club’s Winter Classic, we had photographer Kris Lattimore on site taking portraits of willing competitors. He asked them, “Why are you here tonight? Why do you play futsal?”.

Dan Grabski, Bad Decisions FC

I play because I am unsupervised! Really, I just wanted to get out and get moving. There are lots of the same folks from the Timbers and Thorns matches, lots of friendly faces with this in common. It is great community to be a part of. I play on several teams and we have two teams here tonight!

Clifford Eiffler, Sporting Thundercats United

Soccer, and futsal, brings the community together. I don’t have to have skills to play, I just enjoy playing the sport. You don’t have to be good at this to have a lot of fun.

Steven Dietrich, Sporting Thundercats United

This is my first time playing futsal. It’s an interesting story…a friend who is usually on the team was my wedding coordinator. At the last minute, her boyfriend surprised her with a trip to Hawaii so they asked me to replace her and here I am. It’s a lot of fun!

Cara O’Neil, Sporting Thundercats United

I actually started playing futsal when some friends from the Thundercats asked because they were looking for more women to play. I used to play a lot of sports but not soccer. I used to be a runner and I thought…’Hey you know what, I’ll give it a try! I have lots of fun playing sports and am a the big fan of the Timbers, I enjoy watching soccer so I’ll try playing…’ and I fell in love and I’m here tonight having a great time.

Nancy Perry, Sporting Thundercats United

I think that football in general is one of the greatest sports because there is no other sport that promotes such great camaraderie within its players and that’s something that I truly love! I also have family and I play on a team of my brothers and friends who have become my family.

Brittany Wideman, Sporting Thundercats United

I’m here because all my friends play here so I just come and play. It’s a great way to stay in shape and it’s a lot of fun!

Aaron Aikens, Deacon Blue

I play midfield outdoor so for me I play futsal because I get so many touches on the ball. And this is good competition and keeps me in shape and develops a lot of skill. The game is fast so you develop lots of other skills too.

Garret Guido, Deacon Blue

It’s nice, it’s really creative. I feel I am at my most creative when I play so I really enjoy getting on the pitch. I am able to think about what I wanna do right now in the moment, in the game. The game is great - when I’m out there, these guys are out there playing and I’m just trying to do my best Brazil thing.