Alexandra Paulson is the Blue KC Sporting Samaritan of the Month for May and a special education teacher for the Blue Valley School District. Paulson joined Sporting Kansas City captain Matt Besler on Sports Radio 810 WHB this morning to discuss her experience at Children’s Mercy Park.
“It was incredible and it felt really good to be recognized,” Paulson said. “I think I told Matt, it takes a team and I truly believe that. I work with my kids every day and they are kind of non-traditional students, but they are my favorite.”
Paulson makes it a personal goal to put her students first to provide a supportive learning community. Besler told the hosts of The Border Patrol, Nate Bukaty and Steven St. John, that he couldn’t believe how humble Paulson was about receiving this honor.
“I found it interesting that the whole time we were down there she wouldn’t talk about herself, she kept referring to her co-workers and how she has this awesome team,” Besler said. “I was pleasantly surprised with just how humble she was and how she didn’t want to talk about herself.”
Another person that stands out to Besler and fans everywhere is Sporting’s Gianluca Busio. Busio helped lead the United States U-17 Men’s National Team to a 4-0 semifinal win over Canada Tuesday with three assists. He has also tallied five goals in six appearances at the Concacaf U-17 Championship. Besler says it’s been fun to watch him play at this level.
“I always check the highlights and it always seems he’s right in the middle of pretty much every goal that their team has scored. I just picture him walking into his locker room as a 17-year-old kid and the amount of confidence he has with that group, and it’s showing with the way he is playing.”
Speaking of confidence, another confidence booster for the team has been the return of midfielder Benny Feilhaber. Besler says his return will help the team in a lot of different ways.
“I hope the biggest way he helps is on the field. He’s off to a good start, because in my opinion he was one of our better players on the field in his first game against D.C. It looked like he had never left. We’re going through a bit of a rough spell right now and we have a ton of challenges in front of us, but he’s a guy that’s experienced some of these which helps the group get through it.”
One of the challenges the team is experiencing has been the injury bug. Besler is one of those on the list with a hamstring injury.
“I’ve been able to start pushing things a little bit here. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back on the field soon and then it’s just a matter of being smart about how much do you push and how it reacts. I’m going to try and have a hard day and get a lot of work in, but then you pretty much just have to wait and see how you feel the next morning.”
Listen to the full podcast below.
