This story appears in the November edition of Eleven the Magazine, the official digital magazine of Sporting Kansas City. Click here to check out the entire issue and follow the magazine on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Eric DeJulio has a favorite Sporting Kansas City memory. It starts with him and his teammates driving nearly three hours from Creighton University to Sporting Park, continues with standing in 20-degree weather for approximately six hours above the Cauldron and ends with Sporting Kansas City winning the MLS Cup.
It was Dec. 7, 2013. Kansas City remembers this story well. DeJulio remembers it from a point of view all his own: watching the litany of penalty kicks leading up to an eventual Sporting victory and envisioning himself out there wearing Sporting blue.
“It was just a crazy emotional time,” he says. “Something I’m striving to reach.” And he is on his way.
DeJulio, 21, is one of the Sporting Kansas City Academy’s most promising products. He first tried out for the U-15s, back when the club’s name was still the Wizards, in his freshman year of high school in Overland Park, Kansas. He went on to play for the U-16s for two years and then became the captain of the U-18 club for one year. Now he is a senior co-captain for the Creighton Blue Jays.
“Soccer is everything,” he says. “It means everything. It’s something I’ve dedicated my whole life towards to this point, and there’s nothing that brings me as much joy as stepping on that field to play soccer for 90 minutes and getting the win.”
He has been winning a lot lately. In fact, all he has done this season is win. Creighton is ranked No. 5 in the country with a 16-2-0 record.
So, really, DeJulio has been well on his way for a while. He can’t remember exactly when he started playing the game, only that he has been playing for as long as he can remember and that his father started him out “as a tyke.” He attributes a lot of his progress to Sporting. He brings onto the field for Creighton some of what his time with Sporting taught him.
“I think it’s just coming out and giving everything you have, every minute,” he explains. “Also on the tactical side. Sporting did a great job of preparing for the tactical part of soccer, and I feel like I’ve been able to reap the benefits of that; that’s definitely helped me on the field.”
His favorite player growing up was former Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad because they played the same position. And as he finds himself on the cusp of being able to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing defense in Major League Soccer, he has found himself leaning on the model of Sporting’s captain and central defender Matt Besler. The DeJulio and Besler families are friends, and DeJulio says he and Matt have gotten to know each other pretty well.
“Just the type of person he is, he’s a great leader,” DeJulio says of Besler. “He has great character. He’s definitely someone I try and imitate on the field and off the field as well. I really like watching Besler and trying to learn as much as I can.”
Fellow Sporting academy product Bryce Gibson is a freshman on the team. They have bonded over their memories forged while with Sporting’s Academy and found comfort in each other at Creighton.
Someday — perhaps someday soon — DeJulio hopes to make his own memories wearing that Sporting blue. “My goals looking forward are to try and make it in MLS,” he says. “Hopefully with Sporting Kansas City, but I’ll take any opportunity I can get.”
