By Jon Johnson
A large gathering of ladies who are fans of the Dothan United Dragons got to be “one of the guys” with the soccer team for a couple of hours on Tuesday night.
As part of the Ladies Night Out event at Rip Hewes Stadium, participants got to interact with players and coaches, enjoy food and drink, plus take part in some soccer drills on the field.
“They should hire me … I could be a Dragon,” Samantha Montane of Dothan joked after kicking a soccer ball into a circle during one of the drills led by players.
Montane was invited to the event by her friend, Casey Campbell, and was having a big time learning more about the sport and the team.
“I don’t know anything about soccer, but I do like the Dragons,” Montane said. “First of all, I didn’t know they were from other countries.”
“I didn’t realize how tall they were, either, looking down from the stadium onto the field. It’s great to kind of learn one-on-one with them … figure out who they are and where they came from.”
As far as Montane could recall, it was her first time kicking a soccer ball.
“I was actually surprised I got it in the circle like they told me to,” Montane said. “It’s actually really hard. I didn’t even wear the right shoes. I didn’t know we were going to be doing these types of activities. I just thought we were going to be talking.”
Stacey Smith became a fan when the franchise in the United Soccer League Two began play in Dothan three years ago and had interest in learning more about the players she watches on game nights.
“A bunch of them are British, you know, and I love their accents,” Smith said. “It’s just fun to be around some nice young men. One of them lived near Buckingham Palace (in London), where the Prince lives,” she added.
This is the second year of the Ladies Night Out program, which is coordinated by Kelli Pylant. She said the idea came from Sandi Hodge of Shute Pecan Company in Dothan, which is one of the sponsors of the event. Other local sponsors were Bloom Skin Co., Coca-Cola and Chef Paul Fripp’s Bistro Eats, the provider of the food.
“She had attended an event like this at Auburn where the (football) coaches and players put it together for the women and just kind of introduced them to football a little more … just taught them some basics about football that they did not know,” Pylant said of Hodge. “So, Sandi had brought that to us and we just took it and ran with it.”
“We chose to cap it at 100 because we felt like that was plenty to have the experience with the guys. This year, I believe we had 70 that signed up and we’ve added some last-minute registrations.”
Tickets were $60 and the ladies received goody bags, which included coupons, a T-shirt and tickets to a future game. Many of the ladies had photos taken with their favorite players.
“You basically get time to learn the coaches and the players,” Pylant said. “We divided the field up into four different stations that the guys and coaches run, then we teach you some of the basics and little things about soccer.”
“We found out that when all of this started with Dothan United, there were so many of us who had no idea what we were watching. We felt like if we could get the women involved, and get them enjoying it, that it would be easier to boost our attendance. Get the moms involved and the families come. That was kind of the basis behind this.”
The players seemed to be enjoying the evening as much as the ladies.
“It’s a lot of fun because we don’t always get to really hang out with a lot of people,” said Dakota Henry, who is a defender on the team.
Henry says taking part in events throughout the community also builds a good bond within the framework of the team.
“One hundred percent it adds to our chemistry and helps us on the field,” Henry said.
Henry is a native of Madisonville, La., who played at Florida Southern College. He’s enjoying his first experience in Dothan.
“I saw what Dothan United was able to do the last two years, but you don’t really understand it until you are here and really immersing yourself in the whole environment,” Henry said. “Like, you go into the grocery stores and just have a conversation with somebody. It’s really a tight-knit community, and it’s really nice.”
Dragons’ head coach Ricky Davey is always appreciative of the opportunity to further promote the team.
“We’re trying to grow the game here in any way we can,” Davey said. “Anybody that’s interested in soccer, we want to tell them about it and tell them about this club … how important it is to us to feed back into the community.”
