At U.S. Soccer’s Annual General Meeting in Atlanta, Cindy Parlow Cone was elected (unopposed) to a second term as U.S. Soccer president and the federation provided updates on its Soccer Forward initiative to expand access to grassroots soccer in the USA. We spoke to JT Batson, who has served as U.S. Soccer CEO and General Secretary since September 2022, about his own grassroots soccer history. It led to his current position and experiences such as refereeing Landon Donovan.

SOCCER AMERICA: How did you initially get into soccer?

JT BATSON: At the YMCA in Augusta, Georgia, at about 4 or 5. The name of the team was the “A-Team.” I played recreationally. Then — probably a mile from where we are now — I played my first competitive game with the Augusta Arsenal U-11s, and that was the team I played with my entire childhood, all the way up through U-18.

SA: What positions did you play?

JT BATSON: If the team was good, I played right back, maybe center back. If the team was not quite as good, like high school, I played center mid.

SA: What was it about soccer that turned it into such a big part of your life?

JT BATSON: I did play basketball and baseball in addition to soccer. And my dad was actually a college baseball player and a college baseball coach for a while. And on my mom’s side of the family, a lot of college football players, including Ohio State players. So a great history of sports. I really enjoyed baseball, really enjoyed basketball, but soccer was always my love. A big part of it was the people. I had great coaches and great teammates. It really felt like family. I’m still very, very close with all of them today. Even though we haven’t lived in the same city for 25 years, we’re still very tight. And it’s an amazing game. I love it.

SA: Did you also follow soccer as a fan?

JT BATSON: For sure. I remember watching the 1990 World Cup. I remember exactly where I was with one of my teammates on the Augusta Arsenal. I remember, of course, the 1994 World Cup, watching all those games. I was at Mark Berson‘s University of South Carolina soccer camp for the USA-Brazil game, which was at Stanford Stadium. All the campers were in there watching on one of those old-school projector televisions. I remember every one of those games.

My first national team game in person was here in Georgia [Athens] for the ’96 Olympics, watching the women’s team’s semifinal match and also the gold-medal match. They ultimately won the gold medal and I was completely hooked.