While digging up graves looking for the spookiest soccer badges for our recent Halloween top-10 badges post I came across the badge for what seemed like a fairly new club, Orange County Soccer Club. We ran the list, but I felt compelled to follow up with the team and Anton Faith got back to me right away; “Thanks for reaching out, it’s quite exciting as this is our first season as a club. The badge was created around a few ‘Floridian’ symbols. The outline of Florida on the badge as the club wishes to enter tournaments out of state and it is proud to represent Florida. The orange on the badge comes from Florida’s state fruit being an orange and it being a major part of Florida’s economy, this is also where the shape of the badge came from. The green on the badge and the claws are representative of the alligator, which is a very common site in this part of the world.”

I felt like we needed to know more, so I replied asking if he’d like to put his club in the Protagonist Spotlight and of course, Anton was happy to answer our questions…

Your Club seems really new; is it a re-branding or are you launching from scratch?

Orange County Soccer Club is a brand-new club founded in the summer of 2018 that is currently paying in the Central Florida Soccer League for the fall and spring seasons of 2018-19.

You've shared some of the background regarding the badge but are there any connections to, or inspirations drawn from, other clubs in the world?

A few of the founding players are from England and Scotland respectively and it was noticed that the teams they support wear green and white hoops so as a club we adopted those as our team colors.

What are the goals of the organization; does that include an ambition to grow quickly or more just see how it goes?

The club has plans to expand in the future by fielding teams in other competitive leagues such as the UPSL and NPSL as well as building a youth section of the club. We are not rushing into anything and will allow the club to grow organically.

What's the highest level of player you hope to draw--are you targeting players outside your area or just hoping to draw the local talent in to fill out the roster?

We are aware of ex international players in our league and as we grow we would love to see them playing for Orange County Soccer Club. At this time we have a couple of players in the team who have played in the NPSL and USL

Do you see rivalry as an important part of growing the fan side or an organization, or a distraction? Do you foresee any rivalries within your area?

As a club we are new to the league so we don’t currently have many rivals but our players have played for and against many of the players and teams in the league so there is always healthy competition when the players cross the white line. We believe that team rivalries are important to the game as it brings out a little extra in players on the day.

How is the club funded? Are you self-sufficient or are you hoping to make connections in the community to gain sponsors?

Orange County Soccer Club is run in part by its members and also by sponsorships. We have to thank Sports4Fun for sponsoring our teams uniform this season and also the members for their contribution. We are currently searching for more sponsors if any are reading this.

Is there anything important to you YOU that I missed?

The team has just made the playoffs in their first season and is very excited to be playing for a trophy.