Mike Ritterback

Nate Harmon walks out of the locker room onto the field before a match Feb. 5 against Chiriaco FC. Harmon ended this season with nine goals and six assists. “We play in the UPSL League, which is a semi professional league,” Harmon said. “There’s a lot of ex MLS players and USL players and it’s really fun to play against high level professionals.”

Some people spend their entire lives hoping to meet their idols, and many never get the chance. Nate Harmon (11) gets this opportunity six days a week playing for the St. Louis City SC U21 team. Harmon started playing soccer at 2 years old, and at 4 years old, joined Scott Gallagher, playing there until he was 14. He then got hand picked to play for St. Louis City where he has been for the past three years, just two levels below the professional MLS team.

Through his time playing with City, he has had the opportunity to travel to many different locations for games including Virginia, Ohio, Atlanta and,  most recently, California. The team travels once or twice a month, bringing them very close together despite the age gap. Being on a U21 team, Harmon is one of the youngest players at just 17 years old.

“We have practice six times a week,” Harmon said. “We get Tuesdays off and we play games on the weekends. Normally we go in early three times a week and watch film before practice. We have gym for like half an hour everyday.”

Playing for such a highly competitive team requires many commitments, such as the inability to play for the Ladue High school boys’ soccer team.  Nate aspires to continue playing soccer in college and beyond.

“[Playing for City] benefits my goals,” Harmon said. “My goals are [playing] in college and being successful there and then hopefully playing professionally. I feel like St. Louis City gives me the atmosphere I need to make it to that next level.”

Being personally selected to play for City, Harmon pays nothing to be on the team. This includes frequent travel, a plethora of free gear, equipment and state of the art facilities. Harmon also gets the opportunity to interact with professional soccer players daily.

“We have the nicest facilities ever,” Harmon said. “We have a super big locker room and ours is right by the first team locker room so on any day I will run into [people]  like Roman Bürki, João Klauss or Eduard Löwen. [These are] people that I look up to and I try to replicate how I play.”

Being talented at a sport is only half of the equation. Supportive parents complete the puzzle. Nate’s parents have supported all of his athletic endeavors from day one.

“My parents are unbelievably helpful and I’m super grateful to them,” Harmon said. “Up until I could drive they would drag me out to practice every single day, and before I was on City they’d pay for my travel.”

Athletes on City have dedicated their whole lives to soccer and are proud of the opportunity to represent their home city every day. Watching Harmon grow up with soccer, his parents take extreme pride in watching watching his love for the sport develop.

“I love the fact that he has found a tremendous passion because so many people go through life without finding theirs,” Harmon’s mom, Kara Harmon said. “Even when he doesn’t have training that day, he goes out and plays.”