Power wheelchair soccer team is taking off with help of Louisville City FC

Cosmo Rudd accelerated using the joystick in his right hand. He spun himself into place and waited on a pass from his teammate, then guided the 13-inch soccer ball off the plastic guard at the front of his wheelchair and just inside the far metal post for a goal.

Just seven years ago, he initially needed a push from his mother to start playing power soccer. But after winning championships and playing in tournaments across the United States, he's hooked.

"It took me a while. I would often go and enjoy it but still not want to go back," said Rudd, 15. "Eventually, like, starting to win some games and going to tournaments really got me invested in it."

Perhaps his biggest achievement was getting his family hooked, too. First was his mom, Patricia, then other family members. Together they launched the Kentuckiana Power Soccer, an adaptive soccer program for people in power wheelchairs, last year.

The sport has taken root locally and around the country, with upward of 60 teams and approximately 400 athletes competing in the United States Power Soccer Association.

Louisville City FC of the United Soccer League took notice, too, and has given the team here its name, uniforms and most important, a platform to help expand the reach of power soccer.

"I love seeing the sport of soccer being used to bring people together like this and give these athletes to be involved in a team sport," said Mario Sanchez, LouCity's director of community and youth development. “When we started talking, I realized it was something that was a natural fit just because we’re a soccer team, they’re a soccer team. So why not partner up?”

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LouCity Power Soccer is still in its infancy, but those involved have big goals, such as having two 15-player teams compete nationally in the USPSA starting next season and eventually making it so that every professional soccer team in the country sponsors its own power soccer team.

But in the short term, there are more pressing issues to take care of, like getting enough players. They've signed six, ages 12 to 42, including Cosmo, who serves as team captain. He's hoping to continue working his magic here in Louisville.

"It’s one of the only sports that people in power wheelchairs can play," he said. "It’s just a lot of fun."

'He's the one who knows everything'

Cosmo has been in a wheelchair his whole life.

He was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy when he was 4. While he has use of his upper body, his muscle strength is limited, and he relies on his power wheelchair to get around.

That made it hard for him to find a sport he could play — until his mother found out about power soccer from a fellow parent with a child with a disability. 

The first barrier was Cosmo's hesitation. Patricia recalled how skittish and afraid he was and how cautious he was compared with the other players.

But that quickly changed. He plays center, one of four positions in the sport. The game is played indoors on a basketball court. The players knock around the soccer ball, larger than the one used outdoors, using their wheelchairs.

"He’s the one that knows everything," said David Allgood, a LouCity Power Soccer teammate. "I’m just trying to learn the basic rules of this sport. He’s the one we look to for guidance, what we need to do and how to do it.”

Cosmo developed that knowledge when the family lived in Berkeley, California, and he joined a team called the BORP Crushers, which later won a championship. They traveled to tournaments, including to Indianapolis, where the USPSA is headquartered.

That enthusiasm carried over when Patricia and Cosmo moved back to Louisville from California — and after the rest of the family formed an entire cheering section at matches, equipped with noisemakers, wigs and team colors.

Cosmo's aunt, Gail Smith, said it was nothing after Cosmo used to come watch his cousins play soccer or basketball.

"So often I see Cosmo on the sidelines, " she said. "He’s just always getting sidelined. With this, he gets to be the star and gets to do everything he wants to do."

Cosmo said he's grown to like the sport.

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“It’s great. It’s exciting. It’s scary sometimes especially when there’s people watching, but it’s fun," he said.

Perhaps his biggest fan was his grandmother, Mimi Johns, who was front and center in the fan section until her death in 2017.

That prompted Patricia and Cosmo to move back to Louisville. The only issue was there was no team locally, so the family started its own.

“A lot of this feels like this a memorial to her, making her proud, and doing something she wants to be a part of," Smith said.

A family affair

The family formed Kentuckiana Power Soccer and divvied up the responsibilities.

Patricia Rudd is the director, Smith is the team manager, and their third sister, Victoria Moll, is in charge of outreach. Their brothers stepped in and used their engineering backgrounds on the wheelchairs. Their children stepped in as coaches.

Then they got help from the rest of community. Home of the Innocents offered its basketball gym for practices. Numotion stepped in to work on power chairs. Local high and middle school students offered to be referees. And a lawyer offered his services to help them become a nonprofit.

“The community has really come behind us in a big way," Patricia Rudd said.

Eventually that group included Louisville City, which pledged its support after just two meetings. Louisville City FC is in the process of registering a foundation so it can raise money for this and other projects.

Members of the Coopers, LouCity's fan section, have attended practices and promised to come to games. And Lance McGarvey, LouCity's public address announcer, pledged to do play-by-play for the games.

But where they have primarily helped is with awareness.

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"I think any time we can help people out, it’s my own personal philosophy that when you can bring everyone together, whether it’s someone with a disability or someone that’s economically challenged, I think that’s our responsibility as human beings," Sanchez said.

Money is probably the biggest barrier LouCity Power Soccer has faced, outside of numbers. Its initial fundraising goal is $70,000, of which there are pledges of $20,000, Patricia Rudd said. That's to pay for each player to have a a Strike Force wheelchair, the chair typically used for the sport, which runs about $8,000 to $10,000 each.

For now, they're just hoping to get people involved. Cosmo called that a large step to their ultimate goals.

"We’d like to get a lot more players and our hope is to next year go to Indianapolis and compete in the national championships," he said.

Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/justins.