In early October, 2021, a group of boys’ soccer players were debating whether to start an indoor soccer team during the winter season. The fall season was just ending, and the players were looking for things to do. Mathias Broyles, a senior at Kent Roosevelt High School, suggested playing indoor soccer at NC Soccer Club, and the group agreed. Cooper Liedtke, also a senior at Kent Roosevelt High School, wanted to give the team some pizzazz and came up with a very silly name for the club, The Sticky Tree Frogs.

“I was feeling a little silly…and a little wacky at the time,” said Liedtke , when asked about how he came up with the name. “Ryan Barkley, Ben Pazderak, and I were talking about names for the team on the bench during our first soccer scrimmage this year. When I suggested the name we all just started cracking up, and from there on we knew that was our name.”

With a name set, they needed jerseys to show who they were. “Ben and I were just fooling around in study hall, and we decided to go on this custom shirt website and create some jerseys. We were just being silly and quirky and we stumbled upon our masterpiece. With the jersey made we began to give out numbers to the players, and the rest was history.” 

All the club needed now was players and fame. Broyles would be the owner and in charge of the club. “After all, Mathias did start the club, so it was only fair that he would be called the owner,” Barkley said.

 He also talked about how they recruited all their players, “We began to ask our friends that played on our indoor team last year, and anyone else that wanted to join. Once we had enough players, we just needed some supporters that would come to our games that weren’t our parents.”

Pazderak then had an idea to promote the club on Instagram, and post all the signings. “It was a good attempt to create some fame around the club, and it worked,” Liedtke said. “We would find these really funny photos of the players and edit them to make them even better. I would then send them to Ben who would post it on Instagram with a really outrageous caption.”

With all this going on, the club finally began to gain some fame. “With over 100 followers even before our first game, we gained more support than we ever expected. Make sure to follow the Instagram by the way, @thestickytreefrogs,” Broyles states. 

The first game was on November 7th, and the Frogs won 7-1 against Bawls C.F..“ The crowd was only filled with our supporters, the Tadpoles. They were loud and rowdy all game long, and even had signs for some of the players,” Pazderak said.

 “The club is also making merch for any of the Tadpoles that want to show support for the Sticky Tree Frogs. It should be arriving in the next couple weeks, so stay patient guys,’’ Broyles said. With the next game being against the Field Falcons on November 14th, the Frogs look to stay undefeated. 

To learn more about the Sticky Tree Frogs and their journey, go to 

                                                                                      sites.google.com/view/stickytreefrogsfc