There are trophies to be won all over the place in soccer, but no prominent belts. Until now.
A group of supporters of three MLS teams, Sporting Kansas City, FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids, have created the Midwestia Belt, to be awarded to the best-performing team in head-to-head matchups between the three.
The season-within-the-season is formally known as the Midwestia Championship. It's modeled after the Cascadia Championship, a competition among the Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers.
Alaina Lamphear is the communications chair for South Stand SC, a Sporting Kansas City supporters group. She has worked behind-the-scenes on the Midwestia belt.
Lamphear said the belt was born from a back-and-forth with other passionate MLS fans about building comeraderie among supporters and their respective organizations. The belt's main driving force is South Stand SC President Corbin LeGrand.
"It's a way for the supporters groups to come together and have some fun," Lamphear said. "We're friends off the pitch but for those 90 minutes it gives us something to shoot for."
Lamphear said the organizers spoke with the supporter groups of a few other teams (Houston Dynamo has been mentioned), who declined.
"There's been great support from some fan groups others have chosen not to support the belt and that's fine too," Lamphear said. "Seeing the friendships that are forming is worth it."
4) The level of seriousness in the competition is at levels of lighthearted and fun. We are building on top of existing friendships.
— Midwestia Belt (@MidwestiaBelt) June 30, 2015Lamphear said she hopes the belt, and by extension the supporters groups, can help grow the game in the long run.
So what is Midwestia? A region made up by the championship's founders.
1) The three teams reside in Midwestia, not the Midwest. We made up a region because, well, we can.
— Midwestia Belt (@MidwestiaBelt) June 30, 2015Apparently it's in something called the "beermuda triangle" which is an idea we are not opposed to.
The Beermuda Triangle encompasses approximately 150,000 sq. miles of the region known as #Midwestia pic.twitter.com/hA9mXURnu6
— P1s for Soccer Talk (@P1s4SoccerTalk) June 30, 2015Full disclosure: The18's office is in Boulder, Colorado, so we are not exactly impartial here. But good luck to everybody, we guess. For more information go to Midwestiachampionship.com and/or follow the belt on Twitter @MidwestiaBelt.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
