Reid Sproat, the only player to suit up for Fort Wayne FC in each of its first four seasons of play, is back with the club as it prepares for Sunday’s 6 p.m. opener at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium against Sueño FC.
The highly decorated 23-year-old defender, who graduated from Leo High School, only played in one match last year – a friendly against Chivas’ U-23 team – but was chomping at the bit to getting back to full-time play in 2025 and never wavered in wanting it to be for Fort Wayne FC.
“It was always an easy decision,” Sproat said. “There was never another team I wanted to play for if I could play here. It worked out and I’m happy to be back.”
With Sunday’s match being on Mother’s Day, Soccer Moms will get in free with the purchase of a child’s ticket day of match. This is one of many exciting promotions for the 2025 season.
The Fort Wayne FC roster is packed with talent and features players of 12 different nationalities.
Sproat, who was also spotlighted in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette this week, is Fort Wayne FC’s all-time leader in matches (35) and minutes (2,597) played, and the only club player to be selected All-League in USL League Two, which happened in 2023. That season, he helped Fort Wayne FC to the first of back-to-back Valley Division titles.
As Fort Wayne FC prepares for its final season in USL League Two before moving to the professional ranks of USL League One in 2026, when the club will open a new soccer-specific stadium at Bass Road and I-69, Sproat has noticed the considerable buzz surrounding Fort Wayne FC.
“It means everything to be back,” he said. “Being a hometown kid, everybody who grew up in Fort Wayne is going to be proud of this (club) and want to be a part of it. For me to be here since Day 1 to now, it’s just a cool feeling and I’m looking forward to seeing where this club goes in the future.”
Sproat played collegiately at Oakland University from 2019 to 2022 and was a three-time All-Horizon League selection, helping the Golden Grizzlies to regular-season and tournament championships in the conference during 2021.
He played a fifth season of college soccer at San Diego State University in 2023 and was named the 14th best player in the nation by “Top Drawer Soccer,” while also receiving Honorable Mention All-Conference honors in the Pac-12.
Last season, he was a graduate assistant at Huntington University, a school in Northeast Indiana. That gave him a greater appreciation of soccer from the coaching side of things.
“You don’t realize how much work the coaching staff does,” Sproat said. “Not only the recruiting process, but preparing sessions and not having the players be bored, having them be engaged, and it also made me realize as a coach what you look for out of a player when they start to play and when they start to train.
“It was a cool opportunity to see soccer from a different perspective.
While Sproat’s stifling defensive nature will continue to be on display, fans may notice a different, more savvy, player on and off the pitch now.
“I’ve been out of organized soccer for the past year, but during that time I’ve been mentally getting my head right and physically staying fit,” Sproat said. “The first couple of trainings, it’s been getting back into things, but I think the biggest thing since the last time I’ve played is (you’ll see) just maturity in the general part of life and I’ll be applying that to the field.”
This season’s Fort Wayne FC club, which held a media gathering on Wednesday, was also featured prominently by WANE and WBOI.
“Our players come from different countries and from different clubs,” midfielder Tavio D’Almeida said, “but the connection is good. We’ve only had a few trainings, so not everything is perfect yet, but there’s a lot of hope for the rest of the week.”
About Fort Wayne FC
Fort Wayne FC, founded in 2019, is currently a pre-professional club in USL League Two’s Valley Division in the Central Conference. The club won Valley Division championships in 2023 and 2024. Fort Wayne FC is moving to the professional ranks of USL League One in 2026 at a new state-of-the-art stadium. www.fortwaynefc.com
About United Soccer League
Founded in 1986, the United Soccer League (USL) is the largest and fastest-growing soccer organization in the United States, impacting more than 200 communities nationwide. The USL is the first and only organization to offer a comprehensive youth-to-professional pathway for both men and women under one ecosystem. This structure includes four men’s leagues: the newly announced, top-tier professional Division I league, the USL Championship (Division II), USL League One (Division III), and USL League Two (pre-professional). The women’s pathway includes the top-tier USL Super League (Division I), which debuted in 2024, and USL W League, the country’s leading pre-professional women’s league. The USL also oversees USL Academy, a progressive talent development platform, and USL Youth, a premier national youth platform.
