David Testo, the first American male pro soccer player to come out of the closet, feels his place is “on the sidelines,” according to an interview with Canada’s “National Post” this morning. 

The article says he’s happy not having pre-season training dates to look forward to and that he has heard from many soccer players, both college and professional, who are living in the closet:

“A lot of the athletes that I’ve spoken with, some are in the NCAA, some are professional,” the 30-year-old said, “so it is very interesting to know‚ they heard the story and they were able to get in contact with me and [we] were able to stay in touch and we kind of help each other.”

David recently became the face of a Canadian public health survey for gay and bi men, and says he has plans to launch an outreach group for others struggling with their sexuality as athletes.

We’re looking forward to David’s advocacy work, and hope we can help out with it any way we can, but can’t help being a little sad that the wait for the first out man to play on an American pro soccer field will have to continue.