After years of coaching various levels and seeing the development of numerous youth players along with the growth of soccer in this city, we have decided to make a few changes to the system – to challenge the status quo, as it were. Too often youth sports are either highly competitive and expensive or just casual fun. Why can’t there be an in-between? Who says we can’t train at high levels, have fun, and still only charge a nominal fee? We sure don’t say that and we never will!

Our child-first approach means that a coach’s ego will never get in the way of a child’s potential. With our low coach to player ratio every child gets more individual time to harness that potential and grow into a well-rounded individual. Players aren’t taught when to go somewhere and what to do. We let them explore their options with basic advice. There are no wrong answers so long as a child learns from the experience.

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Our coaches understand developmental psychology and as such, we know that berating a child for making a mistake isn’t the best way to approach the game. Positive encouragement leads to more fun and more confidence. It is our philosophy that players should play hard because they want to (and  maybe to make a coach proud) and not because they are afraid of the coach or any repercussions. 

A technical ability to play the ball is needed to play soccer at the next level. There is only so long you can give it to the big, fast kid. Plus, who wants to do that? For the rest of the players that’s not rewarding even if he or she isn’t going to play in high school or beyond. We want all of our players to play now and encourage them to express themselves. We want them to show off their abilities.  The biggest reward there is in life is to accomplish an individual goal and we are here to help.

You won’t see our players constantly standing around in endless lines waiting for the ball. That’s boring for the players and boring for the coaches. We want your child to learn to play exciting, attacking soccer using technical skills.  Focusing on individual and small-sided games means players can’t “hide” on the field and are forced to use their technical abilities. This means any player has the potential to dribble through traffic and score at any time.

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We’ve found that putting out dozens upon dozens of cones to do static drills is a waste of precious time. While they are used for some games, we save many of the tactical aspects for the scrimmages instead of during the normal practice portions. Not only is the game the best teacher (with a little assistance from coaches on the field) but real-life situations make much more sense than trying to defend stationary cones.

Soccer isn’t our only focus though. We want our youth to become positive role models for future generations. We want them to become upstanding citizens in the community. This not only means our players are expected to respect the game as well as their teammates, opponents, coaches, and officials. This mentality is carried over to our off the field activities as well. We don’t want to be an organization where our families show up and leave without ever knowing each other. We want our families to actually feel like family. Our coaches will take the time to do anything from discuss a soccer game to helping find homework tutoring for a player. Our families are also encouraged to help out with various outreach organizations in Kansas City. We take pride in our city and we want you to as well.