Lee’s Summit Soccer Association of Lee’s Summit, Missouri has officially signed on as the 13th Academy Affiliate in the Sporting Club Network. Rebranded as
Sporting Lee’s Summit
, SLS is now the network’s fifth Academy Affiliate in the state of Missouri and the third local affiliate along with Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Kaw Valley.
“It’s a great day for Lee’s Summit Soccer Association and Sporting Kansas City,” said Sporting Lee’s Summit President Ron Cox. “It allows us to work together to accelerate the development of our young players. It will help them get to the pros quicker and ultimately help Sporting KC, our hometown team, win another MLS Cup.”
Since forming its first youth teams in 1992, Lee’s Summit Soccer Association has steadily grown into one of the largest soccer organizations in the metro area, all while becoming more deeply ingrained in the Kansas City soccer community. Throughout this growth, the mission of LSSA has stayed consistent: to provide a positive environment in which any and all players can have fun enjoying the sport of soccer. By becoming the newest Academy Affiliate in the Sporting Club Network, Sporting Lee’s Summit can continue their vision while also providing their most competitive players with another level of the game to strive toward.
“They are a club that brings players into their club regardless of age, gender or technical ability” said Sporting KC Technical Director Peter Vermes. “More importantly, they have grown their club to nearly 7,000 players and, as this membership has grown, they have consistently looked to add new opportunities for the players involved. Sporting Lee’s Summit fosters the opportunity for kids to go through their program all the way from recreational to competitive. With this affiliation to Sporting KC, the club will have an opportunity to graduate those players looking to fulfill a dream of one day playing professionally via the SKC Academy and then hopefully into MLS from there.”
Players that participate and compete through the Academy Affiliate program will be directly connected to Sporting Kansas City’s Academy and youth development initiatives. In turn, they will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience while receiving heightened levels of training and development.
Sporting Lee’s Summit players will now be invited to partake in the annual Academy Affiliate Weekend, an event that brings together many of the most talented youth soccer players from across the Midwest to compete under the Sporting Club umbrella. Select SLS players will also be named to Academy Affiliate All-Star Teams throughout the year, offering these players a chance to learn the game in the same environment and setting as Sporting KC’s own Academy and first-team players.
As an Academy Affiliate member, Sporting Lee’s Summit becomes an extension of the Sporting KC Academy and therefore an extension of the club’s scouting network. The relationship between the Sporting Club Network and Sporting Lee’s Summit will play a large part in the overall growth of soccer in the Midwest by elevating the level of youth soccer in the region, while also offering extensive new benefits that will directly impact the improvement of these players. In the search for the next homegrown star that will wear the Sporting Kansas City crest and win championships at Sporting Park, Jackson County will now be that much more closely linked with Sporting KC’s search to find and develop future talent.
