On Sunday, the Sporting Club Network, presented by Price Chopper, hosted its fifth annual Sporting Club Network Reception in the Boulevard Members Club at Children’s Mercy Park. Directors, coaches and guests from our 48 SCN Member Organizations and 15 Academy Affiliates attended the event. The annual reception is just one of the many events the SCN puts on each year in hopes of establishing a more personal relationship between its members, their respective communities and Sporting Kansas City. In addition to the reception, attendees of the event received complimentary tickets to the match that day against Seattle Sounders FC at Children’s Mercy Park.
To begin the event, attendees were given the chance to meet members and directors from other organizations and affiliates as they enjoyed a catered breakfast. Since launching in 2011, the Sporting Club Network has seen incredible growth and development, having now expanded to consist of over 60 Academy Affiliates and members located in cities across the Midwest — including Minneapolis, Nashville, and, of course, Kansas City. That being said, it was great to see our members taking advantage of this true networking opportunity.
Once everyone had settled in, Betsy Maxfield, Vice President of Soccer Projects for Sporting Kansas City, approached the podium to welcome all of the reception’s guests. In her opening comments, she summarized the impressive growth the Network has experienced in the past year while also highlighting a few of the SCN’s most successful signature events along the way and new and exciting expansions coming in the near future. For example, this past year, we were able to add Sporting Springfield as an Academy Affiliate while Omaha FC rebranded to Sporting Omaha FC. Next, Maxfield gave an in-depth explanation of the progress and future uses for the new National Training and Coaching Development Center, which broke ground a few weeks ago in Kansas City, Kansas.
During Maxfield’s brief remarks, a quick ‘year in review’ video was shown. Check out the 2015-2016 SCN Recap video below.
Next, Maxfield invited the event’s guest speaker, Brian Bliss, to the stage. Bliss has a very extensive soccer background that involves many years with Sporting KC as well as Kansas City soccer in general. Bliss, having played for Columbus in the inaugural season of MLS, knows how the league has transformed throughout the years and was able to give very detailed insight of where the league is headed in the future. Bliss played for the Wizards before becoming the State Director of Coaching of Kansas Youth Soccer. Bliss then helped coach Kansas City to many titles during seven seasons as assistant coach. He then spent a few years away from Kansas City, serving as a Technical Director for Columbus Crew SC as well as Interim Head Coach in 2013. He became Sporting KC's Director of Player Personnel in January. We were very grateful to have Brain come out and speak to our members.
The last item on the reception’s agenda was to recognize this year’s 2016 Kevin Gray Award recipients. One of the five winners was able to make it to the event, as well as one family who attended on behalf of their son, the Male Youth Player of the Year. Later that evening, the winners walked onto the field at halftime in order to be acknowledged for their notable soccer success. At the reception, after each honoree was spotlighted with a short reading of his or her soccer accomplishments, the guests embarked on an optional stadium tour of Children’s Mercy Park. Following the tour, reception attendees then made their way to their seats to enjoy a shutout performance in a 3-0 win over Seattle.
Thank you to all of our valued Members and Affiliates for an amazing year and annual reception! Check out the complete photo album from the event by clicking here. And don’t forget to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for continual updates on all things Sporting Club Network.
