Sporting Club, U.S. Soccer and Children’s Mercy broke ground Sunday on the National Training and Coaching Development Center in Kansas City, Kansas. The NTCDC will provide a world-class environment to develop players, coaches and referees of all ages.
“We would like to thank the State of Kansas, the Unified Government, U.S. Soccer and Children’s Mercy for all of their strong efforts in making this a truly transformational project for soccer in this region,” Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman said. “The National Training and Coaching Development Center is an extremely important asset in growing our soccer program and attaining our goal of winning World Cups. This also solidifies our position of Kansas City being the soccer capital of America.”
Set to open in November 2017 at the southeast corner of Parallel Parkway and 98th Street in Wyandotte County, the NTCDC is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a professional sports team, a national sports federation and a first-class sports medicine provider. The site will be home to the U.S. Soccer National Coaching Education Center – providing a permanent, national home for the education of coaches and referees — and the Children’s Mercy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center, which will offer a full range of sports medicine services, resources and programming for youth athletes in all sports.
The NTCDC will accommodate clubs and national teams at the youth and senior levels from around the world, also serving as the new state-of-the-art training home for the Sporting Kansas City first team.
“Sporting Kansas City and Children’s Mercy share a passion and commitment to improving the health of our region’s youth,” said Randall O’Donnell, PhD, President and CEO of Children’s Mercy. “We are proud that the National Training and Coaching Development Center will house the Children’s Mercy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center. The state-of-the-art facility will serve Sporting KC Academy players as well as offering pediatric-specific sports medicine services, resources and programming for youth and adolescents in all sports, not just soccer. We’re thrilled this partnership will extend our reach to ensure that education, training and access to pediatric-trained sports medicine specialists are available to young people, parents and coaches.”
“Player and coaching development is one of U.S. Soccer’s key strategic initiatives, and the creation of the National Training and Coaching Development Center will provide us with a world-class facility to allow us to improve our programming and continue to move the sport forward,” U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn said. “We’re excited to break ground on this project today and are looking forward to a great soccer city like Kansas City serving as the location of our coaching education programming for many years to come.”
The NTCDC is planned to accommodate seven full-size soccer fields. It will have five fields upon its opening, including a seven-acre natural grass Super Pitch which consists of three full-size fields and two lighted, synthetic turf fields. In addition, the 80,000-square-foot NTCDC building will feature the following cutting-edge components:
- The Children’s Mercy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center, including six exam rooms and a radiology center
- The U.S. Soccer National Coaching Education Center, including two locker rooms, three coaching classrooms, eight breakout rooms and the world’s first fully wired coaching pavilion
- Professional training facilities, including the new Sporting Kansas City player and coach locker rooms, two national team locker rooms, a video analysis suite, a conference room, an auditorium and a cafeteria
- A 12,500-square-foot Sports Performance Gymnasium
- A 2,100-square-foot Human Analysis Lab
- A 1,700-square-foot Hydrotherapy Suite
- A 1,500-square-foot Sports Performance Lab
- An 800-square-foot Hydrotherapy Suite
The Wyandotte Youth Soccer Complex, which comprises the youth component of the NTCDC, broke ground in February east of Schlitterbahn Water Park between Parallel Parkway and State Avenue. Set to open in March 2017, the complex will host the nation’s premier youth soccer tournaments upon its completion. The WYSC will have 12 fields – four fully lit on synthetic turf, four on sports turf and four on native soil.
The NTCDC is the latest flagship venture in a long-term partnership between Sporting Club and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County. World-renown Children’s Mercy Park opened in 2011 and has since hosted several marquee soccer matches at club and international levels. Six Wyandotte County futsal court locations have opened since 2013 in an initiative targeted to local youth, with another four expected to open by the end of this year.
About Sporting Kansas City
Sporting KC is owned by a group of local Kansas City business and community leaders comprised of Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig, Pat Curran, Greg Maday and Robb Heineman. The club prides itself on its commitment and vision to provide high-performance entertainment and consumer experiences. Sporting Club purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group in 2006, and under its direction has opened a world-class training center at Swope Park and state-of-the-art Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, while investing in the Sporting KC Academy for developing local youth into homegrown talent. Sporting KC was crowned MLS Cup champions in 2013, claiming a second league title in the team's 20-year history as a charter member of Major League Soccer, and is also a three-time winner of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2004, 2012, 2015).
About U.S. Soccer:
Founded in 1913, U.S. Soccer is the non-for-profit, governing body of soccer in the United States and has helped chart the course for the game for more than 100 years. During this time, the Federation’s mission statement has been clear and simple: to make soccer, in all its forms, a pre-eminent sport in the United States and to continue the development of soccer at all recreational and competitive levels. To that end, the sport’s development and growth in the United States during the past 25 years has been nothing short of remarkable as U.S. Soccer’s National Teams have continually succeeded on the world stage and, with the assistance of its members, the fan support and participation in the game continues to reach new heights. For more information, visitussoccer.com.
About Children’s Mercy
Children’s Mercy, located in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the nation’s top pediatric medical centers. The 354-bed, not-for-profit hospital, provides care for children from birth through the age of 21, and is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of “America's Best Children's Hospitals.” For the third time in a row, Children’s Mercy has achieved Magnet nursing designation, awarded to fewer than seven percent of all hospitals nationally, for excellence in quality care. Its faculty of more than 700 pediatric subspecialists and researchers across more than 40 subspecialties are actively involved in clinical care, pediatric research, and educating the next generation of pediatric subspecialists. For more than a century, Children’s Mercy has provided the highest level of medical care to every child who passes through its doors, made possible through generous community support. For more information about Children’s Mercy and its research, visit childrensmercy.org. For breaking news and videos, follow on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
