Sporting Kansas City and Children’s Mercy recently hosted 14 RED CARD anti-bullying assemblies across the Kansas City metro as the two organizations reinforced their campaign against bullying in the local community.
The assemblies took place on both sides of the state line and featured participation from 11 different members of the Sporting KC first team and Sporting KC II along with a Children’s Mercy behavioral health specialist, club mascot Blue and a Sporting emcee.
Through the RED CARD assemblies, Sporting and Children’s Mercy were able to reach more than 6,000 students at the 14 schools visited and a total of 23,000 students both in-person and virtually.
RED CARD anti-bullying assemblies hosted by Sporting KC and Children’s Mercy
- Sept. 19 at Oak Grove Elementary School (Kansas City, KS)
- Sept. 20 at Spring Branch Elementary School (Independence, MO)
- Sept. 21 at Norfleet Elementary School (Raytown, MO)
- Sept. 25 at Grain Valley South Middle School (Grain Valley, MO)
- Oct. 2 at Woodland Spring Middle School (Olathe, KS)
- Oct. 3 at Junction Elementary School (Kansas City, KS)
- Oct. 3 at Richard Warren Middle School (Leavenworth, KS)
- Oct. 4 at West Park Elementary School (Kansas City, KS)
- Oct. 9 at Forest Spring Middle School (Spring Hill, KS)
- Oct. 10 at St. Thomas More Academy (Kansas City, MO)
- Oct. 11 at Prairie Point Elementary (Kansas City, MO)
- Oct. 12 at Spring Hill Middle School (Spring Hill, KS)
- Oct. 16 at Prairie Star Middle School (Leawood, KS)
- Oct. 17 at Arrowhead Middle School (Kansas City, KS)
Sporting hosted the club’s annual RED CARD Promo Night on Oct. 21 during the club’s Decision Day victory over Minnesota United at Children’s Mercy Park. Over 100 Children’s Mercy staff, school teachers and administrators who supported the RED CARD campaign throughout the year were joined by their families in attendance at the match.
Pregame, the club hosted a tailgate for volunteers and their families and displayed a RED CARD banner on the field among other activations. Half of the 22 Walk of Champions children that entered the field with the players were local students nominated by their school teachers and staff for exemplifying the kindness taught in the RED CARD assemblies.
Sporting and Children’s Mercy launched the RED CARD initiative in 2018, uniting local communities to take a stance against one of the most significant social issues impacting children and teens nationwide. The innovative campaign is designed to build bullying awareness and empower youth and adults so they can help prevent and intervene in bullying.
Calling on individuals to “call it when you see it,” the RED CARD campaign uses soccer’s red card as a figurative visual tool to highlight instances of bullying in schools and other public settings while also encouraging positive behavior.
The Red Card initiative tackles a prevalent issue in society, as 24.8 percent of children in the Kansas City area reported being bullied, while 11.7 percent reported being cyberbullied. In addition, 70 percent of school staff have witnessed bullying and 62 percent have seen bullying two or more times in the last month, while 41 percent witness bullying once a week or more.
Through school assemblies and community-wide messaging, the Red Card program intends to reach children, parents and teachers who have daily opportunities to create supportive environments and stop bullying in its tracks. For more information and to utilize a host of online resources, visit RedCardKC.com.
