Sporting Kansas City and Children’s Mercy will showcase their Red Card anti-bullying program with five assemblies at local elementary and middle schools in the coming weeks.
Coinciding with National Bullying Prevention Month in October, each assembly will feature participation from a Sporting KC player, a Children’s Mercy specialist, Sporting KC commentator Nate Bukaty and club mascot Blue. The first event will take place Monday as Sporting defender Graham Smith visits Tonganoxie Middle School in Tonganoxie, Kansas.
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.
Red Card anti-bullying Assemblies hosted by Sporting and Children’s Mercy
- Monday, Sept. 30 at Tonganoxie Middle School
- Friday, Oct. 4 at Eisenhower Middle School
- Friday, Oct. 11 at Oak Hill Elementary School
- Monday, Oct. 21 at Gloria Willis Middle School
- Tuesday, Oct. 22 at Argentine Middle School
Inspiring individuals to “call it when you see it,” the Red Card initiative 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.
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. A key component of the initiative is helping the community understand what bullying is, how to identify it and what to do about it.
Sporting’s support of the Red Card campaign has been further manifested through social media promotion, video segments on match broadcasts, integrations at youth soccer clinics and in-stadium activations at Children’s Mercy Park, including backpack tag and pop socket giveaways, informative player trading cards and tip cards with anti-bullying instructions. For more information and to utilize an array of online resources, visit RedCardKC.com.
