Last Sunday, the Sporting Kansas City U-13 Blue team took home a fourth straight US Youth Futsal Central Regional Championship title after four straight wins in the round-robin competition. Head Coach Christian Duke, in his second year at the helm of the U-13s, claimed the back-to-back titles after winning two Regional crowns with Sporting's U-13 and U-12s a year ago.
"We really enjoyed competing at regionals this year," said Duke. "We believe it provides our athletes a great experience at a competitive level. Futsal allows for more repetitions and gives the players the ability to focus on individual abilities and synchronization in smaller numbers. It gets the best out of our players and allows them to express themselves in a positive way on both sides of the ball."
Led by Duke, Sporting’s U-13s took care of business in the group stages knocking off Sporting Argyle 4-2 before dispatching UnAtletico Jr. 14-1, Sporting Wichita Red 2011 5-2 and Panthers 11 Academy 16-1. With a perfect 4-0-0 record, 39 goals for and just six goal concessions, Sporting Blue finished atop the table and claimed the Regional title.
The U-13s split into two groups ahead of the regional tournament, Sporting Blue and Sporting Argyle. Sporting Blue went undefeated in the competition while Sporting Argyle suffered just one defeat against a non-Sporting KC Academy opponent.
- Feb. 16: W 4-1 Sporting KC Argyle
- Feb. 17: W 14-1 UnAtletico Jr
- Feb. 18: W 5-2 Sporting Wichita Red 2011
- Feb. 18: W 16-1 Panthers 11 Academy
Sporting KC U-13 Blue Roster
- Brady Cowan
- Josmain Delgado Diaz
- Bradyen Drewing
- Ignacio Gonzalez IV
- Tyler Jones
- Eli Kelcher
- Frankie Panimboza
- Aiden Pardo
- Feb. 16: L 2-4 Sporting KC Blue
- Feb. 17: L 1-6 Sporting Wichita Red 2011
- Feb. 18: W 7-1 Panthers 11 Academy
- Feb. 18: W 13-2 UnAtletico Jr
U-13 SKC Argyle Roster
- Johnnie De Warabeck
- Blake Hannagan
- Easton Jeffries
- Daniel Martinez
- Timos Miller
- Ronan Perez
- Cristian Ponce
- Luca Pore
Futsal is an important part of the Sporting Kansas City Academy’s soccer curriculum. For the younger age groups in the Academy, it presents a golden opportunity for the athletes to refine their technical skills in between Sporting Development League competitions. With the Futsal season’s conclusion, Sporting’s U-13s will resume outdoor play in Sporting Development Season, using the skills they learned in this session of Futsal to compete against top clubs from around the region.
