Congratulations to Sporting Southern Indiana and Heartland Soccer Association, who were named Sporting Club Network Academy Affiliate of the Year and Sporting Club Network Member of the Year, respectively. Guests from both clubs will attend Sporting Kansas City’s annual team awards ceremony, Pitch Black, on Saturday at Sporting Park.
Since day one of their rebrand
as an Academy Affiliate, Sporting Southern Indiana has fully embraced the Academy Affiliate program and its inclusion in the Sporting Club Network. Originally named Southwestern Indiana Soccer Association, SWISA had the unique opportunity of being equidistant to Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew and Sporting KC, and through various conversations decided that affiliating with SKC would best set them up for long-term success. Once this group made the commitment to become Sporting Southern Indiana, they never looked back, consistently being one of the most involved and active affiliates while encouraging immediate participation from all of their members. To say SSI hit the ground running would be an understatement – they’ve been in a non-stop sprint to ensure the biggest impact possible with this affiliation, even going as far to have the mayor of Evansville, Indiana present for the rebrand unveil back in March. The Sporting Club Network excitedly looks forward to growing the partnership with Sporting Southern Indiana stronger by the day and congratulates the organization again on being named the 2015 Academy Affiliate Club of the Year.
Sporting Club Network Member of the Year, Heartland Soccer Association, is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and operates the largest tournaments in the Midwest. Recognized as one of the largest and most competitive youth soccer leagues in the United States, Heartland Soccer Association has been a network member since 2011. This year in league and tournaments, Heartland Soccer Association represents more than 3,600 teams, 60,000 youth players, 4,000 coaches and 1,600 referees. This year, record registration numbers were hit for their leagues and tournaments. Always looking for new ways to grow the game and foster the development of youth players throughout the Kansas City area, Heartland Soccer Association recently announced the acquisition of a new futsal league and also started a Referee Appreciation Night at Sporting Park which supports one of their newest initiatives, the
Heartland Referee Development Academy
.
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