Juniors travel to Ohio

This weekend all Junior teams will be headed to Columbus, OH to play against other MLS academy clubs. All squads will face Chicago, Toronto and Columbus Juniors. The U16s will be preparing for the SUM Cup as they will see some of the same teams for the tournament in July.

Jon Parry, the Director of Coaching for the Juniors and U16 coach, believes the team is close to ready for the long haul of the season and the Cup. "We're currently in phase two of the preseason and the eighth week of fitness training," Perry added. "And although the SUM Cup is important, our main focus is the season (U.S. Soccer Development Academy)."

Unfortunately for the Juniors, the age group in the SUM Cup is U17, and SKC currently has a U16 and U18 squad. "It's a certain group which makes it tough to balance ages, and the main tournament takes place in July which is usually when the kids are on a break. It's frustrating," Parry said.

While it is frustrating, the Juniors will hope to improve on last year's performance.

As for the rest of the age groups, the overall goal will be to have the SUM Cup including a wider range for the tournament instead of just one age group. Nevertheless, the U13s, U15s and U18s will get a chance to play friendlies against top competition this weekend.