Piatczyc Selected for Showcase

Sporting Kansas City Junior Joey Piatczyc was selected as one of 78 developmental players to compete in the 2011 Winter Showcase's Academy Select Teams in Sarasota, Fla. The 78 players will be divided into four select teams by U.S. Soccer technical staff. The showcase will consist of two games for each team to be played at the Premier Sports Complex on December 3, 2011.

Earlier this year, Piatczyc made his debut for Sporting Kansas City in a Reserve League victory over Colorado Rapids. Piatczyc,who was born in 1996, is the youngest player to enter a Reserve match for Sporting Kansas City this season.

Piatczyc & Stewart see reserve action; U14s take Denver Cup

Through five matches of the 2011 MLS Reserve League, a total of seven members of the Sporting KC Juniors program had seen playing time. Today, in the sixth match of the league schedule against the Colorado Rapids, two more got their chance.

Joey Piatczyc and Clay Stewart entered in the 83rd and 89th minutes respectively in Sporting Kansas City's 1-0 win over Colorado this morning.

Piatczyc (born in 1996) is the youngest player to feature for the reserves this season, most recently completing the season with Sporting's U15 side. Piatczyc's selection comes after impressing with the group that Jon Parry brought to the U17 Generation adidas Cup.
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In other Juniors news, Dustin Ottesen's U14 side were named champions of the 2011 Denver Cup this past weekend. The 14s topped bracket A, scoring 12 goals in four matches, finishing ahead of the likes of Real Colorado and Colorado Rush en route to their first title of the new season.

U17s get past Seattle on PKs

After a 2-2 draw in regulation on goals from Nate Opperman and Clay Stewart, the Sporting Kansas City juniors defeated Seattle in a PK shootout last night at the U17 Generation adidas Cup in Frisco, TX! Jojo Piatczyc converted in the 7th round, which followed 2 saves by GK Evan Wright!

Today, the guys have a day off to rest for tomorrow's final group stage match against the Philadelphia Union. The game will begin at 8:15pm at Pizza Hut Park. Be sure to follow along on Twitter via @SKCJuniors for updates throughout the U17 Generation adidas Cup!

Here's video (though a bit far away) from last night's shootout:

Familiar Face on Live to Dance

Joey "JoJo" Piatczyc watches a lot of soccer, like many of his Sporting Kansas City U16 Juniors teammates. But on Wednesday night, all tv's in the Piatczyc household will be tuned to CBS for the finals of Paula Abdul's Live to Dance as JoJo's brother Blake competes with Dance Town Chaos for the $500,000 grand prize. Blake can be seen in this YouTube clip beginning at the 1:20 mark as part of the semifinal routine that aired last Wednesday and earned the group a spot in tomorrow night's finals.

17-year-old Blake Piatczyc is shown in back row, second from left

Blake, a junior at Lee's Summit West High School, was recently featured in the Lee's Summit Journal, and the Miami, Florida-based group was covered in the Miami Herald.

Meanwhile, JoJo is making a name for himself within the Juniors academy. Currently a freshman at Lee's Summit High School, he played in each of the U16 Juniors first four games in the 2010-11 U.S. Soccer Development Academy, including a start in the team's 2-0 win over the Dallas Texans.

JoJo encourages everyone to vote for Dance Town Chaos tomorrow night as the show runs in primetime on national television, 7pm - 8pm CT on CBS. The winner will be announced on the season finale, which is scheduled to air on Wednesday, February 9th.

A couple of "friendlies" and a BIG Saturday

Last night our U14s & U16s played two ODP teams from Mantioba Canada. Those of you are geographically challenged like myself, Manitoba is north of Minnesota and N.Dakota. Our U14s kicked off at 5pm and played their U15s who were a bit bigger and stronger. In the 2nd half Jojo Piatczyc scored off a free kick. The competitive game ended with a win 1-0.

The U16s took the field after and played their U16s which was another great team. Coach Parry made sure every player played at least one half and was very complimentary of the boys. "Everything is starting click and when it does, its a great feeling, Coach Parry told us. We must note 20mins into the game Manitoba had a PK and Jon Kempin came up HUGE and stopped it...20mins into the second half we had a corner kick. As the ball got cleared Romeo Munoz was first to the ball, took a touch and hit an unbelievable BOMB at 35yds out. The final was also 1-0.

Our U16 & U18 teams will be in action tomorrow against Real Colorado. The game will be at Swope Training Facility with the U16s playing at 9am and the U18s at 11am.

Come Support!