Six Juniors Appear in Reserve League

Sporting Kansas City played their first MLS Reserve League match at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Tuesday morning and six of our Juniors players got onto the field alongside academy products Jon Kempin and Kevin Ellis and the rest of the Sporting KC squad. Congrats to Eric DeJulio, Paul Oliver, Derek Schrick, Jacole Turner, Nate Opperman and Seo-In Kim for the call-ups!

Read the full recap on SportingKC.com and check out the slideshow below for dozens of photos of the Juniors in action, courtesy of Taylor Allan.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

National Signing Day

Will Witherspoon signing for Virginia Tech

February 2nd marked the official National Signing Day, when high school seniors across the country could send in their Letters of Intent for the first time to commit to college programs to continue their playing careers. Congratulations go to nine players from the Sporting Kansas City U18's who were announced amongst the signing classes for a range of schools across the nation.

• Marques Mayoras is set to travel north and join an Ohio State soccer team that has brought Sporting KC a number of players in the past few seasons with recent draft pick Konrad Warzycha, as well as current starter Roger Espinoza.
• Konner Knoll and Jordan Rideout will remain teammates as they are each headed to nearby University of Missouri - Kansas City. In 2010, UMKC finished as the No. 1 team in the Summit League. Both Knoll and Rideout were given the chance to train with the Sporting KC senior squad last fall.
• Paul Oliver and Tom Adams will join Knoll and Rideout in the Summit League, but with opponent Oral Roberts.
• Forward Will Witherspoon (pictured above) is going out east to the ACC to join Virginia Tech. Witherspoon was another player who played in every game last season for the Juniors.
• Lee's Summit North High School teammates Shane Bowlen and Michael Oakley will aim to grab spots on the back line at William Jewell. The Cardinals made it to the NAIA Final Four last season.
• Asher Herbet will sign his LOI to Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus) on Thursday at Shawnee Mission South H.S.

Rideout and Oliver Sign Letters

Two more Sporting Kansas City Juniors made their college plans official on Monday afternoon. At Blue Valley North High School, Jordan Rideout and Paul Oliver signed their letters of intent to the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Oral Roberts, respectively.

While Oliver is headed out of town, the two could still end up playing on the same field again, but as opponents, since the two schools are in the same league. Oral Roberts seemed like a perfect fit for Oliver after he said, “I wanted to play for a D1, Christian school that was a few hours away.”

As for Rideout, with UMKC being nearby, he’s already had a chance to watch the team numerous times. Not to mention, Rideout has worked with the UMKC Coach before (Rick Benben) and can’t wait to join him.

Playing for the Junior club in the high school off-season is one of the main reasons each of them believe they got a chance to play for a Division 1 team. Rideout said keeping in shape and fitness was a big part, but also remarked, "I wouldn't have received any D1 looks if it wasn't for Sporting Kansas City."

The Juniors are currently training and weight lifting for the upcoming season. The Fitness Coach for the Senior club, Mateus Manoel, is helping out and has provided a workout regime that all Junior teams will do.

Catch Up-Some Old, Some New

I am sure I am forgetting plenty of articles about our Juniors but here is some of them from the past few months. There was a good profile on Konner Knoll here. Cameron Wallace of the U16s was given the award as "Star of the Day" here.

The U15s coached by Edmond Rugova won their division while playing in the Premier Heartland league by defeating KCFC Dragons 1-0. The complete table can be found here.

Jon Kempin and three other members of the Senior Squad visited Blue Valley North HS to play a little Soccer Volleyball. Since we only had four players, Kempin grabbed two of his U18s teamates: Jordy Rideout and Paul Oliver to make a full 6 man team. Check out the video from the event.