March 14, 2011. A few of us made it up to the Sporting KC Players meet and greet at Johnny’s. I am not sure if the boys had more fun meeting and hanging with the players or the players had more fun hanging with the boys. A terrific evening that the boys will not soon forget.

On 3, 05, 11, Coach John Moore was awarded the 2011 MYSA Competitive Coach of the Year in Columbia. It was gratifying to see the enormous support shown by the many Sedalia Soccer 305 Spin players and families that attended. The awards presentation was followed by lunch at the Heidelberg in Columbia. Thanks all for your support and making this possible.

2011 MYSA Competitive Coach of the Year

Acceptance Speech by Coach Moore

When I was nominated for this honor, I was feeling truly blessed in being recognized for my love of the beautiful game. But actually being awarded this honor was unexpected and I was surprised and humbled by it.

While I am not 100% sure why I was selected, I hope it is in part an affirmation that in youth sports, it is possible to develop a program where the emphasis is on the players and the parents in building a family that enjoys together many of the activities that can be associated with sport. A program where training, watch parties, going to professional games, pickup games, being involved in your community are more important than winning games and playing in tournaments. Games in youth sports should just be a barometer to help measure where individuals and the team is at, based on the goals of their training. Youth sports should not be about anything to win, youth sports should be about providing life building experiences that help our youth have an enjoyable and memorable transition to becoming adults. Kids are individuals just wanting to have fun and be challenged. Scores of games are long forgotten. But they will never forget a New Year’s Eve pickup soccer game starting in 2010 and ending in 2011.

I would like to thank my wife, Lori, who is such an important part of my life and this program and who puts up with the many hours that it takes, and supports me regardless how crazy or costly my latest idea to provide a better training environment or opportunity for our players may be.  And thanks to these amazing boys and their wonderful families. In 40+ years of being involved in soccer at all levels, I have never experienced such a dedicated and loving group. This award is truly about all of you.

There are so many to thank from over the years. My parents for the opportunities to play youth sports and drive me all over the state. To the late Paul Klover, who brought soccer to Sedalia in 1963 and developed youth soccer for all the right reasons and was a coach and mentor to me. Thanks to the amazing Warren Brown of Raytown Soccer Club where we call home in the KC Metroleague. Sam Pierron of Sporting KC who has provided so many opportunities to me, the boys and their families to experience professional soccer at its highest level. To muy amigo, H.A. Perez who since coming to Sedalia over 16 years ago, has given endlessly his support to soccer in Sedalia and especially to our boys. We always celebrate at El Tapatio and it is HA’s welcoming smile and generosity that makes it special.

And finally, I would not be standing here without the huge influence of State Coach Denny Vaninger. Denny is truly the crown jewel of youth soccer. He has influenced and changed the lives of 100’s of coaches and thousands of youth. I have been fortunate to be a part of his training sessions, youth clinics, F license clinics, the D clinic, and his much loved school programs. We were at a Sedalia school together on September 11, 2001 and he has sat through long lunches with me listening to my moaning and groaning about select team antics and all the ugly stuff in youth soccer. Denny, thank you so much for everything you have taught me and shared with me and the influence you have on the beautiful game.

Sedalia Soccer 305 Spin U10 and U11 boys got together on Saturday to purchase grocery items for Open Door in Sedalia as part of the PKSA indoor food drive. We met at 305 Spin, got in some indoor soccer and then headed to Aldi’s. At Aldi’s, we divided into 4 teams of 2, each got a cart and filled it with groceries. Everyone did a great job. We then checked out with an endless stream of food, loaded up the van and headed back to 305 indoor. Lori got pizza’s and the boys ate and played some more. We then headed out to the Exhibition Center and loaded in our goodies. Everyone had fun and it was a great experience. Well done, boys!

December 2, is a really BIG day in soccer. FIFA will announce the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. This is the first time FIFA has announced two World Cups at one time. The finalists countries all made their presentations today in Zurich and the FIFA EXO committee will vote in the am and announce their decision to the world.

The announcement coverage will start around 8:30 am and the announcement should be around 9:00am central time.

You can watch the presentations on FIFA: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/live/index.html

The final announcement will be on Fox Soccer channel as well as the FIFA site and most sports news channels. Even ESPN, surely.

The 2018 group is:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/2018/index.html
England
Spain/Portugal
Russia
Netherlands/Belgium

The 2022 group is:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/2022/index.html  Â
Australia
Qatar
Japan
USA
Korea Republic 

Should be very, very exciting.

The Sedalia Soccer 305 Spin 2nd annual swim party was a huge success. Thank you to Bobby Hayden for organizing a fabulous pre-season team event for all the U10 and U11 boys and parents. Everyone had a great time. Thanks to Chris Wallen, our Grillmaster and everyone else that contributed to this event that the boys will probably never forget. It was a tremendous pre-season team building event and loads of fun.

We met at Skyline school at 11:30 to load the  bus. The temperatures were cooler than they had been and everyone was excited – boys and parents. We filled the storage bins full and at just past 12 noon, rolled out. The boys all sat towards the front and the parents in the back. The bus had direct-tv and the U20 Mexico v South Korea game was on. We arrived at Arrowhead at 1:30 and entered in Gate 1. We were directed into the parking lot and then  back out again to wait until 2:00. It didn’t take long for the boys to grab  the  ball and setup a quick game of parking lot kick-a-bout. At 2:00 it was game on and we parked  the bus and dragged out our massive tailgate.

Chris and Jim M got the monster grill fired up and started on the brisket, hot dogs and burgers. HA got us going with ceviche appetizers and everyone was happy. Jim S got the 305 top and the flags up and we were looking good. Mark had brought a cooler full of dry ice and ice cream treats. The kids were loving it. I can’t believe how fast the time flew by between 2 and 4. We headed towards the “new Arrowhead” at 4:30 after packin up, the boys in their Wizards face paint and in good voice.

The crowd was over 50,000 (52,424 officially) and lots of red shirts. The boys were singing “Wizards til I die” to any red shirt that walked by. We had great seats in 110 with the cauldron crew behind the goal. The atmosphere was electric and stepped up a notch with the flyover (One england paper said the T-38 Jets came from “Orangeburg, Missouri”. http://tinyurl.com/26z3r6k .

The Wizards started strong and were playing with  the heart we had been looking for the last few home games. The Cauldron was in good voice and the sun came out and started baking the crowd. Davey Arnaud scored in the 11th minute from an excellent pass from Kai Kamara putting the Wizards up 1 to 0 on the ManU giants. Just being up 1 to 0 on ManU felt great. The half was excellent and in the 40th, Berbatov got through the Wizards defense and Jimmy Conrad had to make a from behind tackle to try to stop him. The ref pointed to the spot and sent Jimmy to the locker room early with a red (which most of the English press called ‘harsh”. The penalty by Berbatov drew ManU level. But the Wizards came right back and Kai Kamara (what a game from Kai) smashed a header from Ryan Smith’s corner. ManU argued it didn’t go over – but it was a goal and the Wizards went in at half leading 2 to 1.

The 2nd half was mostly ManU with KCW playing with only 10. Sunil Chhetri got in the game with about 20 minutes to go and the crowd really responded. The Wizards were able to hang on and win 2 – 1!!! The Cauldron and the Wizards fans were singing loud with the historic win. The boys were having a blast and celebrating the  victory.

Check out these links – Official Press Releas - http://tinyurl.com/2d9j97n
Quote Sheet – http://tinyurl.com/278orlp
The Sun – http://tinyurl.com/2eelp7v
Giggs interview on ManU site – http://tinyurl.com/2eord5t

Thanks everyone for putting together such a terrific road trip. It was one of the great experiences that I am sure the boys will never forget.

We arrived at the state of the art KC Wizards Swope Park Training Facility to attend a private training session with Manchester United. There had been some rain on the drive in but we weren’t expecting rain. ManU had landed at KC International around noon and had a press conference at 3:00. They were expected to arrive for training around 5. National weather service issued a Severe weather warning around 4 and when the lightning moved in, we all moved towards the shelter. Then it rained, and rained and rained and rained. We were soaked. But it did clear off. And our reward was an autograph signing with the entire Manchester United Squad.

Everyone queued up and they worked us through the line. As we entered the room they were trying to speed things up and push us through. A hand touched my shoulder and a strong Scottish accent provided me with further instructions. It was Sir Alex Ferguson. I surprisingly acknowledged Sir Alex and welcomed him to Kansas City. At the same time, Berbatov was signing Maelin’s hat and Edwin Van der Sar was signing Riley’s goalie gloves. Our ManU kit moved through line picking up all their signatures. I was able to stop and greet Ryan Giggs and he signed his card for me. Pretty sweet.

We headed outside and the weather had cleared off. After the autograph session they would go ahead and do training, so we headed out to the training pitch to get a good spot. It was exciting to see all thes players in person, but personally greeting Sir Alex was the most exciting moment. Riley and I had attended a Chelsea practice session a few years ago in Bridgeview and had the good fortune to meet Jose Mourinho. Not bad, a soccer coach from Sedalia having the pleasure of meeting both Jose Mourinho AND Sir Alex Ferguson including watching both run their squads through training. Hopefully something will rub off.

We are working with the Leary’s to provide volunteer Ballboys for the home Smith Cotton boys soccer games. Here is the schedule. Note on the opener – 9/10 – we will have practice earlier that evening as normally scheduled since the Raytown tourney is that weekend. Also note – as of now, only the U10 boys are set to play that weekend. We will be able to pull some players from the U9 squad to have enough players.

Thurs 9/10 Home Opener – we are doing the varsity game only starts appx. 6:45
Tues 9/15 vs. Helias
Thurs 9/17 vs St. Pius
Mon 9/21 vs. Camdenton
Wed 9/23 vs. O’Hara
10/2-10/3 SC Invitational Tournament
Mon 10/19 vs. Clinton
Tues 10/27 vs Warrensburg