Kansas City Wizards Announce Tryout Dates for 2008-2009 KCW Juniors Season

Tryouts will be held June 14-15 for the U-13 team and June 16-18 for the U-15 through U-18 age groups. All tryouts will be held at the Wizards Swope Park Training Center. To register for tryouts, click here.

"We are very pleased to add two age groups to our program this year and build upon the success experienced in year one of the KCW Juniors program," Technical Director Peter Vermes said. "We have assembled a great staff of coaches and have a beautiful facility for these young soccer players to utilize. With these resources, we look forward to developing the next generation of Kansas City Wizards players."

The 2008-2009 season will be important for the KCW Juniors program as members of the U-15, U-16 and U-17 teams will be eligible to compete in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy beginning in 2009-2010. Next season, the KCW Juniors U-16 and U-18 teams will compete against the best youth clubs from around the country under U.S. Soccer’s umbrella. Beginning in 2009, both the U-16 and U-18 KCW Juniors teams will be fully funded.

"The members of our U-15, U-16 and U-17 teams will train this season with an eye toward joining the Development Academy next year," KCW Juniors DOC Jon Parry said. "U.S. Soccer has put together a great program that will help develop the elite player in this country, and we look forward to joining in 2009. Our goal is to have one of the strongest clubs in the country beginning with our first season in the Development Academy."

Six members of Kansas City’s world-class Technical Staff will focus on the KCW Juniors, including Vermes, KCW Juniors Director of Coaching Jon Parry and Paul Rideout, who served as the head coach for all three KCW Juniors teams during the 2007-2008 season. Rideout is a former English Premier League player who scored a game-winning goal for Everton in the 1995 FA Cup final.

In addition, former MLS player Daouda Kante (U-13), Kansas City native Randall Porter (U-15, U-16) and Trinidad and Tobago native Romothy Quashie (goalkeepers) will be added to the staff in 2008-2009. As an added benefit due to his vision for the future of the Kansas City Wizards First Team, Vermes will use a hands-on approach in conjunction with Jon Parry for the KCW Juniors program in talent identification and training/development strategies. This will allow the Wizards training philosophies to remain consistent throughout the organization from the First Team’s starting 11 to the members of the KCW Juniors U-13 team.

"We have put together an excellent group of soccer minds that have vast playing and coaching experience,” Parry said. “Our coaches have been through the rigors of playing highly competitive soccer and will be able to help our KCW Juniors players prepare themselves for the highest levels of competition."

Each KCW Juniors team will practice a minimum of three times per week at the Wizards Swope Park Training Center. Speed, strength, agility and conditioning will be major focuses of KCW Juniors training. Kansas City Wizards Fitness Coach Dave Tenney and Scott Moody, founder and CEO of Center for Athletic Performance (CAP), will oversee training regiments for all Juniors teams. Juniors goalkeepers will also receive goalkeeper-specific training twice per week from Quashie.

"We are proud that the technology and know-how from which our Major League Soccer players benefit will be available to our youth players as well," Vermes said. "We strive to make every aspect of our organization world class from top to bottom. This is another example of that commitment."

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