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What is the Kansas City Legends Soccer Club?
The Kansas City Legends Soccer Club is the oldest and most prestigious soccer club in the Kansas City metro area. For over 25 years we have had an unrivaled track record of developing brave, creative leaders both on and off the field. In addition to phenomenal team success Legend has also produced over 40 professional and 400 collegiate players through a unique and empowering curriculum that focuses on individual development . The club offers opportunities for all players between the ages of U7-U19. We have multiple teams in each age group to guarantee that your son or daughter is placed in the most developmentally appropriate position possible.
Why do the Legends players get such success with College Scholarships?
Showcasing for College is where the tremendous individual skills our players have previously developed really become essential because extremely difficult combination skills can only be performed by players with great dribbling skills and ball striking ability. Thus the absolutely fantastic quick release skill and dribbling ability we develop in our players allows us to develop an incredible team player who is very attractive to the college coach. Other programs that didn't first spend the necessary time on developing a fantastic individual player cannot hope to compete for college scholarships in the way that our players can. At age 17 our players play faster, have greater confidence, look better on the ball, can score goals, beat players, defend well in 1 v 1 match ups and combine in and around the opponent's penalty area to create goal scoring opportunities. When a player can do all this everything else is easy.
Through the years we first work the more complex individual skills. Then we work the more complex individual tactical equations involved in the 1 v 1 situation and eventually the more complex tactical situations involved in the 2 v 2. Throughout the whole process we gradually operant condition the appropriate game responses by mandating certain responses i.e. early shot, pass or fake. We will never work with a ball ratio of greater than 2 v 2 because we are able to create a more complex tactical challenge than any ever encountered in the 11 v 11 game by practicing two teams together and forcing the players to utilize maximum cognition, perception, assimilation and task selection abilities under pressure at every practice. The practice expectations we have of our players exceed anything they will face in the game situation by a country mile. Therefore, after doing this for a few years the "real game" is a technical, tactical, physiological and psychological breeze.
Furthermore the players love it. They spend their time playing an exciting version of the game in a crowd where theirs and their opponent's goals are only twenty yards apart. Every second they are optimally challenged to the maximum of their ability.
The end result is a player who loves the game, has great individual and team abilities in the clutch defensively and offensively and, therefore, the ability to lead the team to victory.
College coaches love this type of player because they make the plays that win games.
How can I join a team?
The majority of our teams are formed through a player evaluation process that occurs in early June. We do not make cuts and work hard to guarantee every player in attendance a spot in the Legends Club. Opportunities do exist year round to become a member of our club. To find out how contact [email protected] for info.
What are the fees and costs for the premier program?
How long is the season?
The Legends club prides itself on being the one true year-round club in the Kansas City area.
Teams generally start practicing in mid-June, directly following placement onto a team. We will also be running our Skills Academy on a year-round basis.
Where will the team practice? How many practices will we have per week?
Do you hold tryouts?
Yes and No. We hold tryouts in the KSYSA/MYSA open period each year but accept all players that tryout and place them on the appropriate level of team.
Do you make cuts?
No. We will not cut any player from the club. We see our responsibility as developing players not recruiting better players from other clubs to replace the players we have developed. Our opinion is that cutting and replacing is a cynical short cut to winning games. We realign our teams much in the same way as school classes are realigned each year to make sure that each playing has a positive developmental experience and gets “situational reinforcement” in games and practice.
How do you divide up playing time?
We believe in equal playing time for all players who consistently attend practice. We do not play a bench. We believe that keeping our stronger players on the field at the expense of playing time for our weaker players is unfair and ends up de-motivating the weaker players and teaching the stronger players that it is OK to be unfair as long as the team wins. The only justification for unequal playing time is the statistical win and we believe that this is a cynical ego driven motive that has no place in youth sports where development should be the paramount consideration
How do you train positional play?
We train utility players who are able to play numerous positions because their ability with the ball and situational versatility gives them a breadth and depth of talents and skills applicable to a wide variety of situations. We position players much later than other youth clubs because our focus is on maximizing the abilities of each individual not winning games.
What is the Legends Skills Academy?
What will my child get from the Legends Academy that he won't get with another program?
- Incredible Dribbling and Finishing Skills
- Positive Mental Attitude – A huge part of the program success has been gained by conditioning the players to see the upside of circumstances and make the next thing in the game of life a positive and productive event. Regular motivational e-mails and motivational coaching emphasis are an integral part of the curriculum.
- Self Confidence – From mastering the most difficult skills and playing for the most famous club in KC
- Elite Teamwork – From playing the worlds most popular sport at the highest level and having more tactical options than other players
- Leadership – From learning how to master the ball and from taking the responsibility to make the big plays
- Power – KC Legends Soccer develops total body power as a result of dynamic soccer actions such as shooting, faking and exploding, short sprints and tackling
- Anaerobic Capacity – A better anaerobic threshold is developed because the practices are broken into 3 or 4 minute competitive segments that improve the players’ exhaustion, (lactic acid), threshold considerably
- Coordination– No other sport expects players to move the ball with their feet at speed and only the KC Legends program develops the most difficult soccer skills under pressure
- Agility – The tremendous emphasis on the most difficult dribbling fakes and shooting skills develops a supreme level of agility
- Endurance – Each practice is filled with activity that develops the cardio-vascular system to an extensive degree
- Intelligence – KC Legends players are asked to make difficult decisions with the complication of limited space and time, thereby fostering soccer intelligence
- Injury avoidance – Soccer is one of the safest team sports and the KC Legends approach builds a greater level of agility and coordination which develops superior ability to avoid potentially injurious situations
- Role Models – Older KC Legends teams will provide numerous examples of the skillful intelligent approach to soccer and a classy, integrity based, philosophy applied to competitive athletics
- Individual Opportunity – The KC Legends has placed vastly more players at the College, Regional, State Select and High School level than any other Kansas City program. Alumni have played on National and Professional teams
- Team Success – The KC Legends has won 13 National Indoor Championships and appeared in 3 USYSA National Championship Final Fours. This is far and away the best club record in Kansas City history
How long do I sign up for?
One month at a time. The Academy program is totally flexible. You can come and go on a month by month basis as you please.
Where are Academy practices held?
Outdoor - Leawood City Park
Indoor - At the brand new state-of-the-art Legends facility. The Legends Facility is specifically designed to increase valuable repetition in shooting and dribbling, the most difficult skills.The Legends facility is 9821 W 67 St. Merriam, KS 66203
Why do you win so many games if your focus isn't on winning?
The reason we win so many games when the teams mature is because we never focused on the wins and losses as the players were developing. Children can only develop incredibly creative skills and a risk taking mentality when they are given complete encouragement and support to take the risk in all situations where there is a much easier and often fear based option. We focus on the development of the brilliant individual player and leave the integration of the team until its logical place i.e. after the individual brilliance is set in stone. It is almost impossible to beat a team of brilliant individuals who have learned when and where to use their teammates effectively. That’s why Brazil have won so many World Cups.
What makes the Legends curriculum so unique?
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