April Academy Affiliate Club Spotlight: Sporting Brookside

Sporting Brookside’s mission is to provide affordable, quality youth soccer programs that build positive character through participation in a fun, family-oriented soccer environment. This mission drives everything we do.

Sporting Brookside is not just about the game –– it’s about building resilience and character in our players through high-quality youth soccer programs.

We proudly use our love of soccer to encourage youth in the Kansas City area to grow and develop skills in soccer and life. We provide a fair, fun, family-oriented and safe environment for kids to play while building confidence, respect, sportsmanship and tenacity.

Located in the heart of the city at Swope Soccer Village, our programs are accessible and affordable. We go well beyond soccer every day. We love what we do, we love these kids, and it shows.

The non-profit organization is led by Nick Garcia, our Executive Director, who played at the collegiate, professional and national levels. Our coaching staff is well-rounded, educated and all are licensed as players, coaches, leaders and teachers. They bring playing and coaching experience that ranges from youth through the Olympic level.

Sporting Brookside is also supported by over 500 volunteer coaches and our 70 in-house referees each season that bring training, jobs and opportunities to youth in the area.

Sporting Brookside has made soccer fun and accessible to kids for more than 44 years. Since 1977, more than 500,000 kids from across the Kansas City metro area and 197+ different schools have called Sporting Brookside their home. The club now proudly serves 6,000 kids annually and continues to grow.

Our Pre-K through high school recreational and competitive teams develop technical skills, tactics and life-long core values. Sporting Brookside continues to grow with more than 20 MYSA registered competitive teams, camps, adult leagues, high school leagues and more.

Our annual enrollment and broad community reach increases through our recreational league, competitive teams, camps and clinics programs. Additionally, scholarships promote participation for all kids.

In 2014, Sporting Brookside, then called Brookside Soccer Club, moved to the renovated Swope Park Soccer Village with five competitive turf fields and one championship field – also home to Sporting KC and SKC II practice fields.

We are proud to be part of the $12 million renovations that allow increased use and green space revitalization within the urban corridor.

• Partnership with Finesse Soccer, hosting an exclusive session for girls that focused on passing, finishing and female empowerment
• Recreational and competitive participation is close to an all-time high

For more information on Sporting Brookside please visit SportingBrookside.org and follow them on Twitter and Facebook or Instagram.