Sporting Kansas City Renews Affiliation with Sporting Brookside Soccer Club

Sporting Brookside Soccer Club competitive teams to transition to Sporting City East

Sporting Kansas City and Sporting Brookside Soccer Club are proud to announce the renewal of their Academy Affiliate partnership, a partnership that continues to provide benefits, resources, and opportunities to players of all levels throughout Kansas City and the surrounding areas.

“We’re excited to continue our Academy Affiliate partnership with Sporting Brookside,” said Dan Popik, Sporting KC Vice President of Youth Sports Properties. “Sporting Brookside Soccer Club has been a community leader in offering an inclusive and affordable soccer league to all Kansas City residents and we’re looking forward to working alongside them to continue to support their mission.”

Sporting Brookside is a 46-year-old organization with the mission to provide affordable, quality youth soccer programs at the grassroots level. Known regionally for delivering a top-level recreation experience, Sporting Brookside promotes fairness and fun in a safe environment for kids to learn the game while also building confidence, learning respect and sportsmanship.

“For over four decades, Sporting Brookside has been about community, participation, and bringing fun and affordable opportunities to play for our Kansas City youth,” said Diego Gutierrez, Sporting Brookside President. “Our partnership with Sporting Kansas City has been fruitful in many ways, and through this alignment we look forward to increasing our contribution to the tremendous momentum and excitement in the soccer market right now. By way of our extended partnership, we aim to continue fulfilling our mission with even greater success.”

As part of the renewed partnership, Sporting Brookside’s competitive program is transitioning to Sporting City East during the upcoming tryouts on June 9-11 at Swope Soccer Village. Sporting City East is a new youth competitive soccer club that will debut during the 2023-2024 season, featuring boys’ and girls’ teams from U8 (2016) to U19 (2005).

Sporting City East will be led by Director of Coaching, Chris Dean, a U.S. Soccer B Licensed coach. In addition, Dean holds a U.S. Soccer Director of Coaching License and has eight years of leadership experience as a Director of Coaching in the Kansas City area.

“I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Sporting Brookside competitive players, coaches and families to Sporting City East,” said Chris Dean, Sporting City East Director of Coaching. “We’ve assembled a very talented and experienced coaching staff that will create a positive learning environment to support each player’s development. I can’t wait to get started and out on the field with our future Sporting City East players.”

Swope Soccer Village will serve as the home for Sporting Brookside and Sporting East. With six turf fields and three grass fields, this state-of-the-art facility will be the training site for all Sporting City East competitive teams. Sporting Brookside will continue to provide recreational practices, youth league play, and adult league play at Swope Soccer Village throughout the fall and spring seasons, as well as quality soccer programing for over 3200 soccer players, 200 volunteer coaches, and 75 referees every season.

“Sporting Brookside is elated to renew our partnership with Sporting Kansas City that will allow for us to continue to call the Swope Soccer Village home for the foreseeable future while supporting Sporting East’s competitive pathway,” said Nick Garcia, Sporting Brookside Executive Director. “Our new partnership will provide more opportunities for our young male and female players to grow and develop into the players they strive to be on and off the field.”

As an Academy Affiliate, Sporting Brookside and Sporting City East players and coaches will benefit from the best resources, education, and developmental opportunities both on and off the field, in addition to unparalleled access to Sporting Kansas City. These opportunities include player and coach education sessions, the Academy Affiliate All-Star Experience, Sporting Development League, Affiliate Market Experiences and more.

Sporting City East Pre-Tryout Camp will take place on June 5-7 and tryouts will be hosted on June 9-11 at Swope Soccer Village. Registration for Sporting City East’s Pre-Tryout Camp and Tryouts is now open. To learn more about the club and to register, visit SportingCitySoccer.com/City-East.

Sporting Brookside will open the 2023 Fall Recreational Soccer League registration platform in mid-June. Play will begin the weekend of Sept 8 & 9 for First Grade through High School and Sept 16 for Pre-K and Kindergarten players. Visit SportingBrookside.org for league details and to register.