Welcome Mr. Dave Borchardt

The newest member of the Wizards PR staff joined the club today, Mr. Dave Borchardt. Dave, as you may know, has been in radio for the last several years at 810 WHB. Dave has produced shows and hosted his own and was sideline reporter for our Metro Sports broadcasts last year. Dave is a new-found soccer fan and very excited to join the Wizards and OnGoal. Hillcrest Road sat down with Davey B this afternoon and picked his brain a little.

Hi Dave!

Why are you joining the Kansas City Wizards right now?
Because the organization is already doing great things, and they are about to do a lot more really good things in the Kansas City community. It's exciting with the move to CAB and the stadium coming soon at Bannister; now is a great time to get involved.

What do you bring to the organization from your radio background?
Good relationships with the Kansas City media and knowing what kind of things radio and TV stations find interesting.

What do you enjoy away from work?
Watching movies, playing poker, playing video games (Tiger Woods golf, college football), hanging out with my wife and son.

Where are you from?
I grew up in Lee's Summit, MO and went to Lee's Summit High School. I'm a proud resident and still live there.

What sports did you play growing up?
Baseball, basketball and tennis. I was probably best at tennis.

Rob Thomson, V.P. of Marketing and Communications (your boss), says he's good at tennis. Could you beat him?
I don't know if I can beat him at tennis, but I will kill him at ping pong. I was a Lee's Summit High School ping pong champion.

What makes you a soccer fan now when you weren't before?
Seeing it up close as the sideline reporter last year. Seeing how much contact there is and how athletic they are. The flopping in international play turned me off, but there's as much of that in MLS.

What were you favorite moments from last year?
Interviewing EJ after he scored his second hat trick in a row while the fireworks are going off above us. That was pretty neat. Also seeing Kerry's left-footed rocket last year against Chivas USA after he guaranteed me a goal before the game. That was cool too.

Why should fans come watch the Wizards?
Because we're the most exciting team to watch in MLS. Coach Onalfo wants to push the attack and score lots of goals. It's a fun style and will be a great setting this year before, during and after games. Plus, it's a very reasonable ticket price. That's about as good as it gets. You know, record-wise, we're probably the best professional sports team in Kansas City.

While in Buenos Aires/Coyote Vote

Hey everyone, the lads completed their first Argentina training session this morning. According to weather.com, the current temperature is 79 degrees, and it feels like 82. It will be mostly cloudy today. Must be rough on them. Practice went "well," nothing crazy to report.

Two of our opponents have been locked down thus far, but as always, pre-season matches are subject to change.

Day,Date Opponent
Monday, March 3 Defensa y Justicia
Wednesday, March 5 Velez Sarfield
*Tuesday, March 11 TBD
*Friday, March 14 TBD

*Tentative dates.

You may recognize the name Defensa y Justicia. We played them last year on our trip south and were scored on by none other than Eloy Colombano. That match was the first time we had ever seen him play. PV later saw him again when touring Defensa's grounds and he officially joined the squad on August 9.

Dustin checked in again last night via the comments section to fill us in on the season (it's summer) and a little bit about the first-division teams in the area. His comments below:

The two most well known clubs are Boca Juniors and River Plate. Their rivalry ranks as one of the most intense in the world. In fact, it ranked #1 in the 2004 British Observer’s “50 sporting things you must do before you die”. Both play in the Argentine Primera (First) División. Other First Division teams located within the city of Buenos Aires are Argentinos Juniors, San Lorenzo, Huracan, Velez Sarsfield. The First Division is comprised of twenty teams that go through the same relegation/promotion process commonly found in leagues throughout the world. In all, there are five league ‘levels’ within the Argentine Football Association.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that Hillcrest Road originally posted "Krull the Warrior King" but was vehemently corrected. We thus posted "Crawl the Warrior King" which has since been proven wrong both by female and by IMDB. Rats. This is our formal apology, since blogger polling system does not allow editing of poll choices. Keep on voting.

Wizards in Argentina

The team touched down in Argentina this morning and is just finishing up the first day in Buenos Aires. Former Wizards intern Dustin Johnson is in Buenos Aires right now for a school-related trip and will check in from time to time here at Hillcrest Road. Today, Johnson sent some pictures of landmarks the players will encounter and set the scene in Argentina. Thank you Dustin for the help!

The team was welcomed today by more precipitation than has come down during my entire month and a half stay in Buenos Aires. While rain is common, it generally lasts for only an hour or so. This morning, the rain came out before the sun and managed to stick around until mid-afternoon. It was pelting the city as the team pulled up to the hotel around 12:30 (8:30 a.m. Central Standard).

The seemingly endless stockpile of luggage took some time to unload, a task accomplished by hotel staff and first-year players (poor rookies). The team's hotel is in Buenos Aires' center, a few blocks from many of the capital's major landmarks. This collection includes the Obelisk, Cathedral and La Casa Rosada, the Argentine version of the U.S. White House, known to Madonna fans the world over as the location from where she sang "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" in the film Evita.

After unpacking their rooms, the players ate at the hotel. The meal consisted of grilled chicken, potatoes, salad and fruit. Not wanting to waste time, the coaches began official training in Argentina this afternoon with a visit to the gym. Afterwards, the players were given the rest of the day for much-needed rest and a chance to acclimate to the time change. Tomorrow, they will begin training at facilities outside of Buenos Aires proper.

La Casa Rosada

the Obelisk

Cathedral

Heineman Speaks

Hello all. Usually Robb himself posts his words on this blog. This time, however, it will be me. The other day, Robb had a very candid conversation with David Streeter of the Topeka Capital-Journal in which he discussed CommunityAmerica Ballpark, The Trails, the players and the technical staff. Selected quotes below. See the whole story here.

"I think the proximity of the fans to the field and the sense of energy from a full stadium will add something to our club. I also believe the scarcity value of a ticket will add to the game day experience," Heineman said.

"I feel like our players have all bought in to the OnGoal/Wizards story. We care about our guys and their families a bunch. We've invested heavily in facilities and amenities that allow them to take great care of their bodies, and I think they realize the future holds great things for Wizards' players," said Heineman.

"Overall, in our opinion, this will be the most authentic soccer stadium in the US. We are focused on preserving the game environment, maximizing sound and creating unique seating options for our fans. I'm hopeful that our supporters' groups feel like they have an incredible spot to support their team. While this building will be used for other events, we want people in the US to have the opportunity to view the beautiful game as it's played around the world," he said.

"I'm extremely confident in (Technical Director) Peter (Vermes) and (Head Coach) Curt (Onalfo). They've got a very good plan on how we're going to build this club and its ethos. I'm confident that we'll take a step forward as an organization. They know they have an ownership group that supports them and is willing to provide the tool to make them successful. I'm excited to go to games and watch them play," he said.

"When we bought this team, our intention was to make decisions based on what we as an ownership group felt was best for what we believed in most - Kansas City. That remains true. This stadium and the environment that surrounds it are going to make a statement to the soccer world, and the club that calls it home has intentions to do the same."

Training Today/Coyote Naming Contest/More

Training went well this morning before the guys left for the airport. They started with a crossing and finishing drill and then played some small-sided 8 v 8 games with a team around the outside to use while on offense. Ryan Pore finished strong, scoring a nice header goal off a lazer cross from Kurt Morsink. He then nutmegged a defender with a nifty move but his shot was saved by Kronberg.

A big hit out at Swope the last few days has been the team's newest mascot, a scarecrow-like coyote intended to keep geese off the fields. See him below watching practice:

Today, Greg Cotton and I realized that our coyote friend does not yet have a name. It's time to change that. Hillcrest nation, NAME THAT COYOTE! We will be holding a contest here on Hillcrest Road to name our coyote. Please vote on the right side of the page. The options (along with their sponsor) are listed below:

1. PV Junior - Greg Cotton
2. Crawl the Warrior King - Erin Lawless/Kate Hudson/Andie Anderson
3. Richard Grieco - James Flexman
4. Is That a Puma? - Interns

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Open tryout survivor Kevin Souter has been quite the media darling the last couple of days. In two days, the KC Star, Metro Sports and KMBC 9 have all chatted with the young Scottish midfielder. Below, Souter plays a cross into the penalty area during the cross/finish drill:

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Today after training, Community Relations guru Erin Lawless shot some public service announcements for MLS W.O.R.K.S. with midfielder Kerry Zavagnin and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Kerry will be the Wizards rep for the U.S. Soccer Foundation's Passback program and Kevin for MLS W.O.R.K.S. reading initiatives. See below for some behind-the-scenes shots of two Wizards stars in front of the camera:

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Prior to practice, Davy Arnaud took some shots against assistant coach Kris Kelderman. Kelderman got a little cocky after making a save (immediately below) even though Davy can only use his left leg. Davy got mad and promptly placed a perfect shot into the upper-left corner over a retreating Kelderman (second below). Nice shot Davy.



Vote for that coyote name!

Final Practice Before Argentina TODAY/Chance Gets Some Love

Hey everyone, just a reminder that the team's final practice before leaving for Argentina is this morning at 11 a.m. at our lovely Swope Park Training Center. Originally scheduled for noon, practice has been moved up an hour to ensure everyone gets packed and to the airport on time for the flight southward.

In case you haven't seen, peep page 3 of the Star's sports section today. Chance gets a little love. Below is a picture Hillcrest Road took while a Star photog set up a portrait shot. Looks like the portrait didn't make the paper.

Click above for story.

In other news, Martie Harter, aka the Godmother, posed this morning in her newest piece of Wizards apparel:

Looking good Marta!

Billboard Sneak Peak

Hey guys, we're about to post four billboards around the Kansas City metro promoting our upcoming games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark by the Legends. The billboards go up soon and run through the first four games. One will be on I-35 facing south, two on I-70 facing west and one on I-70 facing east. Hope you like the design. If not, yell at design guru Chad.

Hartman, Conrad and Arnaud make a pretty mean looking crew. Mean in many ways. Crew, of course, not referring to that black and gold team to the east.

Practice Today/Front Office Visit

Greetings everyone, today's practice was quite the cold one. The guys mostly played 11 v 11. With various players sitting out due to bumps and bruises, the lineup got a little fun. Toward the end, goalkeeper Boris Pardo was playing as a target forward. He and Jimmy Conrad had a few nice aerial battles off of restarts and goalkeeper punts. Boris informed Hillcrest Road after practice that he never played goalkeeper until he was 14. He continued playing primarily as a field player in high school then played both in college. Butterfly goalie anyone?

Kevin Souter made his Wizards practice debut today. He played in central midfielder for the reserves, sporting the same yellow boots that made him so visible during open tryouts. Tomorrow after practice, Hillcrest Road will grill him with 10 tough questions. Get ready.

This afternoon, the front office got a special visit from former intern Sandy Sauer. Those of you who attended games regularly in 2007 will remember her as the light-skinned Latina running the show at pre-game events such as Salsa night. Sandy brought by her newest roommate, Lola the dog. Photos below:

Smile Sandy.

Lola gives a Logan Smith a goodbye kiss.

Feedback requested: Do you like random front-office tidbits like these? If so, we'll do more. If not, all players it is. Hillcrest nation, please speak.

Practice and More

Hello all, practice went very well today. It was a little warmer than it has been lately, so the guys were happy to be outside and not needing too much clothing to keep warm. They started off with small-sided games to work on possession and then a full-field game, which ended tied at 0. After practice we concluded the photo shoot from last week. The kits look great, and I think most of the guys had fun playing model for a day. We also got a glimpse of the new goalkeeper kits. Very sharp! Take a look immediately below. More photos farther down.


The guys enjoyed the Everton-Manchester City game after practice. Ryan Pore and Davy Arnaud showed strong support for Everton. Davy, Amir Lowery, Michael Kraus and Aaron Hohlbein engaged in a vicious game of Scrabble as well.

As we told you this morning, midfielder Kevin Souter of Graceland will join us on the trip to Argentina. He starts training with the club tomorrow. Peter Vermes told us he will be looked at in a variety of roles, including spots in central midfield and defense.

Chance keeps the ball during the small-sided possession game.

Davy juggles (left foot only) after practice. He is really itching to get back out there.

Mr. Chet North all bundled up as the goalies train in the background.

The coaching staff addresses the players as they stretch following this afternoon's session.

Works shape the concrete pour that will surround Field 3.

Chance juggles on his head for the camera.

Practice Today/Open Tryout Results

Practice will be held today at noon at our Swope Park Training Center. Hope to see you there. Tomorrow is the last chance to see the team before we resume training in town Tuesday, March 18.

The first round of results from this weekend's open tryouts is now known. Kevin Souter, midfielder from Iowa NAIA school Graceland University will join us tomorrow for training and then accompany the team to Argentina looking for a spot on the 28-man roster. Congratulations to Souter. For those of you at the tryouts, he wore bib #212 and had yellow boots. Souter was 2nd team NAIA All-American in 2007 and honorable mention All-American in 2006 when Graceland won the NAIA National Championship. See OzCitySoccer's profile here.

Souter

Also, the technical staff said that 3-5 other players seen at the tryouts will be invited back at various times throughout the pre-season and regular season to train with the club. Overall, the tryouts were a huge success, as we identified at least 4-6 players with MLS potential.

Open Tryouts/Monday Practice

First of all, special thanks to Mr. Greg Cotton for his stylish entry to blogland. Apparently my hair is something straight out of a 10th-grade science book. Cool.

Today's final day of open tryouts contained as much quality as expected. Several players had their final chance to impress the coaching staff and took full advantage. We will be seeing a number of this weekend's participants at various times throughout the rest of the preseason and possibly more for trials during the regular season. The coaching staff wanted to finalize their decisions tonight, but as soon as there is more information, we will let you know. Our fan blogs Downthebyline and OzCitySoccer joined us again today. Jump over to their sites for their thoughts and opinions.

The weather looks fairly warm for tomorrow, so practice will be held at the Wizards Swope Park Training Center at noon CT. See you all there?

Cotton in the Hizzy

As the warm, blue glow of my Commodore 64 illuminates the keys of my laptop, I've somewhat reluctantly decided to join my fellow Wizards and OnGoal comrades as a contributor to the Hillcrest Road blog. My reluctance is twofold. One, I've never done it before and feel a wee bit outside the technology loop. Our web/new media/social networking consultants told us two weeks ago that email was dead. Dead, I asked? Obsolete I'm told. Ah, I concluded. Nuts.

Secondly, the folks that regularly contribute to Hillcrest Road do such a fine job, I'm not sure there is need for more content. The mysterious "Hillcrest" contributor, whom I'm sure I've never met, seems to know everything about our organization. They tell me Hillcrest’s hair is a thermodynamic miracle. I wait anxiously to see for myself. OnGoal president/owner Robb Heineman and VP of Development David “Hot” Ficklin are regular contributors, and give an insiders perspective that, frankly, as general counsel makes me nervous.

So what’s left?

As it happens, plenty. OnGoal is in the middle of a strategic expansion of its soccer, entertainment, consumer experiences and customer care properties. For example, one of our goals this year is to bring the international soccer experience to Kansas City through friendly matches with clubs from all over the world. We hope to announce shortly a multi-game international friendly schedule that will see some of the finest soccer teams in the world ply their trade right here in KC. This is just the beginning of what will be an annual tradition of supplementing an already fast-paced and entertaining MLS schedule with additional international games.

While stadium design continues to steam along, so does the design of other OnGoal concepts in and around the stadium’s entertainment district. An example of this is the pub we’re designing. We’ve had several design and branding meetings so far and the work product has been fantastic. I’ve been meeting with specialty beer brewers with the goal of creating proprietary brews unique to the Trails and crafted specifically for Wizards supporters. Not to fear, our supporters will be included in that (ahem) process.

In addition to our partnership with Mexican club Atlas AC, OnGoal is pursuing club and vendor partnerships on a variety of levels domestically as well as in England, Italy, Germany, Argentina, and China. More on this to come soon….

On the merchandising front, in the first season of OnGoal’s ownership of the Wizards you helped us increase jersey merchandise sales over 700% from 2006 numbers. The Wizards traditionally have not been strong in merchandise sales, for whatever reason, but when we brought it all in-house under the leadership of VP of Merchandising Jacques Tournoy, adidas took notice. As a thank you for such a strong level of commitment by Kansas City Wizards fans, adidas has decided to outfit CommunityAmerica ballpark with a 24’ x 22’ replica home shirt that will add significantly to the atmosphere inside the stadium. We found out Friday the shirt has been manufactured and is ready to ship. Inside a 24’ tube. Any of you with a spare 24’ trailer please feel free to contact our head of operations Chris Wyche…..

Once again for 2008 the Wizards exclusive broadcast partner Metro Sports will broadcast every League game not broadcast elsewhere by a national partner. New for 2008, Metro Sports will also broadcast every match in Spanish on Time Warner Cable channel 5. If you don’t have Metro Sports now is the time to sign up for Time Warner Cable or petition your provider to get Metro Sports as part of their programming bundle (they can do that now… just recently announced). We hope to announce a radio deal in the very near future as well…. That’s right. Wall-to-wall Wheelock on television, radio, and the web. This could be on.

So much more on the business front, but for now I’ve got to get out to the open tryouts. I was hopeful that the quality level was going to be high, and I was not disappointed. I know the cuts were difficult yesterday, and the final decisions made by the technical staff today are going to be even more challenging. Good luck to all the participants this afternoon, and cheers from the front office.

Greg

Open Tryouts

Hey all, what a crazy week. I love it. As many of you have seen, we invited 60 players back for Day 2 of open tryouts. The quality of play on Day 1 was very high, and it will be even higher Day 2 as the cream begins to rise, as they say. Here's the complete list on kcwizards.com. Now for some interesting tidbits and pictures. Sorry if we leave anyone out, these are just things we noticed at a glance:

-Players hail from at least 8 different countries, including USA, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Canada, Uganda.

-One player comes from the same school (Pasedena City College) as former Wizards forward Yura Movsisyan.

-One player hails from Springfield, MO, home of our own Jack Jewsbury and one from Springfield, NE. Both are goalkeepers.

-Jorge Flores has been called back. No, not the Jorge Flores who last year won the Sueno MLS open tryout and has since been named to the U.S. U-20 squad but a Jorge Flores nonetheless.

-Speaking of Jorge Flores, he and Mataho Huma are here from a California-based youth academy affiliated with Wizards partner Atlas AC.

-The oldest player left is Ebo Stephens of Gaithersburg, MD who is 28 years old (1/1/1980).

-The youngest player left is Ricardo Martinez of Springdale, AR who is 18 years old (11/17/1989).

-Youssouf Kante came up through the PSG youth system and last played at Dinamo Bucharesti.

-Three players remaining attended Park University in Parkville, MO.

-Matthew Hoff started for four years at Harvard (where he likely faced Wizards defender/midfielder Ryan Raybould at Yale).

-Several players play on the local semi-pro indoor team the Kansas City Kings.

-Alan Solis is a well-known player in local Hispanic soccer leagues.

I know I've missed some gems, but that's a start. Dig something up or catch a mistake? Post a comment.

Participants and fans alike enjoyed Saturday's Day 1 of open tryouts.

EJ Debuts/Open Tryouts

EJ made his first-team debut for Fulhamerica today, entering in the 76th for fellow American and close friend Clint Dempsey. Fulham fell late to West Ham, however, 1-0. See Fulham's match report here and Soccernet's here.

Open tryouts are in the last session of the day at KC Sports Lodge. It's been a good day with some quality soccer played. Tomorrow will be another good one, with tryouts starting at 9 tomorrow morning for around 60 remaining hopefuls. Having technical difficulties but will return later with some photos from tryouts.

Abe and Jake's - the Aftermath

Hey everyone. Great to see some of our western fans out at Abe and Jake's last night. The event went off great, and I know that everyone had a good time. Tyson Wahl, Boris Pardo, Eric Kronberg and Amir Lowery represented the players well in some foosball and enjoyed a VIP-style evening. Check out the pictures below to see what you missed or look for yourself.

Tyson, Eric, Amir and Boris pose before the big event. (Tyson must have seen someone or something interesting walk by.)

Kronberg and partner enjoy a little table-soccer on stage at Abe and Jake's.

Pardo and partner (sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?) celebrate after scoring against Kronberg and co.

Starting 11 Girl Paige looking and acting fabulous as usual.

The lucky winner poses with the tournament bracket in true championship style.

The crowd was raucous and fun throughout the evening. Thanks to Abe and Jake's for working with us.

Practice Today/Abe & Jake's Tonight

Hey there. Don't forget about the Abe & Jake's event tonight in Lawrence, KS, home of the Jayhawks. For Abe & Jake's website, click here.

Practice today was intense. The guys played hard and looked sharp throughout. The final portion of practice consisted of a 6v6 round robin tournament with the two top teams facing off for the championship. Team Orange faced Team Green for the title in a hotly contested match. Marinelli gave Green the lead one minute in, but Orange equalized through a great counter attack that started with Hartman and finished four passes later with an easy tap-in for Ryan Pore at the back post. Referee (and goalkeeper/fitness coach) Dave Tenney gave the teams a brief golden-goal overtime period before sending the game to penalty kicks. The tight PK round went all the way to the goalkeepers. Results are below:

x-converted
0-missed

Green Orange
Zavagnin x Conrad x (cheeky chip)
Jewsbury x Hohlbein x
Wahl x Harrington x
Marinelli x Watson x (touch by Kronberg)
Onalfo x Pore x
Kronberg o Hartman x (touch by Kronberg)

Hartman's match-winning PK. (On the close-up version, you can see a cloud of black rubber inside the goal where the ball bounced after Kronberg's big paw hit it.)

Teams

Green
Zavagnin
Jewsbury
Wahl
Marinelli
Onalfo
Kronberg

Orange
Conrad
Hohlbein
Harrington
Watson
Pore
Hartman

Blue
Leathers
William
Victorine
Lowery
Kelderman
Johnson (assistant equipment manager, played goalie in college)

Yellow
McKenzie
Morsink
Myers
Kraus
Raybould
Pardo

Starting 11 Girls Tryouts - Very Nice

Hey all, great to see some Wizards fans last night. To those of you who couldn't come, you missed out. The event went off splendidly, and we selected a great group of classy young ladies to represent the Wizards and the sport of soccer throughout the Kansas City area.

Some professional-quality photos will be posted at kcwizards.com soon, but here are some snapshots Hillcrest Road managed to snag at the event. Apologies to some as I don't know the names of everyone included, but I'll give props to whomever I can. Sorry to Sam as well, but I think this more than ever deserves the "photographic bliss" tag.

Returning Starting 11 Girl Paige finishes introducing herself to the crowd.

Professional golfer Matt Gogel (right, pink tie) was a special celebrity judge. Thanks Matt. I'm sure you had fun.

Rookies (l to r) Jonathan Leathers, Matt Marquess, Andrew DiCicco and Rauwshan McKenzie smile for the camera with returning Starting 11 Girl Susan. Welcome to the big time boys.

The winners pose for a group shot after the dramatic unveiling. Apologies to Amber for cutting her face in half.

The winners gather again to receive their gift bags courtesy of our great sponsors at Bella B's Boutique and Celsius Tannery, among others.

Starting 11 Girls Tryouts

Hey all, just a reminder to join us at McFadden's in the Power and Light District tonight for the 2008 Starting 11 Girls tryouts. We're all very excited about the event and eager to select this year's hospitality girls/ladies/women. Just remember, it's 21 and over, so leave the kiddos (and adolescents) at home.

See you there! Pictures following the event.

Practice Cancelled/Away Kit

First of all, today's practice has been cancelled. Sorry to those of you looking forward to using the weather as an excuse to skip work and watch some footie.

Secondly, as promised, here are the 2008 away kits. Good looking jersey if you ask me. Plus it's on the self-proclaimed best-looking defender in MLS, so you can't go wrong there either.


Thoughts? Comments? Questions?

Happy Hump Day

Has it been a long week already? No? Good, because now the fun starts. Practice was indoors today and will be again tomorrow at KC Sports Lodge. Today was an intense practice. The guys got after it and each other in preparation for the season, and it was exciting to see the intensity with which everyone played. Even coach, who filled in on the pitch at one point, was sharp on the ball and celebrating hard after his team's goals.

Forgot to fill you guys in last night: Midfielder Sasha Victorine is now a daddy. Daughter Halia Sivan Victorine was born Friday at 19" long and 7 lbs 6 oz. Congrats to Sasha and wife Melissa. Sasha reports that being a dad is fun so far and that sleeping is a little harder to come by than in the old days.

Remember, tomorrow night at McFadden's starting at 7:30 is the Starting 11 Girls tryout. Jenny Matthews of Mix will be there spearheading the evening. We look forward to a great squad again this year.

Click above.

Friday night beginning at 9:30 will be an event at Abe & Jake's in Lawrence, KS. See the Facebook invite here.

Click above.

Open tryouts will take place Saturday and Sunday at KC Sports Lodge. We wish everyone the best of luck. To see who is trying out, click here.

Now for the Photos

From the latest Kansas City Wizards glamour shots session:

Jack Jewsbury does his best "this-is-our-new-jersey-and-yes-it-makes-me-look-good" pose. You're right Jack. That's a great looking kit.

Sasha Victorine shows off his GQ looks.

Rookie defender Jonathan Leathers imagines himself on an Abercrombie & Fitch bag. He and Chance Myers make a dashing right-sided combination.

Lance Watson ties his shoe, while managing to still stare intently into the camera.

Practice Tomorrow

Hi there friendly faces, practice tomorrow will be held at KC Sports Lodge at noon. That could still change if weather changes drastically, but we will likely be indoors tomorrow.

Also, congratulations to former Wizards Head Coach Bob Gansler, who was given the Warner Fricker Builder Award by U.S. Soccer. See details from U.S. Soccer below:

BOB GANSLER HONORED WITH PRESTIGIOUS WARNER FRICKER BUILDER AWARD: Bob Gansler, the former head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team, was honored at U.S. Soccer’s Annual General Meeting in Waikoloa, Hawaii on Saturday as the recipient of the prestigious Werner Fricker Builder Award. The honor is bestowed annually to an individual who has worked tirelessly in furthering the interest of the sport of soccer, without regard to personal recognition or advancement. The Werner Fricker Award is designed to honor those who have created or fostered programs that will outlast their own active involvement in the sport and that establish a lasting legacy in the history and structure of soccer in the United States. Gansler has been involved with soccer in the United States as a player and a coach at all levels. Starting in 1975, Gansler served in various coaching positions with the U.S. National Teams and was eventually named the head coach of the U.S. MNT in 1989, leading the U.S. to their first World Cup Finals appearance in 40 years in Italy 1990 during his two-year tenure.

WERNER FRICKER AWARD
Year Recipient
2002 Werner Fricker, Sr.
2003 Sunil Gulati (more)
2005 Gerhard Mengel (more)
2006 Sal Rapaglia (more)
2007 Francisco Marcos

Back later with some photos from today's shoot.

The Boys Are Back in Town

Greetings Hillcrest readers, the boys were back at it in Kansas City today, training from noon-1:20 at our beautiful Swope Park Training Center. We snagged a few photos and made a few observations while there. After practice, the guys stuck around for a quick photo shoot in the new kit. Wow are they beautiful. You will absolutely love the look of these things in action. If I can manage it, we might post a few samples later. We've got some up-and-coming models on the squad as well as up-and-coming soccer players.

Supplemental Draft picks Pat Healey (Towson) and Tom Gray (Monmouth) were waived today following training. We wish both of them the best of luck in their future soccer careers and lives after soccer. Both were very personable young men who competed hard while in camp.

Also, midfielder Kurt Morsink got some love on national soccer blog The Offside Rules. Thanks to S F for checking in with one of our guys again. See the interview here.

As many of you saw yesterday, Jack Jewsbury players some mean air guitar. See the original from Gavin (Wembley) on BigSoccer here.


Photos from training today (it was slightly cold):

Coach lays out the next week of training for the players prior to today's session.

The guys try to stay warm while participating in a passing drill to start training.

Work continues on Field 3. Today, workers laid a concrete pad between Fields 1, 2 and 3.