by Mary Rupert
Students from Welborn Elementary School took a soccer clinic from Sporting KC players at the new futsal court ribbon-cutting and grand opening today at Welborn Park, North 55th and Jodee Lane, between Parallel Parkway and Leavenworth Road in Kansas City, Kan.
The Welborn students went through their warmups, running around the court, stretching, touching their toes, and then were instructed on how to do soccer footwork. Each one of them had a soccer ball and practiced footwork.
The Welborn Park futsal court was converted from a tennis court into a futsal court. It is one of four futsal courts already completed, with four more in progress. It is the first part of the completion of youth futsal courts in Wyandotte County that was part of an agreement made with Sporting Kansas City when the stadium was announced here.
Futsal is like soccer, but played with a fewer number of people on a hard-surfaced court that is not a full-sized field.
Besides the soccer clinic, the kids received a T-shirt and a soccer ball to take home today.
Sporting KC defender Amobi Okugo, who helped with the futsal clinic at today’s event, was asked what today’s events meant to him.
“Just seeing the kids happy. Growing up, I didn’t have this opportunity to have these futsal fields, and you just see their excitement,” Okugo said. “It just brings joy to us as players.”
Also helping with the clinic was Bernardo Anur, a Sporting KC midfielder.
Mayor Mark Holland said the project was in the works for years, originally planned as three soccer fields for kids, and then changed into eight futsal courts in the parks, one in each Unified Government district.
If there had been three soccer tournament fields built, there would have been fences around them and kids wouldn’t have been able to use them all the time, according to the mayor. The futsal courts are open whenever parks are open, and may not need as much maintenance as soccer fields.
“I just can’t emphasize enough the importance of the partnership with Sporting Kansas City, and the importance of their commitment, not only to bringing world-class soccer to the stadium out west, but also to bringing accessible exercise and healthy living options and organization to these futsal courts right here to the urban areas,” Mayor Mark Holland said. It is “pretty critical to our community and to all these kids.”
At the very beginning of the project, Greg Cotton, Sporting Club chief of staff, and other Sporting KC officials drove to 75 or 80 potential sites for the futsal courts in Wyandotte County. They put together a set of criteria, including sites close to population density, schools, bus lines and kids.
“At the end of the day, it’s wonderful we’re putting one of these courts, at least one and in some cases two, in every single commissioner district in KCK,” Cotton said. “We’re going to have the opportunity to do some really cool stuff starting in the spring when all these courts are done.”
A tournament will be launched where each of the courts serves as a staging hub for a different age group playing futsal, he said. The winners of those will play together in a tournament.
Back in 2009, Sporting executives and UG officials were discussing what they could do for the community, he said.
“And we said we can do better. We can do something bigger, we can do something that will actually further the mission of giving kids a place to play,” Cotton said. The idea of putting futsal courts in each district evolved from this discussion.
Futsal helps players’ skill development, he said. There will be clinics held at the futsal courts and tournaments.
Cotton said the courts are for the kids of the community to play on, and they didn’t want to fill them up with a lot of programming that would stop other kids from being able to use the courts.
Unified Government Commissioner Melissa Bynum, 1st District at large, said it was a wonderful public-private partnership.
“This futsal court project is breathing new life into all of our parks,” Bynum said.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook, 8th District, said that this futsal court project took a little time, “but if you just wait, see what you can get.”
She said it was great to hear from the community about what they wanted for the futsal courts and their locations. The improvements at Welborn Park also include a newly resurfaced walking trail and new playground.
Besides Welborn Park, at 2520 N. 55th, grand openings were held today at three other futsal courts in Kansas City, Kan., — Bethany Park at 11th and Central; Highland Park at South 50th and Shawnee Drive; and Westheight Park at Wood Avenue and North 20th Street.
Four more futsal courts will be completed in May 2016 at Vega Field in Argentine, Garland Park, Edwardsville and Harmon High School, according to officials.
Kansas City, Kan., saw its first futsal court during the MLS All-Star game festivities in 2013. Then, two tennis courts at Wyandotte High School were converted into the first futsal courts here, and are currently open.
Sporting Kansas City is funding the futsal project, and the Unified Government is contributing some of the work at some of the futsal courts.
[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19IbPg3flsQ[/embedyt]
A grand opening and ribbon cutting was held on Monday, Oct. 5, for futsal courts at Welborn Park in Kansas City, Kan. (Video by Mary Rupert)