Tryouts will soon be underway in Johnson County for a new “female focused” soccer club aimed at giving girls a head start in the increasingly competitive youth sports landscape.
Athena FC not only will feature an impressive collection of “principle consultants,” including a former professional soccer league MVP but also a team mental performance director who will aim to give the squad’s young players the psychological tools to handle the mental pressures of competition.
The club will hold what it calls “un-tryouts” — billed as a “no pressure approach” that empowers players and their families to decide whether Athena FC is right for them — on Sunday, June 11, at Shawnee Mission South High School, 8500 W. 107th St.
Athena FC’s founder has three goals
Club owner and executive director J.C. Knapp said he announced the launch of Athena FC earlier this month in order to create a model for girls club soccer in the Johnson County area that included three things:
- more access and opportunity to top notch training on par with boys teams,
- more medical staff oversight and guidance
- and mental performance coaching to deal with life’s challenges away from the field.
“Our focus will not just be on the athlete but the whole person,” Knapp said. “Are we equipping these young ladies to help them to succeed outside of soccer? Yes, they are soccer players, but we want to build strong, capable women, who feel like they can take on the world.”
The club will partner with a sports psychologist
To help bring this new endeavor about, Knapp reached out to Dr. Linda Sterling, the founder and CEO of Sterling Sport Mindset, an Overland Park-based sports psychology clinic.
Sterling holds doctoral and master’s degrees in sports psychology and counseling.
She and her staff usually see “mental performance clients” at the high school and college level at their office, and they also do occasional work with professional athletes.
While early elementary-aged kids aren’t her typical clientele, Sterling said she recognizes the growing need to provide her services to athletes in their early years of development.
“The youth sports environment now is so full of pressure on the kids to specialize early (and excel),” Sterling said. “(This) is a great time and age to start getting their mental skills ready to be in a position later when the stakes are raised.”
Coaching will focus on ‘confidence’ and ’emotions of the game’
Sterling and her team will be on site at ATHENA FC practices every other week, and present at all competitions.
Her presentations to the team will focus on strategies that aim to help the girls handle everything from the pressure of the moment to recognizing and dealing with injuries.
She also hopes to develop individual therapy sessions with players as the season unfolds.
“My (initial) presentations are going to focus on their confidence and how to help them work through the emotions of the game,” Sterling said. “More and more, younger athletes are putting pressure on themselves, and (J.C. Knapp and I) will be working on making sure they can still enjoy this experience as they grow.”
Sterling says she was immediately on board with the idea of serving the club, as Knapp presented her with his vision of creating more “well-rounded athletes” and not just premier soccer players.
Knapp, a financial advisor in the area, realizes that the club will most likely be outspent by its competitors in the area, but he sees the diverse staff that he has already assembled as being unmatched.
“I’m going to try and make this as cost effective as possible for interested participants,” Knapp said. “We have a lot of great people volunteering their time to make this happen, and this staff is something that no one else has.”
They want to create two U-9 teams
The club is hosting a three-day “Female Fútbol Forum” camp this week focused on both “physical and mental” soccer training led by high school and college players.
After that, comes the “un-tryouts,” which Knapp says aren’t just about evaluating players’ on-field skills but providing them with an honest, upfront understanding of Athena FC’s philosophy, values, and approach to developing the entire person.
“We want the girls to decide if Athena FC is a good fit for them,” Knapp said. “We don’t want them to feel pressure to join immediately or do it just because they’re offered the opportunity. This won’t be a traditional tryout.”
With that in mind, the club is instituting a “sleep on it” policy for the “un-tryouts,” meaning that players and their families don’t have to decide then and there whether they want to join.
After the “un-tryouts,” Athena FC plans to create two teams to begin the club season in the fall.
Those teams will be guided by former Sporting KC defender Kevin Ellis and Byron Alvarez, a Mexican-born former Major League Soccer player who also played indoor soccer for the Missouri Comets and was that league’s MVP one season.
Madison Hagen, a former college soccer player and coach, will serve as Athena FC’s Goalkeeping Director.
