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Kings Hammer Announces New Leadership and Expansion in Central Kentucky

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Kings Hammer is excited to announce new leadership and expansion at Kings Hammer Bluegrass. This new leadership team will create a complete player pathway for players located in Versailles, Lexington, and surrounding counties in Central Kentucky. The team will consist of James Wray, Dan Ensley, Brandon Cummons, and Fonyam Atanga.

James Wray will continue to lead the Kings Hammer Bluegrass events: Volta Cup Lexington, Triple Crown Cup, and Battle in the Bluegrass. Kings Hammer is proud to be the only club in Central Kentucky that offers convenient event opportunities and James will look to expand and improve the event experience for all families attending Kings Hammer Bluegrass events. In addition to leading events, James will assume the position of Operations Director for Kings Hammer Bluegrass. In this new role, he will be responsible for club operations for all Kings Hammer Bluegrass programs with a focus on club growth and development, scheduling, and facility relationships. James will work to help engage and grow the sport within the local communities of Versailles and Lexington. He holds a USSF B License and has coached for over 15 years at various levels, including club, high school, and ODP.  James has coached in various leagues throughout the region, including the Kentucky Premier League, Great Lakes Conference and The National League.  He recently took over as the Head Boys Coach at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, winning the 2021 KHSAA State Championship in his second season. 

Dan Ensley will be leading the Academy Program for boys and girls which will focus on serving the highest-level U11-U19 teams in Versailles and Lexington. Dan will also serve on the Kings Hammer Technical Committee and will be responsible for sharing and helping implement the Kings Hammer Game Model and curriculum in Central Kentucky. Dan Ensley has 25 years of soccer experience and came to Kings Hammer Bluegrass from Charlottesville, Virginia, where he served as the Director of Coaching and Player Development with Soccer Organization Charlottesville Area (SOCA). Ensley is Premier Diploma certified by United Soccer Coaches while holding a USSF A License.

Brandon Cummons will be leading the Premier Program in Versailles, Kentucky that will serve U8-U19 players located in and around the Versailles community. Brandon has over 15 years of soccer experience and spent the past 10 years as a staff coach and Director of Coaching at Bluegrass SC (now Kings Hammer Bluegrass). Cummons currently holds a USSF C License and has experience coaching at the club and ODP state levels. He also has experience in the KHSAA High School ranks coaching at East Jessamine High School and is the current girls coach at Woodford County Yellow Jackets.

Fonyam Atanga will be leading the new Premier Program in Lexington, Kentucky that will serve U8-U19 players located in and around the Lexington community.  Fonyam has over 15 years of soccer experience coaching locally in the Lexington area across all levels of play from college, high school, ODP, and club (Lexington FC and Bluegrass SC). He is currently the high school coach for the Woodford County Yellow Jackets Boys soccer program. He has also served as a member of the KY Youth Soccer coaching education team and a current member of the WYSA Board of Directors. Fonyam holds a US Youth Soccer National Youth License in addition to his US Soccer Federation A License.

The Premier Programs in Versailles and Lexington will be designed to provide players with the opportunity to train and prepare for the journey to our Kings Hammer Bluegrass Academy Program within their local communities. The Premier Programs also provide the opportunity for players that have other interests outside of soccer. These programs are designed to be flexible, convenient, and affordable to players of all levels.

“We are extremely excited about the leadership team we have been able to create in the Bluegrass region. Not only do we have some of the strongest soccer leaders in the area driving the program forward, but we also have a tried-and-true player pathway that is consistent across the club and provides for all levels and ages of players,” said Paul Nicholson, Kings Hammer Technical Director.

Dave McIver, Kings Hammer Vice President of Operations, added, “We are thrilled to continue to grow the Kings Hammer Bluegrass brand through added programs and events in the Versailles and Lexington communities. We have always had the goal and ambition to provide convenient program opportunities for players of all levels in Central Kentucky and this new leadership team provides greater opportunity for growth and development of Kings Hammer Bluegrass players, coaches and staff.”

Visit the Kings Hammer website now to view the complete player pathway offered to families and be sure to check back for more exciting news to come!

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Our goal is to continue to develop all of our players and their respective teams with an improved player development model and pathway during the new Fall 2022 – Spring 23 season after the tryouts.

Your player’s coach both as a volunteer and paid licensed and certified coach is part of our team and will continue to be part of our soccer club and community. The new partnership is aware that our responsibility as a youth club is to provide more support and resources to each coach so that our players and parents experience is even better.

We plan to have most of our current coaching team to continue to lead their assigned teams for the upcoming season unless there is a conflict with their schedule and/or another opportunity they prefer to pursue in the club which we may consider and appoint a new coach as a result.

Uniforms are set to change for the Fall 2022 – Spring 2023 season and we plan to keep the new and upcoming kits for 2-year period as that is the cycle suggested by the manufacturers.

Our new uniform/player kit brand will be Nike.

Pricing will be very comparable to our current brand of uniforms/player kits as we plan to add more value to the assortment of products that our players currently receive.

No. We will be using Soccer Village as our vendor for our families to order their new season uniforms/player kits.

Soccer Village will provide sample sizes during tryouts for the new uniforms/player kits so that you can order the correct sizing for your player.

Click here to view the Soccer Village website.

Fees will be an all-inclusive model that will cover all expenses (except uniform and personal travel).

No separate club fees and team dues.

Families will have an improved payment plan option of 8 installments with an initial deposit.

Financial Aid and Scholarships will still be available to our families. More information will be added to the website once tryouts have concluded.

Teams will continue to train at the same locations. A big part of this partnership is to work with the city and other independent locations to improve and invest in facilities to create a better training and playing environment.

Kings Hammer is one of the most recognizable privately held clubs in the Midwest.

Founded in 1993 in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.

2 US Youth National titles, 2 runners-up, 4 US Youth Region 2 Champs, 42 OH State Cups, 25 KY State Cups.

In 2020, they added a U23 team in the Ohio Valley Premier League, winning the league’s inaugural season in the Fall of 2020.

In 2021, they joined USL League Two, the pre-professional division of the USL in the US and adding a USL-W team for the 2022 season.

Kings Hammer is backed by Corporex, a privately held investment company with broad holdings throughout the United States. CPX creates investment opportunities for their capital partners through traditional real estate assets as well as an ever-broadening array of other opportunistic investments including Commonwealth Hotels, Kings Hammer Soccer LLC, Alpine Mountain Ranch & Club and Five Seasons Family Sports Clubs. Their ability to create exceptional value through these investments is rooted in their 56-year history as a BUILDER. Why Kings Hammer?

Yes. Click here to view the Club values.

A Complete Pathway to support an all-inclusive player development

Grassroots-Premier-Academy-Professional Development

  • Pathway will start with grassroots and premier program for the 2022/23 season
  • All-inclusive pay structure with flexible and affordable payment plans that covers all costs. 

No additional team fees (uniform/player kits & personal travel are not included)

  • Additional showcases and ID platforms through KH events & network
  • Unique travel and network opportunities through KH and its partners
  • Increased scholarship support through club and local foundation
  • Affordable uniform costs with better assortment through Nike and SV partnership
  • Play Metrics operations & comm. Platform connects the entire club
  • Techne training app – Supporting self-improvement at home
  • Sports Recruits (College recruitment platform and support)
  • College recruitment seminar
  • Player/Parent Education through KH Education Division
  • Kings Hammer Speaker Series – Platform created to present relevant youth soccer information. National and International guest speakers
  • Use of camera & technology for further development opportunities
  • Kings Hammer Goalkeeper Union for specialized training

Our goal is to make Kings Hammer Murfreesboro SC one of the most successful regional youth soccer clubs that focuses on player development with the proper core values. We plan to recruit and retain all coaches that will enable us to achieve our player development pathway for our players in the long run.

Kings Hammer Murfreesboro will continue to offer all levels of appropriate aged training for all level players. Click here to see our new and improved player development pathway.

Kings Hammer Murfreesboro will continue to offer programs all year round.

Full details of all programming will be released in May 2022.

Yes, the logo and the name will change to represent the new King Hammer Murfreesboro.

We will be combining local, regional, and possibly national sponsorships to generate the resources and scale up the opportunities for our Murfreesboro area players and teams. The benefit of our partnerships has impacted our families far beyond just sponsorships.

 

Technically, No. The Board of Director of MSC have agreed unanimously to sign a 6-year Partnership Agreement to outsource the management of the club to Kings Hammer to elevate the services we are currently and increase the opportunities to have a bigger economic impact to our community with this partnership.

Kings Hammer provides professional player development, great customer service, and offers an inclusive approach to youth soccer.  Kings Hammer Murfreesboro SC will elevate the scale of a community club with access to the highest-level opportunities for players to reach their fullest potential. Throughout the tiered system of development, players and coaches will be able to develop in the appropriate tiered programming, network and expertise provided by Kings Hammer Soccer Club.

Our Recreational Program, which will be branded as our Grassroots Program will continue to play their games at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex under the umbrella of Kings Hammer Murfreesboro SC with more support and resources for both players, parents and volunteer coaches of the program.

Our Academy and Select Program, which will be branded as our Premier Program will continue to train and play their games at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex as well as other locations they currently travel as part of their JDL and TSL games schedule versus other TSSA member organizations and youth soccer clubs.

Our future Premier Program teams will also continue to travel and attend tournaments within the state of TN and possibly other states based on their specific development need and skill level as a team.

No. However Kings Hammer Murfreesboro SC will have an improved structured player development model and a pathway that can support each individual player to play at different levels and assist players achieve their specific goals.

No. Kings Hammer have strong program representation in both States and their players play in their respective locations. The newly formed King Hammer Murfreesboro SC player will continue to play their JDL and TSL games in our area against other TSSA member organizations as scheduled by our state.

Premier Program teams may eventually travel to tournaments in Kentucky and Ohio as a result our partnership with Kings Hammer and vice versa.

As the club grows, we may potentially combine top players from each location to create regional development teams to compete at higher caliber events, showcases to create additional opportunities our players. 

That is our overarching goal and plan. However, it will take some time until we can have teams that can compete in higher level platforms. As Kings Hammer Murfreesboro, we’ve already started working towards a strategic development plan to prepare our club to be part of these leagues and compete at the highest level possible in a short amount of time.