September 2026

Welcome to the Kings Hammer September Newsletter! This edition features: Supplemental Tryouts, Volta Futsal is Back, Hammer Out Cancer Event, Welcoming Ben Yauss, 5 Players Invited to US Soccer Talent ID Center, Riley Johnson Invited to USYNT U15 ID Center, Featured Education: “A Letter from the Technical Desk: Player Report Cards – The Two Columns”, Cincy Challenge, and more! If you have a player, coach, or team to be highlighted in future newsletters, please send photos and stories to info@kingshammer.com. Each newsletter will be posted on our website as well as our social pages.

Supplemental Tryouts

Tell your friends! We’re looking for players in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area to join our Academy program! For more information, times, and to register, click the links below:

Academy Warren County | Academy Sycamore | Academy Northern Kentucky

Volta Futsal is Back!

We’re excited to offer Kings Hammer Volta Futsal opportunities this winter in Northern Kentucky and Mason, Ohio. Volta Futsal provides a fast-paced, small-sided environment that complements outdoor soccer by increasing touches and developing technical skills, creativity, confidence, movement, decision-making, and speed of play.

Two Ways to Participate:

Volta Futsal – Training & Competition: Designed for higher academy and elite-level players, with training Mondays and Thursdays and Sunday league play.
Nov. 9, 2026 – Mid-Feb. 2027 | Florence Christian Church | U9–U14 + High School | $549 | Register by Nov. 8
Volta Futsal – Training Only: Additional technical training without the competition component, offered in Northern Kentucky and Mason for U6–U18.
Winter 1: November–December | Winter 2: January–February | $150 per session

Visit the program webpages for complete schedules, age groups, locations, fees, and registration information:

Whether your player is looking for extra technical development or competitive futsal, Volta Futsal is a great way to continue developing skills during the offseason.

Questions? Contact Adam Sonnett at asonnett@kingshammer.com.

Hammer Out Cancer Event

This October, Kings Hammer is proud to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the Hammer Out Cancer 4v4 Tournament on Wednesday, October 21, from 6:00–7:30 p.m. at Warren County Sports Park. Open to all ages, teams will include 4 kids and 2 adults, with mixed teams encouraged. Enjoy a fun, community-focused evening of small-sided soccer with no standings or championships—just soccer for a great cause!

Join us as we come together to raise awareness and support breast cancer research through the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Click here to learn more and register your team! Prefer to donate directly? Click here to support our fundraiser!

Welcoming Ben Yauss to Kings Hammer

20 years of sports performance experience is coming to Kings Hammer!

We’re excited to welcome Ben Yauss as the club’s new Strength & Conditioning and Sports Performance Coach, working with our U11–U14 Elite Teams. From player education and injury prevention to helping athletes perform and compete at the highest level, Ben will play an important role in supporting the development of our players. Welcome to the club, Ben!

Ben Yauss Introduction Full Interview

Five Kings Hammer Players Invited to U.S. Soccer Talent ID Center

Give us a five! Kings Hammer is thrilled to celebrate five players from our Elite Girls program, Sydney, Katherine, Emma, Parker, and Callie, who have earned invitations to the U.S. Soccer Youth National Team Talent ID Center in Lexington! Congratulations to all five players on this exciting opportunity!

Congratulations, Riley Johnson!

Congratulations to Riley Johnson of our KH Elite GU15 team on being invited to the U.S. Soccer USYNT U15 ID Center! Riley had the opportunity to represent Kings Hammer this month and showcase her talents alongside some of the top players in the country. We’re incredibly proud of this achievement and can’t wait to see him represent the Kings Hammer GK Union!

From The National Technical Desk: Player Report Cards – The Two Columns

Over the next few weeks, depending on your location and where your program sits in its season, a Player Report Card is going to land in your inbox. Before it shows up, I want to tell you what it is, and what it is not.

It is not a grade. It is not a ranking. Nobody is being sorted. It is a conversation, written down.

Why there are two columns

Every line on the form has two answers next to it. One from your player. One from their coach. Receiving under pressure. Turning. Ball striking. Decision making. Speed, quickness, fitness. Whether they are proactive. Whether they are a good teammate. Whether they bring Relentless Action in and out of possession. Your player fills out their side first, before they ever see what the coach wrote.

That is the whole design. We are not handing a player an evaluation. We are asking them to evaluate themselves, then showing them how a trained set of eyes saw the same season.

When the two columns match, that is a great sign. It means a player knows themselves. The interesting part is when they do not match.

One of our younger players marked himself as only meeting expectations on receiving the ball. His coach had him exceeding it. He is better than he thinks he is, and now he has that in writing from someone whose job it is to know. One of our older players rated her decision making higher than her coach did. That is not a knock on her. That is the most useful sentence anybody could hand a competitive teenager, because now she knows exactly where to point her work for the next four months.

Neither gap is a problem. Both are the point. A player who sees themselves accurately can improve on purpose instead of by accident.

About the colors

We use a traffic light scale. Green exceeds expectations, yellow meets them, red is an area to work on.

Read that scale carefully, because this is where families get tripped up. Every rating is made relative to that player’s own age and team level. Yellow means a player is doing exactly what we expect a player their age, on their team, to be doing. That is a good thing. Most of the form should be yellow and green, and a red light is not a verdict. It is an arrow pointing at the next thing to go get.

A handful of reds is not a season gone wrong. It is a coach being honest enough to be useful.

What we are actually measuring

The categories come straight out of the KH Way. Technical ability. KH Soccer Theory, which is communication, decision making, and application. Phases and Principles. Style of Play, broken into tenacity, effort, and opportunity, in and out of possession. The physical side. And the part I care about most, the Player Profile section, where we ask whether a player is passionate, proactive, hardworking, engaged, and a good teammate.

That last group has nothing to do with talent. A player can be green in every one of those boxes on their first day here, at any age, in any zone. That is a choice, not a gift. We measure it because we mean it.

How it works

The form lives in PlayMetrics under the Forms section, and your player will also get an email link. Players complete their self-evaluation inside a set window, coaches complete theirs in the same window, and the finished card is released to families shortly after.

Your Director of Coaching will send exact dates for your program. Timing differs by location and by where your season sits, so do not worry if another market gets theirs first. Report cards are tracked and reviewed before they reach you.

We look at development like a three-legged stool, and each leg plays its part in holding up a child’s long-term growth. The club and its supporting staff are one leg. The family, guiding and challenging, is the second. And the player, who is the owner of their journey through this great game, is the third.

One note for Juniors and Premier families: your reports are handled directly between your DOC and your trainers rather than through PlayMetrics.

Any questions, your DOC is your first call.

The part that takes years

One report card is a snapshot. Useful, but one moment. The value compounds.

A player who comes through Kings Hammer on the competitive side will build a stack of these. Zone 1 at nine. Zone 2 at fifteen. Different form, same language, same standards, tracking the same things in the same words. Five years from now they can lay them side by side and watch their own development in their own handwriting. They can see the line they marked red at ten become the strength they are known for at sixteen, and see which habits held and which ones they let slide.

That is a rare thing to give a kid. Most of us went through youth sports with nothing but memory and a few photos. Our players will have a record.

What I am asking of you

When it arrives, do not skim it. Sit down with your player and read it together, both columns, line by line. Ask where they were surprised. Ask which light they want to change by spring, and then ask what they are willing to do about it on a Tuesday when nobody is watching.

That last question is the one that matters. A report card does not develop anybody. What a player does on the ordinary days between now and the next one is what develops them.

Two columns. One player. The work in between is theirs.

Bring the Relentless Action.

– Bronson Gambale, KH National Technical Director

From the Field to Giving Back: Graham’s Story

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and we’re proud to shine a light on Kings Hammer Elite member Graham Schroth. After experiencing childhood cancer firsthand, Graham is now cancer-free and using his journey to give back to children and families facing the same fight.

This month, Graham and his mom, Morgan, are taking their team-first spirit off the field by participating in the CancerFree KIDS 100 Mile Challenge—completing 100 miles throughout September while raising funds and awareness for childhood cancer research.

We’re incredibly proud of Graham and the strength, compassion, and determination he continues to show. Help support Graham and his mission to give back by clicking here.

Graham Schroth - Cancer Free Kids Feature

From Player to Part of the Team!

We’re excited to welcome Sloane Sturm as our Digital Intern for the 2026 Fall Semester! Sloane will be out at the fields this fall capturing and sharing the moments that make Kings Hammer special. If you see her out and about, be sure to say hello! Welcome to the team, Sloane!

Sloane Sturm Introduction

Kings Hammer takes the Cincy Challenge

We brought together teams from around the midwest for an unforgettable weekend of competition and soccer fun at this years’ Cincy Challenge. Take a look back at a few of the many awesome moments from the event with us!

2026 Cincy Challenge Video Highlights

GK Union Save of the Month

We’re diving head first into the new season! Congratulations to our first GK Union Save of the Month winners of the 2026-2027 season, Ryland from KH Murfreesboro and Penny from KH Columbus. Way to keep the opponent off the board!

Did you make an incredible save or a game-saving block? We want to see them! Post your best saves in the Kings Hammer GK Union Facebook group. Be sure to share throughout the upcoming season and YOU could be selected for our Kings Hammer Save of the Month! GK Save of the Month winners will be announced the Friday of the first full week of the following month.

Monthly winners will be posted on the Kings Hammer social pages and on the GK Union page.

GK Union Save of the Month August 2026

Referee Training Opportunities

Have you ever considered becoming a soccer referee? Whether you’re a player, parent, coach, or simply looking for a fun way to stay involved in the game while earning extra income, now is the perfect time to get certified.

The Kentucky Soccer Referee Association (KSRA) have two in-person training opportunities left at Mustang Athletic Complex!

Northern Kentucky Field Sessions

Mustang Athletic Complex
844 Gilbert Ridge Road