February Newsletter 2025

Welcome to the Kings Hammer February Newsletter! This edition features Celebrating Girls & Women in Sports Day, Laying the Foundation at Juniors Camp, 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.

Kings Hammer Celebrates Girls & Women in Sports Day

On February 5th, we celebrated National Girls & Women in Sports Day (as recognized by The Women’s Sports Foundation). This day is held to celebrate an important moment for equality and sports history. Kings Hammer Soccer Club is honored and grateful to have such an amazing group of female athletes, coaches, and staff across our club. We brought together a few of these wonderful ladies to share their thoughts and personal experiences with us. Watch the video below for more.

Laying the Foundation at Juniors Camp

This month, we wrapped up our 6-week Juniors Camp at The Pitch Lexington. Campers came together for the last 6 weeks to learn the basics of soccer and develop as a player with Kings Hammer staff. While reflecting on the Juniors Camp this year, Director Chris Brady said, “We really focused on two key areas: fostering a lifelong love for the game and developing individual player skills. We put emphasis on helping players feel confident with the ball at their feet. At the youngest ages, we want to ensure they’re comfortable with the ball and understand how to manipulate it in various ways, which sets the foundation for them to become strong individual players in the future.” This winter, campers worked on:

Basic ball control and the four surfaces of the foot
Watching and listening to instruction
Changing direction
Speed with control
Skill moves
Finishing with control & composure
Having fun with lots of game play!

Thank you to all of our campers who showed up every week eager to learn and play!

Kings Hammer Players get Called Up!

We want to give a huge congratulations to Aniah Zembrodt, Aubrey Blakely and Parker Goetz from our KH ECNL G11 team on their invitation to the USYNT Regional ID Center in Indianapolis. We are so proud of you, girls. Keep up the fantastic work.

February Education: Developing Leadership in Players

As we finally leave the long winter behind (turns out that groundhog knew what it was talking about!) and get back on the field, our coaches will be reviewing the club curriculum, creating activities, and writing up their practice plans to take to the field and get their teams ready for upcoming games and events. Developing better dribbling skills, improving control in receiving, and perfecting killer passes which lead to creative scoring chances will be a part of the key objectives. However, it shouldn’t be the only objective.

Our Kings Hammer CORE Values exemplify the off-field characteristics that can and should be a part of the learning that our players need: Respect, Creativity, Passion, Integrity, and Leadership.

Developing Leadership in Our Players: A Guide for Coaches and Parents

One of the most important lessons that can be imparted through youth soccer is leadership. Leadership goes beyond the ability to direct another person (or player) in what to do or how to perform. There are a number of traits, beliefs, and actions that all combine to create a good leader. Parents and coaches play crucial roles in nurturing leadership qualities in young players. Here are some strategies to help develop leadership in our Kings Hammer players:

1. Mentoring and Role Modeling

Young athletes often look up to their coaches and parents as role models. Coaches should demonstrate positive leadership behaviors, such as effective communication, empathy, and integrity. Parents can reinforce these traits by discussing the importance of these qualities and highlighting examples from their own lives or from well-known leaders in sports and other fields.

2. Encouraging Initiative

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GK Union Save of the Month

From the pitch to the hardwood, we had two spectacular saves last month to claim our January GK Union Save of the Month award! Congratulations to Brian and Makenna on their quick reactions & shot stopping prowess!

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 spring 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.

NEW KINGS HAMMER LEXINGTON GEAR

Kick off 2025 with some awesome new merchandise! We’ve added new Kings Hammer Lexington fan gear to our Kings Hammer Shop that you’re sure to love! Now with extended sizing, we have Kings Hammer t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and more available at shop.KingsHammer.com. Check it out now!