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The Program- A Step Above the Norm.
The Kansas City Legends began franchising their unique development program to select individuals around the nation and invited Tony Greco, a fixture in Topeka soccer for over 10 years, to take on the challenge of starting one in the capital city.
Here is the story of the Topeka Legends.
March 2007 -In the spring of 2007, the Topeka Strikers (U13 girls) became the first Legend team to take on the exciting challenge of the developmental and confidence building Legend approach. Their improvement and risk taking mentality was noticed.
August 2007- In the fall of 2007 the Topeka Ballistics (U16 girls) and Topeka Tornados (U12 girls) joined the ranks of skill development training with the Legends. Both teams were wonderful acquistions and became the oldest and youngest teams trained under the Legend banner. In fact the U12 girls were trained under the Legend system from day 1.
March 2008- During the spring of 2008 three additional teams, the Topeka Aftershock (U13 girls), the Topeka Impact (U10 girls), and the Topeka Legends Thunderbolts (U9 girls) began seeing the trend of confidence in Legend players and have enlisted in a trial season of Legend Training. All three teams have aspirations of becoming official Legend members at the start of the 2008 fall season. The Legends also acquired long time successful Topeka coach Al Barranco (formerly Topeka Select), all star-Jessica Barranco (current Seaman starter), and Washburn Rural alum Jamie Francis (Ottawa University) to join the Legend family of trainers.
May 2008- The Aftershock, Impact, and Thunderbolts make it official. These teams commit to becoming Topeka Legends as they have seen the benefits of the training they have received. Wonderful additions to the club!
May 2008- Now going on it's fourth season this fall, the Topeka Legends philosophy has found roots in the capital city. It started with 15 girls who took on the challenge of what it takes to be a Legend. It has grown to six Legend teams and 94 girls at the end of the 2008 spring season, and by all indications will continue to be thriving program in the area.
June 2008- Tryout season is a tremendous success. The Topeka Legends fill their maximum amount of girls teams (seven). They include a U10, U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U17 team in the respective age groups. The Legends have their first boys team sign up for the 2008 fall season. Over 120 girls and 13 boys girls will represent the Legends in the fall of 2008.
The Philosophy- Confidence is key.
When the Kansas City Legends club was founded 18 years ago we were the upstart club with strange and unique individually beneficial developmental methods. Many laughed at us because our players would attempt very difficult fakes/moves in their penalty area, lose the ball and give away easy goals. Within four or five years no one was laughing anymore. The Legends club has since become the Kansas City club most likely to develop college scholarship players.
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In 2007 we began franchising the Legends philosophy to select individuals nationwide; which include Topeka. The Topeka franchise will be developed by Tony Greco, a fixture for several years in the Topeka youth soccer arena. Tony shares the philosophy of Andy Barney, the founder of the Legend club, and has spent valuable time learning this system.
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The program consists of one major focus; the development of individual skill at all levels. Players are required to attempt or display a "skilled" move in game play each and every outing. The development of the individual skill not only leads to big play mentality, it establishes a number of essential fundamental skills such as dribbling, ball striking, control and precision passing. The simple fact the more a player touches the ball the more confident and efficient they become is a common Legend belief.
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At the Pre K -U8 level, known as our HappyFeet Program, players learn the basic fundamental moves in a fun storytime setting. These 30 minute segments help players with coordination, basic understanding of moves, and a foundaton for an early love of the game.
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The Legend U9-12 Olympic level requires players to demonstrate moves on each and every play in a game. Many times this leads to defeat in actual score. However, the Legend staff has incorporated a scoring system based on skilled moves to measure the goals set by the program. Ultimately, teams experience failure before success on the skilled moves, but the constant encouragement of skill eventually leads to success in all aspects of the game.
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The Legend U12-U19 levels incorporate our Olympic program (based on current team development listed above), or the World Cup program. The World Cup program varies from our Olympic programs as it represents the finished product of our system. At this level all players have mastered the skilled move segments, the attacking individual brilliance, and the focus is on the choice of skill, advanced passing strategies and specialization of position. This is when we begin to showcase individual ability and teams begin to shine.
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The Big Play- Risk Taking Players
The Legends program continues to show the community that it is the development of the creative individual with a great self-concept that makes youth sports fun, worthwhile and rewarding. Our players are different. They are more skillful. They learn the “Big Play” skills that made the greatest players famous and are encouraged to take individual risks regardless of the score or opponent.
Upon this foundation of individual brilliance and confidence we are later able to build advanced team understanding. This combination of individual brilliance and team cohesion/unity has lead to the phenomenal individual and team track record the club has enjoyed.
Every game played by an experienced Legends team is a demonstration of superior and relentless individual skill. Intelligent parents compare their own child with those on the other team and realize that Legends players have learned a greater degree of individual skill and are clearly better from a creative technical perspective. Some opposition parents and players take great comfort in winning games against our teams. However, more intelligent adults realize that when tryouts for the State, High School or College team arrive it is what the individual can show the selector that really counts.
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Opportunities- Development above all else.
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It is also important to note when trying to find a good school for your child one looks at the curriculum, the process of progression, and the results of the system. The same format should be used when looking at the development of a child in the soccer spectrum.
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The Legend program is set up much like a formal school system. At each and every age group a player simply expands upon the foundation of knowledge from the prior year. The basic curriculum of relentless individual skill is apparent in every age group.
The Legends are in this for the betterment of soccer in Topeka and our players. That is why we let any of our players guest play, or secondary roster with other clubs when their primary team is not playing. The more a player can demonstrate their skills in game play, the better they will become. We also welcome scrimmages and friendlies as much as possible. Please refer to our manager list below to contact individuals for information if you would like a guest player or scrimmage.
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