July Newsletter 2026

Welcome to the Kings Hammer July Newsletter! This edition features, Team Training Begins August 3rd, Fall Juniors, Kings Hammer Family Night, 2026 College Commitments, 3 Top GK’s in Cincinnati, GK Union Save of the Year, Alumni Spotlight: Natalie Bain, Featured Education: “A Letter from the Technical Desk: Start Strong. Stay Relentless.”, 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.

Team Training Begins August 3rd!

We’re so excited to welcome our new and returning players back to the pitch for the 26/27 season! Team training begins Monday, August 3rd for our U7–U14 age groups. All training schedules have been entered into the PlayMetrics system.

As we head into the new season, here are a few helpful PlayMetrics links:

To ensure the best environment for you to thrive, please familiarize yourself with our pathway and leadership:

Direct support

Soccer: Head Coach
Admin: Administrator
Soccer Leadership: Director of Coaching

Umbrella support

Education: National Technical Director / National Director of Club Resources
Organization: Hub General Manager
Soccer Trainers / GK Director / GK Trainers

If you need anything at all, please first connect with your Head Coach and Director of Coaching. We believe communication is key.

All communication will go through PlayMetrics, and we are here to support your growth every step of the way. Go Kings Hammer!

Fall Juniors Registration Now Open!

Kings Hammer Juniors is a fun, introductory soccer program for players ages U6–U8. The Fall Session will run August 14th-October 9th in Northern Kentucky at Town and Country and in Cincinnati at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy.

COED U6: Fridays 5-6pm at Town & Country & CHCA

60-Minute Session: 30 minutes of fun, game-based technical training followed directly by 30 minutes of small-sided match play
Program Schedule: Weeks 1–2: 60 minutes of clinic/training activities. & Weeks 3–8: 30 minutes of training + 30 minutes of game play.

U7–U8: Fridays 5-6:30pm at Town & Country & CHCA

90-Minute Combined Session: 45 minutess of team technical/tactical training followed directly by 45 minutes of match play
Program Schedule: Weeks 1–2: 60 minutes of clinic/training activities & Weeks 3–8: 45 minutes of training + 45 minutes of game play.

Click here to register today!

Save the Date: Kings Hammer Family Night is August 22nd

Save the Date! We’re excited to announce that our Kings Hammer Night with FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium is set for August 22nd! Kick off the upcoming 2026-2027 season with an opportunity to meet your new teammates and coaches while we come together to cheer on FC Cincinnati!

FC Cincinnati vs Seattle Sounders – Sunday, August 22nd – Kickoff at 7:30pm

Kings Hammer Family Night Highlights include:

Discounted Tickets
Pre-Match in Washington Park
On-Field Activations Raffle

Join your teammates and Kings Hammer Staff for an awesome night of soccer with friends and family. Find all the information you need through your PlayMetrics communication from the club or click here for more info!

Class of 2026 College Commitments

Years of hard work paying off. As our 2026 graduating class heads off to college next year, we want to congratulate everyone on their achievements! Each player should feel proud of themselves as they head to the next level. We wish everyone the best of luck in their new adventures!

3 of the Top GK’s in Cincinnati

This GK Union is built different! We’re proud to have 3 of the top returning high school goalkeepers in Greater Cincinnati this coming fall! Congratulations to Booker Gifford (Covington Catholic), Nick Maslin (Lakota East), and Leah Peter (Anderson). We’re proud of each of you for all your hard work to earn this recognition!

GK Union Save of the Year

Trophy time! Congratulations to Kings Hammer Cincinnati Goalkeeper Melody Ashbaugh and Kings Hammer Swan City Goalkeeper Ryder Gilliard on earning the 2025-2026 Aubrey Kingsbury Save of the Year! Well deserved recognition after both outstanding moments of brilliance in goal!

Thank you to our friends at Trophy Awards Manufacturing for this fantastic award!

Learn about GK Union Save of the Month

New to Kings Hammer and the KH GK Union? Get to know our GK Union Save of the Month and the Aubrey Kingsbury Save of the Year initiative!

Save of the Month

Each month, goalkeepers from across the club have the opportunity to submit their best saves from their Kings Hammer matches on our GK Union facebook page. At the end of each month, our National Director of Goalkeeping, Lou Liberatore, will select two participants, one boy and one girl, as the Kings Hammer GK Union Save of the Month winners.

To enter your saves for a chance to be named our Save of the Month winner, goalkeepers from across the club should start by joining the Kings Hammer GK Union facebook page. You can upload your save videos to this page with your name, your team name and where the save took place.

Aubrey Kingsbury Save of the Year

The Aubrey Kingsbury Save of the Year was created in collaboration with USWNT and NWSL goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury who is also an alumna of Kings Hammer. At the end of the ‘26/’27 season, Aubrey will review all of the season’s Save of the Month winners and select a boy and a girl winner for Save of the Year.

We want to wish everyone the best of luck this season. We look forward to seeing everyone’s best saves and blocks!

Alumni Spotlight: Natalie Bain

Hear from Houston Dash rookie and Kings Hammer alumna Natalie Bain as she reflects on her time with the club, shares some of her favorite memories, and gives an update on her first season as a professional. From the everyday moments that shaped her journey to achieving her dream of playing professionally, Natalie looks back on the experiences that made a lasting impact.

Representing at National Talent ID

Earlier this month, Kings Hammer Girls Academy players Aniah, Callie, and Gabby, along with Elite Girls Director Octavia Saunders, traveled to Virginia for the National Talent ID event.

The players had the opportunity to showcase their talents alongside and against some of the top girls players from across the country, gaining valuable experience. We’re incredibly proud of how they represented Kings Hammer and congratulate them on this outstanding achievement!

OVPL Valley Conference Champs

After a fantastic summer of training and development our 2026 OVPL Soccer season concluded on Saturday evening! Our boys won the Valley Conference on their way to the OVPL Championship match, where they fell short of a title. We’re proud of the boys for a great season!

National DOC Workshop

This month, Kings Hammer Directors of Coaching and General Managers from across the country all gathered in Cincinnati for our annual season kickoff seminar. From setting on field expectations to learning off the field business processes, it was a great opportunity for our entire staff to meet and grow together! Our club can’t wait to begin the 2026-2027 season!

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) and the Ohio Soccer State Referee Committee (OSSRC) are offering several in-person training opportunities throughout Northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati area for new and returning referees.

Northern Kentucky Field Sessions

Mustang Athletic Complex
844 Gilbert Ridge Road

August 9: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
September 13: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
November 15: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
November 21: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Cincinnati Area Sessions

July 31: 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at Miami Whitewater Soccer Complex
August 9: 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. at Lebanon Sports Complex

Click here for more information and to register!

From The National Technical Desk: Start Strong. Stay Relentless.

August 3rd. That is the date on the calendar right now, and if you have been through a preseason with us before, you know what that date actually holds. Cleats crunching on fresh-cut grass. A ball popping between players who are still shaking off weeks of summer. Parents standing at the fence line, half excited and half nervous, not totally sure what to expect from the season ahead. A group of kids figuring out who they are as a team, one drill at a time.

That is the first day of the season. And I want to talk about what that day actually is, because it is easy to miss.

The first day of the season is not the exciting part. The exciting part comes later – the first goal, the first win, the moment a kid does something on the ball that makes the whole sideline gasp. The first day is quiet by comparison. It is repetition. It is a coach explaining the same drill for the third time. It is a player who has been on vacation trying to get their first touch back. Nobody is filming the first day of training. Nobody remembers it a year later.

But here is what I have learned after enough years in this game: the first day is where the season actually gets decided.

What the season starting really means

Every team that takes the field in October is a product of what got built in the weeks nobody was watching. The habits a player brings to a random Tuesday practice in August are the same habits they will lean on in a tied game in November when the whole thing is on the line. You do not get to choose which version of yourself shows up under pressure. You only get to choose which version of yourself you have been practicing all along.

That is the whole idea behind the KH Way. We are not just running training sessions and filling out a schedule. Every rep, every correction, every “again, faster, sharper” is us trying to build the version of a player who is ready before the moment that actually matters ever shows up. The standard we hold in a Tuesday session in preseason is the standard that shows up in a shootout in the spring. There is no separating the two.

Relentless Action starts before anyone is watching

We talk a lot about Relentless Action around here, and it is easy to picture it as the sprint back on defense or the dive for a fifty-fifty ball in a big moment. But Relentless Action starts long before that. It starts with a player who shows up to the first day of the season and competes in a rondo like it means something, even though nobody outside that field will ever know it happened. It is the discipline to bring full effort to the parts of the season that come with no crowd and no reward, because that is exactly what builds the player who can be trusted when the crowd and the reward finally show up.

Raising the bar is not a one-time event. It is not something you do once in October and then coast on. It is a decision you make on the first ordinary Tuesday of the season, and then again the next day, and the day after that, until it is not a decision anymore – it is just who that player is.

What I want from all of us this season

So as we count down to August 4th, here is what I am asking every coach, every director, and every family in this program to hold onto: do not wait for the big moment to bring your best. Bring it on day one, in the parts of the season nobody is going to remember. Build the habits in August that you want to be able to trust in November. That is how we develop players who do not just perform when things are easy – we develop people who are ready when things get hard, because they have already done the hard, unglamorous work of a hundred ordinary practices to get there.

August 3rd is coming. Let’s build it right, from the first rep.

Bring the Relentless Action.

– Bronson Gambale, KH National Technical Director

Boys and Girls Night Out

This past weekend, we kicked off the excitement for the upcoming fall season with our Boys and Girls Night Out events! Players from across Greater Cincinnati came together for evenings filled with soccer, games, pizza, friendship, and community. From building relationships on the pitch to making friendship bracelets and hearing inspiring messages from our Elite Girls players about what it means to be a great teammate, the weekend was full of fun, connection, and encouragement. Thank you to everyone who joined us, we can’t wait to see you all this fall!