July Newsletter 2026

Welcome to the Kings Hammer Swan City June Newsletter! This edition features: Team Training Begins August 3rd, WPSL Season Recap, Coaches Continue to Grow, Beach Soccer, ODP Summer ID Event, GK Union Save of the Year, Supplemental Tryouts, Fall Recreational Registration Open, 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 acorbett@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 U13–U19 age group and Monday, August 10th for our U8-U12 age group. 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!

Summer Footy

Our WPSL season is a wrap. What an amazing summer it has been. Our Kings Hammer Swan City WPSL ladies represented our club with passion, pride, and commitment every time they stepped onto the pitch. From electric nights at SEU to hard-fought battles on the road, these ladies gave our community plenty to cheer about all summer long. To our players and coaching staff, thank you for an incredible season. Your professionalism, dedication, and passion for the game inspired the next generation of players throughout our club. To our supporters, families, volunteers, and fans, thank you for showing up all summer long. Your energy in the stands helped create a special atmosphere while supporting the growth of our girls’ youth program.

Investing in Our Coaches, Investing in Our Players

At Kings Hammer Swan City, we believe that the best player development starts with coaches who are committed to continuously learning and growing. We’re proud to celebrate three members of our coaching staff who have recently achieved new milestones in their coaching education.

Ash Hill Earns His USSF B License

Congratulations to our Elite Girls Director, Ash Hill, on earning his USSF B License! This latest accomplishment adds to an already impressive coaching résumé that includes his UEFA B License and USSF Goalkeeper C License.

Ash’s dedication to continuous education reflects his passion for the game and his commitment to providing the highest level of coaching and mentorship for every player in our Girls Elite program.

Blaine Davila Earns His USSF D License

Congratulations to Coach Blaine Davila on earning his USSF D License!

Since joining Kings Hammer Swan City last year, Blaine has become a valued member of our boys coaching staff. His commitment to expanding his knowledge and bringing new ideas back to the training field is a testament to his passion for developing young players. We look forward to watching Blaine continue to grow as a coach and make a lasting impact on our club.

Michael Tippell Earns His USSF D License

Congratulations to Coach Michael Tippell on earning his USSF D License!

Michael’s commitment to furthering his coaching education demonstrates his dedication to creating the best possible environment for player development. His willingness to continue learning and growing as a coach will have a lasting impact on the athletes he works with every day.

We are incredibly proud of Ash, Blaine, and Michael for investing in their own development. Their commitment to learning ensures that our players continue to benefit from knowledgeable, passionate coaches who are dedicated to helping them reach their full potential.

Congratulations to all three coaches on these outstanding achievements—we can’t wait to see the continued impact they have on our club and our players!

Beach Soccer

The best part of soccer isn’t always the matches or training sessions during the regular season, sometimes it’s the friendships that carry in the off season.

This weekend, some of our younger players have got together for a little beach soccer in Siesta Key and are having an absolute blast, even with this Florida heat! Moments like these remind us that the game brings people together long after practice ends. We love seeing our players enjoying the sport and making memories that will last a lifetime over the summer.

ODP Summer ID Event

Please join us in congratulating Isaiah Perez, Carson Prickett, Jace Talcott, and Reed Corbett from our 2014 Elite Boys team on an outstanding performance at the ODP South Summer ID Event (Regional) in North Carolina this past weekend!

Earning the opportunity to compete at this level is a testament to the dedication, commitment, and hard work these young players put in every day. They represented themselves, their families, and Kings Hammer Swan City with pride, and we couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments.

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!

Supplemental Tryouts

New to Lakeland? Still Looking for the Right Club? We will be holding Boys & Girls Supplemental Tryouts on August 8th.

Our experienced coaching staff, and competitive pathway provide an environment where players can develop their skills, build confidence, and enjoy the game they love.

Click here to register!

Fall Recreation Registration

𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍! We can’t wait to welcome back our returning players and meet all of the new faces joining the Swan City family this fall!

Whether your player is just getting started or continuing their soccer journey, we have a program for everyone:

Munchkins (U4-U5) – Building a love for the game from the very beginning
Mini Kickers (U6) – Developing confidence, skills, and fun
U8-U15 Boys & Girls – Growing players through teamwork, competition, and a positive soccer experience

Choose the practice location that works best for your family:

South Lakeland: Carter Rd Park
Central Lakeland: Lake Parker Park / Tigertown

Saturday game days will alternate between Carter Rd Park and Lake Parker Park/Tigertown, giving all of our players and families the opportunity to experience both great soccer facilities throughout the season!

Important Dates to Remember:

Registration is OPEN NOW!
Late Registration Begins: August 10
Final Day to Register: August 31

Don’t miss your chance to be part of the longest-running youth soccer program in Lakeland!

Click here to register today and get ready for an exciting Fall 2026 season!

Meet Our Recreational Director, Chuck Lynch!

If you’ve been part of our Recreation program for a while, chances are you’ve already met Chuck. His passion, dedication, and friendly face have become a staple of our soccer community.

For those who are new to Swan City, Chuck has been part of our club family for 15 years and has proudly served as our Recreation Director for the past 5 years. From organizing each season and supporting our amazing volunteer coaches to helping create a positive experience for every player and family, Chuck works tirelessly behind the scenes to make our Recreation program the success it is today. We truly couldn’t do it without him, and we’re incredibly grateful for everything he does for our players, families, coaches, and community.

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

Interested in being a Volunteer Coach?

Our volunteer coaches are the heart and soul of our Recreation Program. Their passion, encouragement, and dedication are what have helped make us Lakeland’s longest-standing youth recreation soccer program.

Whether you’ve coached for years or are thinking about giving it a try for the first time, we’d love to have you join our team.

Interested in coaching this fall? Click here to fill out the form, and our amazing Recreation Director, Chuck Lynch, will be in touch with you soon.

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!

Academy Sports+Outdoors Partnership

Please join us in welcoming Academy Sports + Outdoors to our family. As we start to gear up for another exciting Fall Recreation season, we’re grateful for partners who help support our players, families, and community. We’re thrilled to have an Academy Sports + Outdoors location right here in Lakeland and look forward to providing our families with the great opportunities and savings they have to offer throughout the season. Thank you, Academy Sports + Outdoors, for joining the team. We’re excited for what’s ahead!