Welcome to the Kings Hammer Columbus September Newsletter! This edition features, Tournament & League Success, Competing at the OhioHealth Performance Center, Investing in Our Coaches, Featured Education: “A Letter from the Technical Desk: Player Report Cards – The Two Columns”, Barcelona Juniors, GK Union Save of the Month, and more! If you have a player, coach, or team to be highlighted in future newsletters, please send photos and stories to dfry@kingshammer.com. Each newsletter will be posted on our website as well as our social pages.
September Tournament & League Success
It was a strong month for Kings Hammer teams on the tournament and league circuit! Across Columbus, our teams took the field ready to compete, facing quality opponents and putting their hard work and preparation into action.
Congratulations to all of the players and coaches who competed throughout the month. From battling through tough matches to putting together impressive results, our teams continued to show their talent, teamwork and determination on the field.
We’re proud of the way our players represent Kings Hammer and continue to compete with confidence. There’s still plenty of soccer ahead, and we’re excited to see what the rest of the season brings!
Competing at the OhioHealth Performance Center
A great opportunity for our U12 Elite Boys to compete at the OhioHealth Performance Center! Experiences like this give our players the chance to test themselves in a new environment, compete against quality competition and create memories along the way.
Thank you to Columbus Crew Academy for welcoming us out and providing a great experience for our players!
Investing in Our Coaches
Our Columbus coaching staff came together for a Coaching Education Series focused on collaboration, learning and continued development. Sessions like these give our coaches an opportunity to share ideas, learn from one another and continue raising the standard across Kings Hammer.
A big thank you to National Technical Director Bronson Gambale and National Club Resources & Director Education Lou Liberatore for leading the sessions and investing in the continued growth of our coaching staff.
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
Learning From the College Game
There’s always more to learn from the game! This month, Kings Hammer players had the opportunity to be anthem buddies at the Ohio State vs. Iowa women’s soccer match. The Buckeyes picked up a 3-1 win, and our players had an unforgettable experience being part of the action.
Teams from across Columbus have also attended Akron Zips and Pittsburgh Panthers games together, giving players the chance to watch college soccer, experience the game at the next level and spend time together off the field.
We love seeing our players find new ways to learn, experience and enjoy the game!
Keep Growing with Kings Hammer Juniors
Kings Hammer Juniors gives U5–U8 players a fun, encouraging environment to learn the game, build foundational skills and grow in confidence. Through age-appropriate training, activities and small-sided games, players can develop their skills while having fun and making new friends.
Barcelona Juniors begins October 11, and registration is open now! Polaris Juniors and New Albany Juniors will return later this fall, with dates to be announced soon.
Learn more and register today!
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.
Stay Connected on Social Media!
Don’t miss what’s happening across Kings Hammer Columbus! Follow your local club channels for the latest team news, player and coach highlights, tournament updates, program announcements and more. Be sure to tag us in your photos and posts—we love seeing our Kings Hammer community in action!
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