Artist's rendition of the

Artist’s rendition of the of the NTCDC (photo/Sporting KC)

On Sunday, the ceremonial shovels scooped the first patches of dirt as Sporting Club, U.S. Soccer and Children’s Mercy broke ground on the National Training and Coaching Development Center in Kansas City, Kansas. The NTCDC will provide a world-class environment to develop players, coaches, and referees of all ages.  A facility they are calling a first of its kind in the United States.

The $62 million development will not only serve as a training center for Sporting Kansas City, but the site will be home to the U.S. Soccer National Coaching Education Center – providing a permanent, national home for the education of coaches and referees — and the Children’s Mercy Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center, which will offer a full range of sports medicine services, resources and programming for youth athletes in all sports.

The NTCDC is planned to accommodate seven full-size soccer fields. It will have five fields upon its opening, including a seven-acre natural grass Super Pitch which consists of three full-size fields and two lighted, synthetic turf fields. In addition, the 80,000-square-foot NTCDC building will feature cutting-edge components:

The U.S. Soccer National Coaching Education Center, including two locker rooms, three coaching classrooms, eight breakout rooms and the world’s first fully wired coaching pavilion.

Professional training facilities, including the new Sporting Kansas City player and coach locker rooms, two national team locker rooms, a video analysis suite, a conference room, an auditorium and a cafeteria

A 12,500-square-foot Sports Performance Gymnasium
A 2,100-square-foot Human Analysis Lab
A 1,700-square-foot Hydrotherapy Suite
A 1,500-square-foot Sports Performance Lab
An 800-square-foot Hydrotherapy Suite

It will be completed by November 2017 and will be located on the east side of 435 opposite Sporting KC’s stadium and the Kansas Speedway.