Sporting Kansas City Academy defender Paul Dean received the 2012 Bob Gansler Award, annually bestowed upon the most outstanding Sporting KC Academy player of the year, in a ceremony at halftime of last week's regular season finale at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Pictured above are Sporting KC Academy Director of Coaching Jon Parry along with Dean and his parents, Mark and Evelyn. His brother Aaron, not pictured, was also in attendance.
A team captain for the Sporting KC Academy under-18's, Dean played in all 24 games for the under-16 squad during the 2011-12 season. The Overland Park, Kan. native attends Blue Valley North High School and is the only U-18's player to have started every match in the 2012-13 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season. His outstanding play has helped the first place under-18's squad go 6-0-0 thus far in the Central Conference's Frontier Division.
Established in 2010, the Bob Gansler Award has previously been given to Konner Knoll (2010) and Nate Opperman (2011). The award is named after legendary coach Bob Gansler, who managed in KC from 1999-2006 and the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 1990 World Cup. He was widely respected for his role in youth soccer in the United States, also serving as head coach for the U.S. under-19 and under-20 youth national teams
