Voting opened today for the MLS W.O.R.K.S. 2013 Community MVP contest and every MLS club is represented by a community member who uses soccer to make a positive difference in their community. Sporting Kansas City's candidate is Rob Million, the president of Sporting Club Network member Puma FC, who helped launch "A Chance For All" to provide underprivileged youth in Kansas City a chance to play organized soccer.
Read more about his nomination below and check out photos from "A Chance for All" event held last year...
“A Chance for All” serves as a platform to give children, who normally wouldn’t get the opportunity, a chance to learn and participate in the game of soccer. In conjunction with Operation Breakthrough, a child care and social services center, Puma FC supplies coaches, training materials, and donated equipment to children interested in playing soccer in some of Kansas City’s most underprivileged areas. Originally an after-school program, “A Chance for All” partnered with the YMCA last year to offer soccer instruction to a larger population of local youth in the Kansas City area. With Million’s leadership, Puma FC started a full training program at Afrikan Centered Education, a college preparatory school in Kansas. The training has developed a love of soccer for students that knew nothing about the sport, and enabled some of the scholars to play for Puma FC and other local club teams. The opportunity to play competitive soccer, has offered an opportunity to move onto higher education and change their lives. A longtime resident of the KC area, Million believes that all young people have talent and it is his mission to offer an opportunity for that talent to show.
Voting is conducted online through MLSSoccer.com and the MLS Facebook page and continues until 4 p.m. CT on July 12. The winner will receive a $10,000 donation to their charity of choice, as well as a trip for two to the 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game at Sporting Park (including accomodations, tickets, in-stadium recognition and a gift bag). The Community MVP Grand Prize winner will be announced on July 15.
