Sporting Kansas City is officially moving into their new training center this week. The National Training and Coaching Development Center has been renamed Pinnacle. Not only a name that seems to be easier to roll off the tongue but also a goal for the new tenants.

Pinnacle is a joint venture between Sporting Kansas City, U.S. Soccer and Children’s Mercy. In addition to being Sporting KC’s new home, it is also the new home of coaching and referee education for U.S. Soccer and Children’s Mercy Sports Medicine Center.

U.S. Soccer can schedule any of their national teams to come train at Pinnacle, with two locker rooms and access to all the high tech state of the art amenities that Sporting KC will be utilizing. A partial list: hyperbaric chambers, cryotherapy and a hydrotherapy suite in addition to a sizeable gym area.

Calling Pinnacle State of the art really does not do it justice.

Outside the building, a seven acre “super pitch” where three full size soccer fields can be laid out or any combination of fields and specific training areas. A “Plyo Peak” with three different sets of stairs all with different rise heights for different plyometric training is next to the Super Pitch.

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes has been one of the many Sporting KC people involved in designing the facility and even he seems to be in awe of what they built. “What is really amazing to me is that as much as I was in it and seeing all the renderings and blueprints, you never really understand what it is like until you get in it. When I come in here I am amazed, I am wowed every time. I am just blown away by this facility.”

For Sporting KC, they are always conscious of making moves that will the team and Pinnacle may help the on field product in more than one way. Not only will it help keep SKC players at their peak, but it will hopefully attract new players and visiting teams as well.

“I think recruiting wise and retention wise it is huge,” Sporting KC President Jake Reid told The Blue Testament. “There are few facilities in the world that have this, much less in our league. From a fitness perspective, both preventative and rehab coming back we’ve got everything at our disposal that we could possibly need. I don’t think you can look around and wonder how this isn’t going to help up get better.”

Sporting KC veteran Graham Zusi believes the new facility will help attract players as well,” Having an incredible stadium is one thing. It is incredible and we are lucky to have Children’s Mercy Park but what attracts a lot of players is where you’re at on a daily basis and we are here every single day. To have something this nice, this incredible is something that can attract the highest level player.”

“From a recruiting perspective it is a simple one, you get somebody here they are not going to say no. They are going to want to be a part of this.” - Vermes

Note: We will have additional stories about Pinnacle covering the technology and history of how it came about