Peter Vermes, KC Wizards Technical Director Interviewed

Soccer By Ives recently did a two-part interview with Peter Vermes of the KC Wizards. It’s timely with the visit of the KC Wizard Juniors teams that are playing in the Challenge Cup at Lake Country Soccer this weekend. Vermes, who represented the US in the 1990 World Cup, is the Technical Director for the KC Wizards and therefor responsible for every team that represents the Wizards including the Juniors. He hired Head Coach Curt Onalfo and they work together to recruit, draft and determine team strategies.

The SBI Questions: Peter Vermes Answers (Part 1)

STEVE T- Peter, what was your most memorable moment from the 1990 World Cup, both on and off the field?

VERMES- Everybody always asks me about the shot that I had against Italy, and obviously that was very memorable, but what I would say it’s the opening game, standing in the tunnel before the game. That was pretty incredible, knowing we were in the World Cup and we were getting ready to play our first game.

Off the field I would say our preparation in Switzerland was pretty amazing. We were very focused, in our own hotel. Guys were all so young and naïve. Really, at the time, we didn’t really understand the magnitude of what we were doing. As I look back on it now we really forged a lot of great relationships with a lot of the guys who were from that group of players.

The SBI Questions: Peter Vermes Answers (Part 2)

CHUCK- Wow, this is so random. I was litteraly just thinking yesterday about my time at Peter Vermes soccer camp from like 15 years ago. Anyway, I was hoping Peter could touch on the strides US Soccer has made since is MNT playing days and how he thinks we should improve our current youth setup to develop a truly world class player.

VERMES- What has happened in U.S. Soccer is absolutely incredible. It’s so hard to talk about the strides that we have made. In the 1990 World Cup, out of the 23-man roster we had, I was the only player at that time playing overseas. Every other player was playing in the United States and signed with U.S. Soccer. I was playing in Holland for FC Volendam. Everybody else was playing in the United States.

Finally, as this headline from last Summer notes, KCW Juniors U-16, U-17, U-19 Teams Capture Kansas State Cup Crowns

Three age groups in the KCW Juniors Youth Development Program were crowned Kansas State Champions over the weekend, as the U-16, U-17 and U-19 teams rolled through the competition to capture state titles in their first year of competition.

The U16 and U17 teams are now a year older and playing this weekend in Springfield. Come see the best at Lake Country Soccer! Meanwhile, here’s the KC Wizards schedule for 2009. You can find it on Google Calendar by doing a Public search or you can download it here, see the button on the bottom right. Or the Wizards have an Outlook version on their website.