Kitsap Soccer Club were the most successful first-year franchise in the history of the Premier Development League during their inaugural 2009 campaign and have continued to grow in the community. The past two seasons have been among the most exciting in the club’s history.
2014 involved winning three trophies (Northwest Division, Ruffenck Cup, Western Conference) before finishing runner-up in the National Championship game. In 2015, Kitsap Pumas went undefeated in the Northwest Division for the first time, finishing with an impressive 10 victories and 2 draws, earning the leagues regular season title. Along the way, there was an open cup run that culminated in a matchup with Seattle Sounders 2 of the USL Pro, which was played out in front of 3,000 fans in Seattle.
As a road team playing across our division (Calgary, Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Tacoma and Issaquah) our presence led the majority of these clubs to draw their largest home crowds of their respective season – meaning that Kitsap’ – in their traditional “hooped” jerseys – were seen by probably more fans than any other in the entire league. Kitsap is also home to one of the strongest per-capita youth soccer player contingents in the state of Washington having over 8,000 households registered with Washington State Youth Soccer’s District IV.
The number of local and national news stories, blog entries and websites in which Kitsap SC appeared totaled over seven million viewings in 2014. In nearly every single story and page view a photograph of a KSC player in uniform was featured. In 2015, our professional players, staff and mascot attended twenty-four elementary and middle schools throughout Kitsap County to run coaching clinics and provide informative talks on sports, nutrition and careers.
Additionally, we attended 18 separate community events and festivals including Harbor Festival, Blackberry Festival, Whaling Days, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue Kids Day to promote the club and our sponsors. At each of these events, flyers and merchandise were given to the kids.