Blake Decker Hired to CUP Technical Leadership Team
Cincinnati United Soccer Club
Contact: Bryan Daniel
Email: bryan.d.daniel@gmail.com
Cincinnati United Hires Blake Decker to the CUP Technical Leadership Team
Cincinnati United Soccer Club is proud to announce the hiring of Blake Decker as the newest member or our newly formed CUP Leadership Team. Decker, a former high school teacher and current USSF A Licensed coach, has over 20 years' experience working in the field of youth player development. He holds the USSF Academy Director License and has served as a technical leader in both amateur and professional youth club environments.
Most recently, Decker served as the Academy Director for USL Championship club, Saint Louis FC, where he also directed the club's Technical Board. Prior to joining Saint Louis FC in 2017, Decker served as a Director of Coaching and Academy Director for St. Louis Scott Gallagher where he was a member of the club's Management Team.
Decker states, "I am extremely grateful to the entire board along with Dan Kunkemoeller, Scott Rodgers and Scott Bower for the opportunity to join Cincinnati United. Having coached in the Midwest region since 2003, I have always known Cincinnati United to be a valued and trusted partner in the area of youth development. While the organization is forward-thinking and driven to be the best, I have also found the leadership to be comprised of individuals who genuinely care about developing all levels of players in all areas of their community, on and off the field. This history of community focused, holistic development is one that drew me to the club and I am excited to start contributing to that great tradition."
Comprising staff from both CUP Boys and CUP Girls, the CUP Leadership Team will serve the strategic purposes of unifying the CUP Boys and CUP Girls leadership through creative directives and improved programming. Additionally, it will provide a streamlined organizational structure that allows for more collaboration, consistency and sharing of resources between the girls' and boys' sides of our CUP program. This added efficiency and focus will continue to solidify the club's space at the Regional and National levels.
When he begins with the club in August 2020, Decker will join Scott Rodgers, Scott Bower, Manoj Khettry, Nicki Skylis, Kemar Jackson and Jacob Morrison as the initial leadership team, and the CUP Leadership Team makeup will evolve over time, as we continue to improve the coaching and leadership development, diversity and inclusion within our staff. The above CUP Directors will be continuing to serve in their current leadership roles respectively.
CU President Dan Kunkemoeller expressed his excitement over the new leadership team, saying "At Cincinnati United, we are constantly looking for ways to enhance our organizational structure to better serve our United Family. This newly formed CUP Leadership team will efficiently and effectively allow us to better serve every CU and CUP player and family in our community."
CU Executive Director Scott Rodgers also highlights the collaborative nature of the team: "We have long been a leader in our region for premier player development for both boys and girls at the highest levels. This team of leaders will empower our top-notch staff on both sides to help shape the CUP programming and vision across the board, which is a benefit to all CU/CUP families in the end."
John Ramby, CU Vice President of Competitive adds: "This is a great change for our entire club. While it is a CUP leadership team, we look forward to seeing how this new leadership structure enables exciting, creative ways to grow our programming for all players in our CU Lakota-Monroe, CU Lebanon, CU Southeast and CU Sycamore-Mason silos."
Cincinnati United Soccer Club is the fastest growing and most competitive club in the tri-state area of Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana. The club currently fields over 215 teams of over 2,700 players. For more information on the club go to http://www.cincyunited.com/.
For more information about this strategic plan and opportunities within CU/CUP organization, please contact any of the following;
Cincinnati United President Dan Kunkemoeller
prescusc@gmail.com
CUP VP of Competitive John Ramby
jrmve@yahoo.com
Cincinnati United Executive Director Scott Rodgers
Scott.Rodgers15@gmail.com