Sporting Kansas City opened the 2017 preseason, presented by Children’s Mercy Hospital, on Tuesday at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona. First thing on the docket was the beep test.
With seven new signings, two MLS SuperDraft selections and nine Swope Park Rangers in attendance at camp, Sporting KC Head Fitness Coach Mateus Manoel split the players into groups. Those groups were not divided by seniority, however, so each group had a mixture of veterans and newer players.
Swope Park Rangers captain and Kansas City native Christian Duke was the pace-setter for the first group and remains undefeated in the fitness test having recorded the best score in 2014, 2015 and now again in 2017.