Sporting KC players take break from kicks to serve up cocktails for good cause

Sporting KC players fired up the crowd Thursday night ... but not at their usual venue.

A group of Kansas City’s MLS pros spent the evening bartending at No Other Pub in the Power & Light District, raising money for their own charity organization — The Victory Project.

The Victory Project was launched in 2013. Through it, Sporting KC supporters, players and staff help children battling cancer by paying bills, granting wishes and more.

“We’re always looking for ways to raise money,” Brandi Thomas, The Victory Project’s community programs manager, said. “So we decided to have our players bartend.”

“We did it last year, at a different place,” Thomas added.

This year, the event took place in the Sporting-sponsored bar, with more players and more all-around hype.

Donations flowed from patrons who paid a suggested $10 cover.

“Each player donated an autographed piece of memorabilia” to be raffled off, Thomas said, “and all the money goes back to the foundation.”

Players bartended in shifts: six of them shook cocktails from 7-8 p.m., while the other seven just hung out, challenging the pub’s patrons to foosball and other games.

The event scored big among Sporting fans, as they supported a local charity and hung out with some of their favorite athletes at Power and Light.

Die-hard fan Rebecca Waddington was excited to support the cause, but she had no shame admitting which player she came to see.

“Dom Dwyer brought me here,” Waddington said of the Sporting striker.

He poured her drink that night, and his was also one of the 13 signatures on the Sporting KC scarf she won in a raffle.

“That one right there,” she said, pointing to Dwyer’s signature on the scarf, “is the best one.”

“Tim Melia is my second favorite, and I won his gloves tonight in the raffle, too,” Waddington said, holding out a pair of signed goalie gloves. “We both put one on and high-fived!”

The players return to the field Sunday, playing host to New York City FC. Tickets are available here.

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Sporting KC players take break from kicks to serve up cocktails for good cause."