2025 RISING STAR AWARDS MIRA EMMA
Emma.“ I fell in love with it. I wanted to stay around it.”
Following graduation, Emma seized the opportunity in early 2024 to be a part of big things in Kansas City with the KC Current of the National Women’ s Soccer League.
“ I wanted to be part of the first ever professional women’ s stadium built specifically for women,” she said.“ It was their stadium building from the ground up. They have a training facility just for them.”
The team has two natural grass pitches and five artificial turf pitches. In addition, they recently built four more new fields and are building another stadium.
The biggest challenge for Emma was transitioning to the new job and taking on a bigger responsibility. But she embraced that challenge knowing this is something she had dreamed about for a long time.
Her goal?“ Be the best that you can be every single day— even if that’ s getting 1 % better every day,” she said.“ Be an inspiration and make the people around you better.”
Now, as Manager of Sports Turf and Grounds for the KC Current, Emma enjoys that every day is different.
“ Day-to-day it’ s figuring out what we need, prepping for events,” Emma said of her role.“ What does match week look like? Making sure you know the patterns to be put in. We have match-day-minus-1 training on Friday; so, prepping the field, striping, painting, setting up goals, spraying to promote recovery, and being as proactive as possible. It can be a lot of different things— especially going from 115 heat index to 65 degrees.”
Emma’ s advice to others is to ask why things are done and truly understand the day-to-day tasks.
“ We’ re in the women’ s sports world and we’ re part of a movement right now,” she added.“ So it’ s about putting our best foot
KC Current President Raven Jemison and grounds crew.( Left to right: Trina Strayer, Jerad Minnick, Jemison, Mira Emma and Ben Ervie)
WHAT THEIR NOMINATOR HAD TO SAY:
When I see Mira, I see the future of our industry. She’ s an extremely knowledgeable groundskeeper with an incredible attitude and work ethic that will inspire others to join this industry. Her facility has been top notch each of her years in Kansas City due to her attention to detail and care for the integrity of the game of soccer. Her work off the field is just as strong as her work on the field. So, when I say I see the future of the industry, it’ s because I see someone with all the attributes to be a future president of SFMA. sportsfieldmanagementonline. com October 2025 | SportsField Management
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