Baker Proud Fall 2017 - 16

BAKER
GOES PRO

Former soccer standout lands roster
spot with Sporting KC

photos: Swope Park Rangers

or most student-athletes,
making their way onto a
professional roster is the
ultimate ambition. Many
young players grow up dreaming
of one day hearing the applause of thousands of fans,
signing autographs, and performing under the brightest
lights on the biggest stage. This vision is what makes the
competition and excitement of sports so enticing and
the hard work worth it. Opportunities of this magnitude
are celebrated and respected, but are particularly rare.
However, as Baker's athletic programs have excelled to
reach new heights, so has one of its stars.
Amer Didic, '16, former Wildcat Heart of America Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player and 2015 Defensive
Player of the Year, has climbed his way into one of Kansas
City's most prominent athletic spotlights. Sporting Kansas
City originally signed the player from Edmonton, Canada, to a short-term loan in August 2016, but after Didic's
impressive rookie performance with Sporting KC's United
Soccer League affiliate, the Swope Park Rangers, Didic was
added to the defensive squad with Sporting KC.

During his rookie season with Swope Park, Didic made
appearances in 28 of the Rangers' 30 league games, along
with every playoff game during the team's journey to the
USL finals. Didic received recognition as a finalist for the
league's defender of the year award and was named a first
team all-league selection.

"I firmly believe that every practice and game
that I was a part of at Baker has helped
prepare me to be able to take advantage
of my post-collegiate opportunities."
-Amer Didic
Before playing his rookie season with the Rangers,
Didic was called up to the Canadian Interuniversity
Sport team for the 2015 Summer Universiade Games in
Gwangju, South Korea, where he made three starts against
Italy, Russia, and Iran. Since his senior season with Baker
University in 2015, Didic has seized every opportunity
that has come his way. However, he knows that before his

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baker Proud Fall 2017