WIN for KC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dave Borchardt
2025 WIN FOR KC WOMEN'S SPORTS AWARDS
PRESENTED BY BURNS & MCDONNELL
COMING TO T-MOBILE CENTER ON FEBRUARY 4TH
KANSAS CITY, MO (January 28, 2025) – The 2025 Women’s Sports Awards presented by Burns & McDonnell will be hosted on February 4 at 11:30 am at T-Mobile Center. The annual awards event is the largest event in the country celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day and is WIN for KC’s largest fundraiser of the year. Six local honorees will be recognized for their contributions to women and girls in sports within the Kansas City region. The event will be held at T-Mobile Center for the first time in its 31 years and is expected to have a record crowd with nearly 4,000 attendees.
This year’s event will kick off with a celebratory march across the stage for 2024 Kansas and Missouri state champions—this long-standing WIN tradition is the only recognition of its kind for female high school athletes who have won a state championship. Honorees will then be recognized for outstanding performances, courage, being a game changer, lifetime achievement, leadership and being bold. Award winners are all ages and from all walks of life, but all have the common connection of living the WIN for KC mission.
The 2025 featured guest is professional basketball star Caitlin Clark. Clark will be interviewed about her incredible amateur and professional career, as well as the life lessons she has learned through sports. Our 2025 featured guest’s appearance is made possible by the generous support of CommunityAmerica Credit Union and Veracity.
The 2025 Women’s Sports Awards honorees are:
Forvis Mazars BE BOLD Award - Temwa Chawinga
The Kansas City Current forward took the National Women’s Soccer League by storm in her first year in the league. Chawinga set the NWSL single season scoring record with 20 goals to become the Golden Boot Winner and the league’s Most Valuable Player. She was the first player to score on all 13 active teams in a single season, while also leading the KC Current to the record for most goals scored by a team in a season. Her jaw-dropping speed and dangerous finishing skills in the final third made her a fan favorite not just in Kansas City, but league wide.
Hallmark Cards Leadership Award – Amber Clark
After running track at the University of North Carolina, Amber Clark began playing tackle football in the Legends Football League. Clark switched to flag football after the covid pandemic, making USA Football’s U.S. National Team in 2023 and 2024. She won gold medals with the U.S. National Team both years, including one the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Lahti, Finland. She spends her time coaching at national ID camps, speaking to girls across the country and working to expand opportunities for girls in football. Clark coaches her own collegiate flag football team at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth and was elected to USA Football’s Board of Directors.
Children’s Mercy Kansas City Rising Star Award – Addison Bjorn
Parkville’s Addison Bjorn is a five-star basketball player, ranked among the top 10 high school prospects in the country in the class of 2026. The 6-foot-2 guard spent the summer after her freshman year winning a title for USA Basketball’s Under 16 National Team in the FIBA Americas Tournament in Mexico. This past summer, Bjorn once again represented team USA on its Under 17 team which won a Women’s World Cup championship. The junior at Park Hill South is known for her versatility in scoring, skilled passing and ability to guard any position defensively and is highly sought after by nearly every major collegiate basketball program. She currently plays for Caitlin Clark’s former AAU team, All Iowa Attack.
Kissick Construction Game Changer Award – Melissa Lambert
Melissa Lambert is the Kansas City Royals’ Director of Behavioral Science and Major League Mental Performance. She became the first licensed mental health provider to be in an on-field role with a Major League Baseball franchise. The former collegiate soccer player is not only opening new doors for women in professional sports but for new strategies regarding mental health care for athletes.
UMBFC Charitable Foundation Lifetime Sportswoman Award – Susan True
Susan True first shook up the male-dominated sports world as a gymnastics coach at Washburn University in the 1960/70s, later going on to work for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). While at the NFHS she worked with the committees responsible for volleyball, gymnastics, field hockey, boys and girls swimming, water polo and spirit. In her spare time, she volunteered at the local and section level for USTA Missouri Valley and worked with the Women’s Sports Foundation to promote Title IX and opportunities for girls in sports. Susan was one of the founders of WIN for KC in the mid-1990s.
Lockton Courage Award – KC Pink Warriors
The KC Pink Warriors dragon boat racing team began in 2019 and has grown to more than 45 members who are surviving and thriving after a diagnosis of cancer or have beaten cancer. Together, they have formed a community of support that competes in dragon boat races across the country. The KC Pink Warriors have won gold medals at dragon boat festivals across the United States and Vancouver. The team also hosted its first dragon boat festival in Kansas City in September. In their dragon boat, the KC Pink Warriors give themselves permission to focus only on being an athlete and paddling together as a team. It’s a way for them to form their identity around something other than someone who has heard the words, “you have cancer.”
Media Contacts:
Erica Davis – erica.davis@fleishman.com
Taylor Bunch – taylor.bunch@fleishman.com
Jennifer Westphal – jennifer.westphal@fleishman.com
About WIN for KC
The Women’s Intersport Network for Kansas City (WIN for KC), was established in 1994 under the umbrella of the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission, with the mission to ignite girls and women through advocating and promoting the lifetime value of sports and fitness, while providing opportunities for participation and leadership development. WIN is a volunteer, membership-driven organization that operates as a program of the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. For more information, visit WINforKC.org. For the latest on WIN for KC news, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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