We have just finished our first ever tournament, and we are still catching our breath.
The Villages Cup ran across Labor Day weekend at the Polo Grounds — three days, sanctioned by the US Soccer Federation, for boys and girls from seven to nineteen.
Here is what that looked like:
57 teams. 745 players. 101 games. An average of 3,000 people a day.
Teams came from across Florida. Some of them drove three hours to get here.
We knew the Polo Grounds would show well — it is a first-class facility and there is nothing else like it in youth soccer in this state. What we did not entirely anticipate was what a hundred and one games in one weekend actually feels like when you are the ones running it.
It could not have happened without a great many people who were not being paid. CERT were on site throughout providing emergency cover. The Fernandina & Friends club volunteered the whole weekend. Students from local high schools worked it. And Miss Sumter County presented the awards.
To every club that travelled, every family that came, and every volunteer who gave up their long weekend — thank you.
Same time next year.
