San Diego Surf College Showcase Breaks Records — Highest Number of College Coaches Ever.
The Best of the Best — the Surf Cup famous slogan — rang loud and clear this year as an amazing 500+ college coaches came to American’s Finest City to scout for youth soccer players over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Youth Soccer News: The San Diego Surf College Cup comes to a close after a record breaking year of college coach attendance — and another year of highly competitive Thanksgiving soccer goes in the record books.
Although SD Surf College Cup was only two days this year due to weather conditions, the tournament exceeded all expectations.
The tournament welcomed a record 530 college coaches to the Surf College Showcase.
The pristine fields at the SoCal Sports Complex in Oceanside were filled with highly competitive teams and collegiate coaches scouting for players.
“Every year we set out to produce the best possible event,” said Mike Connerley. “Come rain or shine, we are committed to having the best players playing in the best conditions.”
“We are truly humbled by the number of college coaches that attended this year’s event,” said Connerley.
“We, at Surf Cup Sports, do not take this for granted and plan to redouble our effort for 2017. Thank you players, coaches and parents,” added Connerley.
“The quality of the competition was incredible,” said Josh Henderson, Director of Surf SC. “This event gives us a chance to play high caliber teams that we do not regularly play. It’s hard to imagine a better way to end the calendar year. The Surf College Showcase is a chance to play great teams from all over the country — from all over the world. It was a perfect end to 2016.”
“This event is a great to scout players — it is a really good level of competition and there are a lot of really good teams here. I am able to look at several guys I have been monitoring for a while as well as scout some new players who could be quite exciting,” said John Smith, head Coach, Cornell University.
“If a player is serious about wanting to play for Cornell, they have to do well academically and from the soccer perspective, I look for players in specific positions. Then, of course, their character. The character of a player is very important,” said Smith.
“Surf Cup is annually a big part of our recruitment plans. The standard of competition, the facility, as well as the structure and organization of the tournament means it is always in our plans.” said Curtis McAlister, Santa Clara University women’s soccer assistant coach.
“I always look forward to attending Surf Cup,” said Joey Yusunas, Portland Timbers. “The organization of the tournament and the level of talent are first rate — which makes my job as a scout easy. I never miss it.”
“As always, the Surf Cup Sports event go above and beyond. The facilities were great as was the standard of competition and hospitality. Surf College Showcase is must in our recruiting process,” said Dave Morgan, University of Colorado women’s soccer assistant coach and recruiting director.
“Surf Cup was — once again — a wonderful experience. The facilities, the people and the standard of play always make for a good recruiting trip and one which we will continue to make every year,” said Manya Makoski, University of Maryland Women’s Soccer Assistant Coach.
Douglas Hill, Air Force Academy said, “The competition at Surf Cup is awesome. A lot of quality players and a lot of games going on at the same time – hard to get to see all the games you want to. Every game I have been to — there are always one or two players I want to follow up with.”
“While I am at Surf Cup, I look at the players who wrote to me and I am also looking for the next best player — and there are a lot of them out there,” said Hill. “Some coaches recruit by position, I look for the total quality soccer player — and at the Air Force Academy, we are all about integrity and character, so that is a big part for us too.”
“As always Surf Cup continues to put on the best college showcases in the nation,” said Eric Yamamoto, Santa Clara University Men’s Soccer Assistant Coach.
“Surf College Cup puts on an incredible event logistically, but the talent from a college recruiting perspective is second to none,” said Luis Trejo, University of San Francisco Men’s Soccer Assistant Coach.
“Surf Cup is must in our recruiting process,” said Josh Walters, UCLA women’s soccer assistant coach. “As always, the Surf Cup Sports events go above and beyond, the standard of competition and hospitality shown were great, as was the facilities.”
Chris Lemay, Assistant Women’s Coach at Cal Berkley said, “Surf Cup is always impressive. The level of competition is extremely high and I always find great players.”
“Surf Cup was great for me,” said Brian Quinn, USD Men’s Soccer Assistant Coach. “We scout a lot of the USSF Development Academy games and during the college season it is difficult to catch the local kids. Surf Cup provided good fields and good competition. The organization was first class and the staff always do a great job of catering to college coaches.”
“Surf Cup is amazing. The quality of the players, the level of competition and the number of college coaches — from the minute you come in, you know it is a great showcase,” said Frank Zimmerman, Head Coach, MiraCosta College Men’s Soccer.
“Surf Cup has the right sub patterns without the restraints and limitations of other systems,” said Zimmerman. “This is the best of the best — and Surf Cup is making themselves better every year.”
“This is a fantastic showcase, the competition is very impressive — it is absolutely outstanding,” said Keith Hackett, former English soccer referee who came to San Diego to watch the showcase. Hacket officiated the FA Cup Final at Wembley and the Olympics Football Tournament between Brazil and West Germany. Hackett is well known for the You Are The Ref series with illustrations drawn by the famous artist Paul Trevillion.
“From a recruiting standpoint, Surf College Cup continues to be the leader in providing the best platform for placing players in college,” said Tara Parker, Co-Founder and President of SCOUTINGZONE. “It’s the only tournament where you can scout both men’s and women’s teams from across the country as well as internationally.”
Surf Cup Sports brought SCOUTINGZONE™ — a cutting-edge mobile app that has revolutionized the recruiting game for soccer tournaments, scouts, and players to the fields to help college coaches and elite players connect. This app takes scouting to new levels, delivering an efficient and streamlined solution for scouts to identify and evaluate players at recruiting events. With over 500 college coaches in attendance at Surf College Cup, scouts attended over 300 matches and completed over 5,887 player evaluations in SCOUTINGZONE.
“I remember playing in the Surf Cup many years ago,” said Brooke Oxberry, Co-Founder and Vice President of SCOUTING ZONE. “To see it now; how much it has grown and become such a power house event is really fun to see. Surf College Cup has done an incredible job getting over 500 college coaches to watch the best teams play in the showcase. It’s an honor to be a part of it as their official recruiting partner.”
Editorial Revision: Matt Schumacher caption – December, 14th. Additional revision: Correction on 1/6/17 on Curtis McAlister, Santa Clara University quote.
