Soccer News: 2015 McDonald’s NASSC
One of the unique annual events in Virginia Beach is the McDonald’s North American Sand Soccer Championships (NASSC), held on over 22 blocks of the city’s oceanfront. The three-day competition is being held June 5-7 and attracts teams from around the world.
NASSC is the annual major charity event (501c3) conducted for the development of the Hampton Roads Soccer Complex in Virginia Beach, one of the nation’s premier such facilities, hosting 400,000 visitors yearly. NASSC has raised over $5 million dollars for the charity since it began in 1994.
The game, played on 25-35 or 30-40 yard grids, is 5v5 and fast-paced, with limited dribbling and an average of 60 shots on goal. Over 80 brackets are seeded to support all levels of play – from the beginner to the most professional. Much like beach volleyball, sand soccer‘s rules are easy to pick up and uniforms are “anything-goes”.
You’ll find colorful international teams parading to the sound of conga drums, enroute incredible U.S. OPEN Pro/Am matches, with cash prizes at stake; hundreds of youth teams aged 9 thru 19 battling on the beaches, men’s and women’s single gender squads, college teams, and ever-increasing “corporate-coed” competitors from businesses and military organizations promoting health and fitness.
The Championships are staged over 22 full City blocks of prime oceanfront real estate, on over mile and a half of white sand – against a backdrop of diving gulls, banners waving in stiff ocean breezes, thousands of Boardwalk bedazzled spectators, live music and great food. Meanwhile, surf’s up just a few steps from the soccer action and, when day is done, most participants and fans head out to the area’s unbelievable lineup of region entertainment.
This “World Cup” equivalent of international amateur beach soccer events is hard to miss and attracts teams from all over, including nearly 20 states and as far away as Africa, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Norway’s rocky seacoasts, the Caribbean, and the wilds of Canada’s Northwest Territories.
2015 U.S. OPEN Pro/Am Teams:
Alliance BSC, VA Beach, VA Columbus
BSC, Columbus, OH
FC Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Flying Kicks, Grand Rapids, MI
Great Lakes BSC, Grand Haven, MI
HRSC Elite, VA Beach, VA
Los Angeles BSC, Los Angeles, CA
Meta BFC, Meta, Columbia
Miami United, Miami, FL
Mountaineers, Morgantown, WV
Montco Azzurri, Landsdale, PA
PJ’s FC, Mclean, VA
Quality BSC, Nassau, Bahamas
Team Canada, Toronto, Canada
Tidewater Captains, Hampton Roads, VA
Winners FC Stars, Portsmouth, VA
