Soccer News: Exciting News for the Nation’s Premier Youth Soccer Tournament
The soccerloco Surf Cup, the nation’s premier youth soccer tournament, is undergoing several significant changes this year to broaden the competitive field and ensure that every qualified team gets a chance to win the “Best of the Best” title.
In its 35th year, Surf Cup has produced consistently superior soccer events that are the most sought-after tournaments in the nation, attracting over 350 teams in the summer and 150 teams in the fall consisting of the top youth teams in the nation. More than 800 college coaches travel from all across the nation to scout these top players for potential college scholarships. In that time, applications have risen so much year that in 2014 Surf Cup’s competition committee rejected over 600 solid applications. At the same time, recent divergence of post-season championship tournaments and the introduction of the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) have reduced the number of head to head matchups between top teams, which is the single greatest factor in determining acceptance or denial to the event.
Accordingly, Surf Cup is announcing several changes to its event that are designed to level the competitive playing field, increase transparency, and ensure that Surf Cup winners are indeed the “Best of the Best”.
Qualification Tournaments
In 2012, Surf Cup partnered with the Surf Soccer Club’s Thanksgiving Tournament to offer a guaranteed spot to its tournament champions, which has resulted in numerous Surf Cup champions. Surf Cup expanded this practice in 2015, offering guaranteed acceptance to teams winning the Manchester City FC Americas Cup and winners of the Elite Girls Soccer League (EGSL) as well as the younger age groups of the Nor Cal Cup. Surf Cup looks to expand this practice in future years, partnering with strong tournaments and leagues. All qualifying teams are subject to restrictions on guest players and multi-club teams.
Expansion
With the opening of the SoCal Sports Complex in 2014 and combined with the San Diego Polo Fields, Surf Cup in 2015 is able to take advantage of two premier 20-field venues and deliver the Surf Cup experience to nearly twice the number of teams. All age brackets will expand to include an additional flight of teams who will experience the electric Surf Cup tournament atmosphere.
Mike Connerley, the founder and current President of Surf Cup Sports, explained the reasons behind the change, “The hardest task for each Surf Cup tournament is sending out rejection letters to very accomplished, very solid teams. We’ve had to cut many ECNL teams and State Champion teams who very much deserve to be looked at by college coaches, but until this year we didn’t have the facilities to support adding any teams while keeping the essence of the Surf Cup experience. By expanding the field and adding qualifying opportunities, we hope to solidify our spot as the premier tournament venue in the nation.”
Promotion/Relegation
Due to the tournament’s expansion, most age groups will now feature a top “Surf Super Cup” flight and a secondary “Qualification” flight. The Surf Super Cup flight will feature the same top competition for which Surf Cup is known, and the new Qualification flight will showcase stiff competition as well, but the difference is the prize for flight winners. The Super Cup flight winners will win the right to be called the “Best of the Best” team in the nation, while the Qualification flight champions and finalists will not only win guaranteed acceptance into the next year’s Surf Cup, but also will be automatically included in the Surf Super Cup flight. Likewise, teams with poor results in the Surf Cup bracket will be relegated to the Qualification bracket the following year, where they will have an opportunity to fight their way to the top flight again.
In addition to the expansion of the tournament, Surf Cup is adding exciting elements such as a new partnership with an exciting new College Coach assistance software program to provide the college coaches with tools to assist them in scouting top talent.
Connerley shared his vision of the event, “We are committed to our vision of producing a one of a kind event experience to the talented players invited to Surf Cup, and also plan all year to continue to evolve and improve every aspect of the event. We are excited that more players this year will be able to experience the event, and we wish all participants the best of luck. See you at the fields!”
