Surf SC Affiliates Kick Off Team in the Surf Cup Sports’ Surf Challenge Tournament
There are always players without teams hoping and wishing to play in a team at a big tournament. Being a part of the Surf SC family of affiliates — which spans across the country from California to New York — provides a lot of opportunities.
This is a great story on how 12 Surf players from different parts of the USA came together and played as one team — the Surf Select 05 team — and made it out of bracket at the highly competitive Surf Challenge Cup at Thanksgiving weekend.
Youth Soccer News: The Surf Select B05 team, comprised of 12 players across multiple Surf Affiliates, competed and won their group at the annual Surf Challenge Tournament in San Diego.
The Surf Select team defeated top quality teams from Texas, Washington, and California. This was a tremendous showing for a group of boys who had never played together before.
The Surf Affiliate program is now home 13 US-based youth soccer clubs, totaling 11,000 players.
Given the steady growth both in terms of new affiliates joining and current affiliates continuing to make strides in their respective markets, there are countless players in the Surf families deserving of opportunities to be showcased, and the Surf Select program is the perfect solution.
These boys were hand-picked by the coaches and directors of affiliates from multiple Surf programs based on their skill, desire, and leadership qualities.
The boys traveled to San Diego to receive top-quality coaching from San Diego Surf coach Rob Rogers, who was honored to be coaching the team.
The real meaning of success on the pitch is more than the final score.
“I was so proud of how a group of 11/12-year-olds showed the character and maturity to bond together from different Surf affiliates and demonstrate what it means to be part of the Surf family. The boys knew exactly what our expectations are for Surf players and also what it means to wear the Surf badge, regardless of which affiliate club it represents. This is a credit to the quality of coaching the Surf brand demands,” said Rogers.
“It truly was how the beautiful game should be represented in my opinion. I think having a core group of players from each club is a great strategy as it helps to have a foundation that can be built off of,” said Jeremy Nixon, who was the volunteer team manager for the weekend.
“It was an absolute pleasure to watch this group of players from different parts of the country pull together without a single training session or meeting to make the quarterfinals in one of San Diego’s premier Surf tournaments,” said Rogers. “These young men not only performed well together but behaved in a such a manner that credits not only themselves, but their respective Surf club, coaches, and family.”
The Surf Select squad, unfortunately, did not advance out of the quarter-finals, losing a close game to Santa Monica United. Regardless, the Surf Select program was deemed a success for its inaugural showing.
Comments from parents echoed the success of the effort.
- “It was an amazing experience. It felt like our team had been playing together for many years. “
- “This was his best playing experience ever and by the end of the 2nd game I even learned everyone’s name!”
- “Everyone was very nice and Coach Rob made us feel right at home. It was fun to beat teams from Washington and Texas when we had never even practiced before”
“As a coach, it was refreshing to witness how these players united together from the moment they met encouraging and helping each other through what was at times some difficult situations/games. I think this was a fantastic idea and hopefully the start of a long-lasting bond between players, coaches, and parents within the Surf family,” Rogers added.
Bracket Play Results:
| CROSSFIRE PREMIER B05B (USA) | 1 | SURF SOCCER SURF SELECT BOYS 05 | 3 | ||||
| SURF SOCCER SURF SELECT BOYS 05 | 3 | DALLAS TEXANS 05B DALLAS (TXN) | 0 |
Surf Select 05 defeated LAGSD B2005 GOLD BUCHHOLTZ with the final score of 1-0 to move on to play SANTA MONICA UNITED FC SMUFC B05 BLUE, losing 0-2 in the tournament final
The Surf Select program will continue with this 2005 age group for the Manchester City Cup in San Diego in late May. Surf will also be putting together a Select team for the girls’ program, which unfortunately wasn’t able to be accepted to the Challenge tournament.
The Surf Affiliate program is steadily growing and is free to join, but only qualified clubs are admitted.
