Adult soccer tourney comes to Park City
The 15th annual Park City Adult Soccer Tournament is taking place this weekend.
Eighteen of the best adult amateur soccer teams (12 men’s teams, six women’s teams) in the West will be playing games across town today and tomorrow to determine a tournament winner.
Along with male college squads from Utah State, Utah, and Weber State universities, teams like the Park Bums and a local men’s over-30 team will vie for the title.
A Westminster College alumni team will also compete. The club is coming off a win in the Western Amateur Regionals and will compete in the National Amateur Soccer Tournament in San Antonio later this summer.
Jesse Blais, the tournament organizer and member of the Park Bums squad, said there will be plenty of teams from out of state as well.
"They’re mostly Utah teams," he said. "But we have a team from Boise and a team from Idaho Falls on the men’s side. On the women’s side there’s a team from Pocatello (Idaho) and one from Vail (Colo.)."
He added that Park City is the perfect place to host a tournament like this because of the higher altitude.
"People love to come here in the summer," he said. "In the middle of summer, it’s usually not too hot. It’s supposed to be like 75 degrees, which is awesome for playing soccer."
Availability of high-quality fields and facilities doesn’t hurt Park City’s case, either.
"We have grass fields and they’re nice grass fields," Blais said. "The facilities in town are great."
He said true soccer fans will enjoy the quality of play as well.
"The level of play is great," he said. "We do have our Park City over-30s team there, so there are some older guys too."
The age difference between the over-30s team and some of the college teams will lead to some unique styles, he added.
"You’ll see a lot of different types of soccer," he said. "Teams have to adapt to who they’re playing. Some teams are faster, some teams are more precise it’s interesting."
From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight, the tournament will feature three games at City Park.
"Come watch some high-quality soccer games and we’ll have a cool barbecue going on too," Blais said. "It’s like $10 for all-you-can-eat."
He said this level of soccer is something that Parkites (and Utahns in general) don’t usually get to see.
"It’s exciting soccer and fun to watch," he said. "People around here generally only either see Real Salt Lake play or go to their kids’ games. This is a completely different level of soccer."
Games start at 8 a.m. at Trailside Park and Ecker Hill Middle School. The semifinals and finals will be played at Trailside beginning at noon on Sunday.
Miners boys soccer falls to Hillcrest at Dozier Field Monday afternoon
The snowfall finally stopped and the sun came out to play for the Miners boys soccer squad’s game against Hillcrest Monday afternoon.
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