Mike Connerley Surf Cup Director

Tournament News: 2011 San Diego Surf Cup Day One

RELATED ARTICLES: 31st Surf Cup Starts

Is there a MLS star competing at the San Diego Surf Cup in Del Mar, California?  Many coaches and parents hope so as the first day of competition takes off and thousands of soccer enthusiasts fill the San Diego Polo Club fields in Del Mar and discover the many joys of our area as the rest of the USA suffers from a heat wave. 

While competition heated up on the pitch and players thrived in the competitive environment, where safety was as important as player development and a triumphant win, a refreshing breeze from the Pacific swept across the soccer fields and kept everyone cool.  Every hour or so, approximately 20 games were played simultaneously on the San Diego Polo Fields.

In between matches, players and parents who had traveled to San Diego for this tournament could be heard asking for directions to the beach and being thrilled it was so close.  Local San Diego soccer families enjoyed overhearing the conversations: "Is it sandy? Can we have lunch there?" asked Joan Willows from Seattle, who had come with her friends to the Surf Cup to watch the youngers play.  "Yes, and it is beautiful, we are going there for an hour," were the responses heard.

For Scores and Schedules CLICK HERE to go to the Surf Cup website.

The Surf Cup is an amazing tournament where players come together to find great competition from all across America. Unlike State Cup tournaments, where players often have played the competing teams, here at Surf Cup players discover they are meeting other state champs on the field and experiencing tougher competition and making new friends.  Day One at Surf Cup is always filled with excitement and aspirations of championships.  

Day Two is more sober with teams being eliminated or realizing their chances of success have narrowed under the tough opposition.  It is great for players to know that some of their soccer idols and icons have played at this tournament before and, of course, not all have won it!

	Alec Philibbosian of Surf BU11	Ish Uno of Surf BU10

Who will be the next MLS Draft Pick?  Well, none of the players at this weekend's Surf Cup are old enough for scouting but there is a lot of potential on the fields. Next weekend, when the older soccer players come the the field for their competition, there will be more than 300 college coaches walking the pitch scouting for their first choices for college scholarships.  Prestigious colleges and universities including Stanford, Yale, Brown, Cornell and Harvard send their coaches to Surf Cup to look for exceptionally talented soccer players. 

Mike Connerley, Tournament Director of the San Diego Surf Cup, says,"We have had 75 to 100 soccer players who played in Surf Cup that went on to play professionally.  On the current U.S. Women’s National Team, Rachel Buehler, Shannon Boxx, Alex Morgan, Heather O'Reilly, Megan Rapinoe, Amy Rodriguez, and Hope Solo all played Surf Cup. On the U.S. Men's National Team Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Michael Bradley, Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez, Sacha Kljestan, Nick Rimando, and Marvell Wynne, played here too!" And not all of these highly acclaimed players won Surf Cup.

Eastside FC's Dan Storm coaches both the 94 Red team, Region IV champions who are headed to Nationals July 27-31 in Phoenix to vie for a National Championship, as well as the the EFC BU12 '99 Red who played Southbay Force Black and the Nomads on Day One of Surf Cup. Explaining the lure of the tournament, Storm says, "We are here to play the top tournament on the West coast.  We have been coming since 1995 to Surf Cup and this tournament provides players from Washington state the opportunity to see the top level of soccer  competition for the younger teams. Often at State Cup, you have the top teams from your state and you know who you are playing, and here the competition can be stronger.

SoccerNation Information Station is doing interviews at the Surf Cup Press Tent.

John Kentera, famous radio show host known as the ‘Coach’ on XX1090 AM, was driving to Surf Cup to visit and told SoccerNation, “Seeing all these tents and soccer goals set up brings back a lot of great memories.  Mike Connerley and his Surf Cup staff continue to do such a great job year after year with this tournament.  It's great being out here, seeing both boys and girls from all over the country as well as all over the world coming to this tournament. It's really great for San Diego and for soccer.”

"The Surf Cup has grown leaps and bounds throughout the years. You know, people used to say nobody is really interested in soccer; now that is different. This is a great event and I think more and more companies could spend positive advertising dollars by supporting an event like this and supporting soccer," said Kentera.

Coach Kentera explained, "The San Diego Sockers are here because we want everyone to be one big happy soccer family in America's finest city. The Sockers are the local indoor team and have a great relationship with youth soccer clubs in San Diego and we want to take a turn and come watch the kids play!  We love it when they come to watch us at the Del Mar Arena. Last year, we had a lot of these local San Diego soccer families watch us as we the won our games.  We won the US Open cup, the PSL pro championship and the amateur championship last year. We also won the two biggest beach tournaments in southern California, including the Coop Beach Classic in Oceanside by beating the US National team.  We look forward to seeing who wins Surf Cup!"

Connerley says "The first day of Surf Cup 2011 is going great, even the weather is perfect."  We are sure the rest of Surf Cup will go great as well.