The Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority recently held its own self-administered test, one that involved several hundred youths and its own critical eye for a judging scale.
It tested the waters of hosting a major soccer event when PARA and its Tuscaloosa United Soccer Club hosted a local Kohl's Youth Soccer American Cup on Nov. 1 at Munny Sokol Park. It's an event held at venues across the country, touting itself as the largest recreational soccer tournament in the United States.
Tuscaloosa County's version drew 250 players from 22 mostly-coed teams made up of kids, ages 9-12. The majority of U10 and U13 teams were from Tuscaloosa with its 18 teams, but other nearby cities, such as soccer-strong Pelham, also competed.
'It's a recreational tournament,' said Bradlee Colburn, PARA's program supervisor of youth athletics. 'It's something youth soccer sponsors with Kohl's Cup to give players tournament experience. We call it a festival because, in addition to all the soccer, the venue is set up with inflatables and other fun activities that the participants and everyone who comes out to watch can engage in in between games. It's just a fun atmosphere.'
Because the stress is on recreation while also giving teams tournament experience in a festival-atmosphere setting, Colburn said there were no team champions or all-tournament teams. Instead, each team's head coach was given a medal at each game, and the coaches gave the medals to one member of the opposing team, a participant the coach felt stood out for sportsmanship and play.
'It really helped establish good will between all the teams,' Colburn said.
Opponents were grouped by their recreational season's record and success, with emphasis on matching teams in terms of talent in order to make it a fun, recreational experience. Opponents were pre-determined in each bracket.
It was the first time Tuscaloosa has hosted a Kohl's American Cup. The Kohl's sponsorship paid for the inflatables and extras that made it a festival. No admission was charged, but teams did pay a small entry fee that was used toward paying for things like officials.
'It was our first foray into this sort of festival experience, but I think it went pretty well,' Colburn said. 'It started at 9 a.m. and finished sometime after 5 p.m. Every team played three shortened games which allowed them to play several different opponents and not get tired after playing three games within a short span. And I think they had a lot of fun while they were waiting for their next games, because they were playing on all the inflatables. Because the emphasis on this event is recreation, they could enjoy themselves. They were not facing the more intense situations where a tournament championship was on the line or a win was on the line. They could just have fun here. That's our program's mission, to be a recreational program. I think the kids had a lot of fun, so we were successful in that mission.'
Colburn said each state's soccer association decides who will host the Kohl's Cup each year. PARA and the Tuscaloosa United Soccer Club were chosen by the Alabama Soccer Association because of their desire to host, their respected soccer program reputation and the venue itself.
'We want to use this as a launch pad for possibly doing our own tournament like this,' Colburn said. 'For a lot of our rec kids, this was the first tournament environment like this that they've had. They usually have to travel for tournament play, and this was special, because it did have the festival atmosphere. It was a good experience all-around.'
The teams encompassed all skill levels.
'Pelham's YMCA teams are very good as are the teams from one of our outreach programs through the Northport Housing Authority. So the quality in the tournament was high even with it being a recreational event,' Colburn said.
'A lot of people came together to help organize and bring it all together, and we feel like it's something we can host again. We learned a lot. And we saw what we'd need to improve if and when we do host another event like this. For the most part, I think we can do it, we just need to sit down and figure out what we want to do, if we want to host an annual event, what type it will be, all those things.'
PARA soccer is nearly year-round. The 13-team adult league started on Nov. 6 and will wrap up early next month. Indoor soccer is in January, and play moves outdoors again in the spring. This year has been PARA's largest recreational season with more than 900 kids and adults participating.