Pro-Am Beach Soccer completed their 13th Annual Santa Cruz Beach Soccer Open on June 12th, 2017. The tournament brought players from different areas of northern California to battle for the growing sport of beach soccer and the sport’s most popular trophy in Northern California. Players, coaches, family and other spectators came to watch the spectacular matches unfold over the weekend.
Pro-Am Beach Soccer Staff appreciates all the support from everyone to make this event successful and memorable. The PABS Staff would love to see all the teams in our future events to create more memories together. Don’t forget the last chance this season in early August in San Francisco! Register Here!
The Santa Cruz event was filled with competitive beach soccer. The tournament brought over a hundred teams amongst 21 divisions and was a complete “Sell Out”. Space was limited this year due to the coastline being battered this last winter and a lack of space for fields. In addition, our event was honored by the US Olympic Committee to be recognized as an official Olympic Day Event! In the bid for the 2024 Olympic Games in Los Angeles they reached out to us to promote the games and honor our sport! @TeamUSA and @LA2024 #OlympicDay, #GoTeamUSA and #FollowtheSun. We encourage you to show your love to help bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to Los Angeles in 2024 by going to www.FollowTheSun.org.
The weekend went smoothly with every age group having great sportsmanship and motivation to earn the championship trophy. This has not always been the case as these tournaments as they have become more and more important to teams. So, we are particularly happy with the generally great sportsmanship shown by those who competed.
Saturday went by fast. It is always great to see all the players and their families enjoying the event, and with the help of all of the teams, the tournament check-in went by smoothly and quickly. We worked very hard leading up to the event to improve this aspect. Unfortunately, it also meant “everyone” had to deal with more issues as we changed technology. One thing we learned, was we will change “tech” again by year’s end.
Every age group played hard to earn the best possible results they could. As always some teams were better than others but at the end of the day it’s about the joy of the game and the team building everyone experiences at this unique event. We will continue to do our best in seeding and placement to make the divisions as competitive as possible.
On Sunday morning, teams returned to finish their final games and play-offs. The matches were hotly contested. In the end, the results and the best teams were crowned with their Trophy and medals for 1st and 2nd. You can see these elated kids here : 2017 Champ/Runner Up pics.
Sunday also saw the Amateur Sport Broadcast Network (ASBN) live streaming throughout the day. The divisions recorded were a mixture of Women’s, Co-ed, Girls U-19, and Boys U-18. With phenomenal play amongst the teams, ASBN has created highlights of the tournament. Feel free to check out this link to see the highlights they created or download the game you might have competed in. The games had amazing teamwork to earn some spectacular goals. ASBN List of Games
Every year, the event competition continues to grow with the experience of all the players. FIFA is looking to move in the direction of making the women’s game the next big step for international play, and US Soccer is moving further into a position of having a bigger impact on the sport at both the international and youth levels. More information will surface in the months and years to come, but in the mean time, we will continue to work to provide good information on the sport and opportunities for players and teams to raise their level.
On deck, we could be seeing a US National Championship coming sooner than you think for all competitive youth ages… like we said, more to follow as soon as we can confirm and share it!
