Heading the ball and the Pilot Cup

Now in its third year, the Daily Pilot Cup will host 83 teams in this

week’s soccer tournament. Schools throughout the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District field teams in the event, which will begin Wednesday.

The tourney’s founder and leader, Kirk McIntosh, sat down at his

Westside law office with City Editor James Meier on Wednesday to discuss

the Pilot Cup and the difficulties of getting every Newport-Mesa school

involved.

Q: You ready for Wednesday?

A: Yep. The only thing now is getting the fields ready. We need some

volunteers there. And getting referees. Since we’re not an

AYSO-affiliated tournament, we have to just hope for AYSO volunteers to

come forward and ref.

Q: Do you think that’ll be a problem at all?

A: It was last year. We’re better organized this year. We’ve gotten

the word out earlier and gotten the schedule done earlier, so we’re just

hoping they will step up. That’s the only way we can do it. We just put

the word out, say, ‘Come out to the Farm Complex and ref.’

Q: Last year, you had 71 teams and more than 1,000 kids. What are we

looking at this year?

A: This year, we have 83 teams and who knows how many kids, but

probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,300 kids. There’s about five

schools in the entire area who didn’t put a team out. Not one team. Most

schools have at least one team. Kaiser Elementary has nine teams, so

Kaiser is the No. 1 participant.

Q: And which of those will you coach?

A: Kaiser No. 1 girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade [where he has a

daughter].

Q: Why do you think those five schools are still lagging behind?

A: I don’t want to get too controversial here, but they’re all on this

side [the Westside] and they’re heavy Hispanic areas and they don’t get

good volunteer support from the parents. Who am I to judge, but mom and

dad are probably both working and language problems.

I mean it’s absolutely clear that they have soccer players there, lots

of them. Hispanic communities are loaded. Boys and girls would love to

play. It’s just nobody steps up to be a coach.

Q: Is there anything you’ll do to work on that in the next year?

A: For me to personally do anything more than what I’m doing is pretty

difficult. You just have to hope that as the tournament gets better

recognized -- and a lot of it has to do with the Pilot, the coverage that

we got last year really sent a message to the community that this is a

fun and big deal -- we’re just hopeful that eventually some parents will

say, “Gee, I want to get my kids into this.” Or at least a teacher at the

school -- it doesn’t have to be a parent, it could be a teacher.

When I was a kid going to school, the teachers did all the coaching.

We had a school team and everything -- football, basketball softball. We

always had school teams, and it was always a teacher. If I were teaching

at Whittier school, I’d do a team. I’d love to do a team. So that’s what

you got to hope for?

Q: What’s your favorite part of the event every year?

A: I love to go out there on Saturday morning and see every field

going, to see all these people. You realize at that point that this is a

major event. There are just people everywhere, buying hamburgers, wearing

their Pilot Cup T-shirts, different colors. That’s when you really

appreciate how big it’s gotten.

Q: Is it larger than the previous Lions Cup?

A: I’m pretty sure it is because there are more schools involved. The

private schools are now involved, and we’re getting a better response now

from the Corona del Mar side. The Lions Cup was dominated by Eastside and

Westside Costa Mesa, with very little response from Corona del Mar. But

now Corona del Mar has really stepped up. In fact, every school in the

Corona del Mar area is well represented.

Now, one thing that’s changed that is different now than when Lions

Cup was going on is that a lot of the schools on the Westside have these

crazy enrollments. Some of them are kindergarten through third grade now.

Well, that makes it difficult for them to participate. Some of them are

still participating. They’re putting third-grade teams together and

having them compete in the fourth-grade division.

But in Lions Cup days, those were all K-6, so it was easier to get

participation from them.

Q: How many practices are they allowed before they play?

A: Practices cannot begin until May 1, and then it’s up to the

discretion of the coach. It used to be four for Lions Cup, but it’s too

hard to enforce. People abused it, so I just said, “Practice whenever you

want.”

I’ve only practiced my team twice. We practice once a week. I think

that’s pretty standard.

Q: Is it much more difficult from your point of view to organize a

school team as opposed to an AYSO team?

A: Yes, it’s more difficult to do school because in AYSO, we have a

better way to get the word out. Teams already have coaches. They’re

already organized. Yeah, much easier for AYSO.

Q: So it’s more challenging for you?

A: Yeah.

Q: Is that what keeps you doing it?

A: I really do enjoy putting together a tournament. I did the Newport

with Tony Anish, who’s the Newport commissioner. We basically are working

together on this one as well, but we did the Thanksgiving tournament for

Newport AYSO and it’s fun to put a tournament together. It’s a lot of

work, lot of time on the phone trying to get people and trying to get

things organized.

Every year, this has gotten easier for me. The first year I did it, it

was horrific. I basically didn’t work for two weeks. I was talking to

people. I had to urge people to get teams together. I didn’t want to have

a tournament with five teams and a group. And I didn’t get the response,

so I had to call people and say, “Hey, get a team together. Come on!

Move! Get somebody.” “Oh gee, well, OK, maybe I’ll do it.” Then you don’t

hear from them for a week and “Did you get one?” “No, not yet.” “Well,

get one.”

So each year, I’ve gotten better organized and the fact that people

remember it from the prior year makes it easier. Now people will call me.

This tournament will end June 2, and I’ll get calls in July asking

“When’s the Pilot Cup going to be next year? Do you have the dates? We

were away, and we just want to make sure we’re not away this time.”

Q: Are there going to be any changes this year?

A: No. Not really. The increase in the number of teams reduces the

number of games that each individual school got to play. It’s difficult

to bracket because you don’t get a set number. If you’re running an AYSO

tournament, for instance, you say, “OK, we’re going to accept up to 16

teams. The first 16 teams sign up, and anybody who signs up after that,

sorry, you’re too late.” Now it’s real easy to bracket a 16-team

tournament.

Well, what if you get 23 teams, how do you bracket that? And that’s

what we have in the Pilot Cup. We don’t turn away anybody. So, you’ve got

to get creative in your bracketing.

What I did, for instance, for fifth- and sixth-grade girls, we had 21

teams, we divided into seven pools of three teams, so each team plays two

games in bracket. If you win, you advance to a quarterfinal, so there

will be seven winners. Then, we need an eighth team to advance to make it

a good quarterfinal, so then we have a wild card in those seven pools.

It’s just the way I came up with it.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: Just again, put the word out that all available referees show up at

the farm starting Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Just come in your uniform ready

to ref. The games will start every hour after that. 3:30, 4:30, etc. We

have 25-minute running halves and a five-minute halftime, so that gives

us 55 minutes for a game. Then, the next teams just have to be ready to

go. You can play till about 8 o’clock.

BIO

Name: Kirk McIntosh

Age: 48

Residence: Unincorporated Costa Mesa for nine years

Position: Tournament director of the Daily Pilot Cup

Occupation: Attorney at law

Education: Bachelor’s in math from Cal Poly Pomona and juris doctorate

from University of San Diego

Family: Wife of 25 years Suzanne; and daughters Terra, Krista, Ashley,

Alexandra, Courtney

Hobbies: Soccer, tennis, fly-fishing, coaching and gardening