Pilot Cup will produce eight soccer champs
Something new, something old as the most popular sports endeavor in
the combined area of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach looms in early
June.
The first day of June seems a long ways from now, but for Kirk
McIntosh, the guru of the Daily Pilot Cup, which features third- and
fourth-grade boys and girls and fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls
in a massive soccer tournament, the beads of sweat are already
forming.
“I need a representative from each school, a liaison, to contact
me,” said McIntosh the other day as he begins to sort out the
complexities of a tournament which encompasses some 1,800 youngsters.
Last year the field featured 96 teams.
Trying to maintain a sense of order when faced with these numbers,
even though he has a welcomed support from the Youth Services
Association in Costa Mesa, continues to be one of the big hang-ups.
“The goal is to get 100% participation,” said McIntosh, “even if
that means a school would have just one team entered in one of the
classifications.”
The mainstream is as solid as a rock. If you’re talking Mariners
Elementary or Mariners Christian, Rea or Andersen, Kaiser or Harbor
View or Our Lady Queen of Angels, there seems little need for
publicity leading up to the event. They’re rockin’ schools and seem
to have it in stone, as do many others.
But some, somehow, don’t always seem to get the word.
“This tournament has gotten so much publicity,” said McIntosh,
“and yet I get calls from schools even after the tournament has
started and they’re asking why they hadn’t heard about it.”
The Big Four McIntosh hopes to break up is the absence of
Killybrooke, Sonora, Paularino and College Park, elementary schools
which have yet to have a single entry in the first four years of the
tournament.
All that is required is for one person to act as a liaison for
each school to contact McIntosh at (949) 650-2827 and you’re home
free.
A big change in the format this year will be the emergence of a
gold and silver division for each group, which will mean eight
championship teams will be crowned, as opposed to four.
The tournament, which is a day longer to accommodate the schedule,
will be from June 1 to June 6 at the same sites, Costa Mesa High and
the adjacent Farm Complex.
Splitting the field will do a lot for better duels in the early
going, and on Sunday there will be four champions in the gold field
and four more in the silver division.
It is indeed this group of youngsters, basically ages 8 to 11 in
grades 3, 4, 5 and 6, where gold and silver divisions are very much
justified and welcomed.
The obstacles for McIntosh mirror last year’s scenario.
“We have to be better organized, especially in terms of ordering
the tournament T-shirts and getting them delivered, and in getting
referees,” said McIntosh, who believes the field may come close to
2,000 youngsters.
The entire tournament is done on a volunteer basis and when it
comes to volunteers, well, it can be a rotating thing. When the son
or daughter moves on to the seventh grade, mom and dad are going with
them.
So each year there is an obvious need to fill the holes.
In fact, the tournament director has a solid corps of volunteers
and supporters, but in terms of numbers, they simply need more help.
Dealing with 96 teams goes far beyond a liaison from each school.
I’ve watched a pattern develop over the past four years in this
tournament, which is open to all public and private schools in Costa
Mesa and Newport Beach city limits.
First, it’s McIntosh scrambling for help for a long time.
Secondly, a massive field of youngsters with many appreciative
parents.
Then the big finish with champions crowned.
And finally, McIntosh off to the side in prone or fetal position,
sort of like in a coma.
It seems to be a tried and true formula, and I’m not worried at
all.
But if you have a soccer star in your family, or just feel like
lending a hand for no reason at all, give McIntosh a call and see if
you can help.
*
Not much to report on the ongoing community college sports funding
dilemma, which has cut deeply into the schedules and has the
potential to do a great deal of further damage.
Perhaps something will surface in April, but it appears a great
deal will depend on the possible success of proposition 57, which
would borrow enough to keep things afloat. We’ll see.
*
Former Newport Harbor High basketball player Mark Keys (Class of
‘76) will be signing copies of his book “My Best Day ... Sports” at
Martha’s Bookstore on Balboa Island today, a two-hour endeavor
starting at 11 a.m.
It’s a rather unique concept and a one-of-a-kind item.
I have more on this, and on Mark Keys, but there’s not enough room
today. I’ll try to tackle Keys on a larger scale soon.
Hey! See you next Sunday!
* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.
His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at
rogeranddorothea@msn.com.
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