114 cheers for the Pilot Cup

Once again, everybody got a big kick out of the Daily Pilot Cup youth

soccer tournament.

The event, now in its sixth year, was held May 31 to June 5 at the

Farm and at Costa Mesa High School. From the look of things, the

popularity of the tournament shows no signs of slowing.

This year, Pilot Cuppers fielded teams of third- through

sixth-graders from 28 public and private schools. And we thank every

one of those 114 teams for giving us another year of exciting soccer.

Thanks also to all the volunteers who contributed their time and

money to make this a memorable and fun family event.

We’d also like to personally thank C.J. Segerstrom and Sons and

the Newport Beach Elks Lodge for loaning considerable financial

support to the event, and to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District

and the city of Costa Mesa for teaming up with us to make sure the

fields were secured and that the schools were involved.

Finally, a special thanks to tournament director Kirk McIntosh and

his army of volunteers who work tirelessly for months to make this

event so special. We suspect there are about 2,000 youngsters in town

who will never forget it.

We’d like to see the Pilot Cup grow bigger and better every year.

To see that every youngster in town who wants to play does play --

that’s our goal. Let’s make it happen.