AYSO Region 33 Celebrates 29th Annual Turkey Tournament at Balboa Park
Pam Vetter
November 29, 2008
AYSO soccer player Aaron Tracht, 15, proudly joined this year's U16 boys team in an event that he loves.
"I've enjoyed this tournament for many years. It's a great way to relax and it's always fun because you play soccer with your friends," Tracht said. "I did great as goalie today and I'm ready for tomorrow. Hopefully, we're playing for first place!"
Aaron's father, Mark Tracht, who was the Turkey Tournament coach for Region 71 U16 boys, reminded everyone that fun was served first.
"These events are fun. It's exercise. It's about being outside instead of sitting around watching football and eating more stuffing," Mark noted. "This is a beautiful day at the beautiful Turkey Tournament and a thank you to all of the coaches, referees and board members!"
Tournament Director Steve Sirkin says that the Turkey Jamboree is very important to Region 33, as it is their biggest fundraiser of the year.
"This is an event that all of the kids look forward to in our region as well as the other visiting regions. I do wish we could do a little more with the city so that we could have better field conditions, but it's a wonderful event. The funds that we raise from this tournament ranges from $13,000 to $18,000. It helps offset our operating expenses and we try not to raise our fees as much as we can. It also allows us to buy new goals," Sirkin explained. "The tournament is all about the kids. In our park, we have 130 kids that are playing this weekend. We have 10 volunteers helping us and without our volunteers we could never do this. Our tournament is very, very unique as on the first day, we're able to run every single match on the hour. So, we're able to get in three matches on Friday and two on Saturday. It's a great format that we started many years ago. The park has been around for 33 or 34 years and we actually have some parents who played here as kids, whose kids are playing in this Turkey Jamboree."
Sirkin says that the bottom line hope is for everyone to have fun and come back next year.
"Our enrollment of teams was down a little bit from last year due to a combination of the economy and there are some people who chose to attend other events because of our field conditions. We lose some people because they like to be playing on all grass and some of our fields aren't all grass," Sirkin said. "There are many regions, including Region 33, that these teams are formed by volunteers so we're thanking the parents for all of their hard work and letting them play here. There are some regions that send their all-star teams so you really get an interesting mix of teams. I've seen everything happen, where a team that you didn't think was going to go anywhere ends up being in the finals. This is my first year as the tournament director so the reins have been handed over to me. I look forward to taking those championship medals and handing them to the teams and seeing the spark in their eyes. We give medals to the top places and we even give sportsmanship medals to some of the other divisions as well."
Regional Commissioner Monique Franklin says for Region 71, the teams are primarily the children of volunteers. Approximately 100 youth soccer players from Woodland Hills Region 71 participated in this year's Turkey Tournament.
"It's a way to reward those volunteers who put a lot of work into our region in Woodland Hills. The kids love playing in this. For our players, their season is over already. It's a way for them to get together one more time and play in a tournament. Our girls' U14 team is all volunteers' kids except for two. The level of play in our region is pretty good. We don't send all-star teams and it's fun to play other teams. During the season, generally, they play the same kids every week and even though they're competitors, our players are still friends. So, coming together for this event is great and fun for them," Franklin reminded. "This tournament is one of the only reasons I want to spend Thanksgiving at home. You spend Thanksgiving with your family and everyone is fat and full from eating. This tournament gets you out of the house on a beautiful day and it's family friendly. The kids are running around, having fun. What more can you ask for? This is beautiful watching all of these kids play soccer."
Region 71 Recycling Director Bruce Blumberg was happy to offer his support to all of the teams.
"It gives the kids a chance to play with some of their friends that they don't normally get to play with during the season," Blumberg said. "It's a great tournament for the volunteers of the region. Some of the referee and board members that are a part of the regions get a chance for their kids to participate. It's a great bonding experience, a family experience, and we've been doing it for seven years."
Lewis Cohen, a member of the Region 71 board and former coach, has been an AYSO volunteer for fifteen years.
"We come out here because it's our fun tournament," Cohen explained. "We love it and all these kids have been playing together for ten years through AYSO or through school. They just love doing it because it's fun and it's all about the kids."
Cohen's son, Josh, who is finishing his AYSO and club soccer seasons, is about to start his first season on the El Camino Junior Varsity soccer team.
"AYSO is so much fun for Josh because he loves coming out here and playing soccer. There's no pressure on any of these kids to perform and we as parents like to see this experience." Cohen added with a smile, "Josh is very excited about the El Camino soccer season and that will be a whole new chapter in his soccer life. It's amazing to see these kids. I coached some of these kids when they were six and seven years old. Now, they're 15 or 16. It's amazing to me that we all stayed together and we get to see these kids grow up. We know so many families through soccer. The experience is all positive, that's what we try to do out here, and AYSO is so much fun!"
For more information on the Region 33 soccer program through the American Youth Soccer Organization visit www.ayso33.org.
For more information on Woodland Hills Region 71 program visit www.region71.org.
For more information on the national American Youth Soccer Organization visit www.soccer.org.
Turkey Tournament Photo by Alex Vetter.
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