Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 16, 1995 TAG: 9511160011
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We've got 31 teams on the waiting list," said Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club executive director Danny Beamer. "And that doesn't count the two or three calls a day we get about it at the office.''
Dean Jones, tournament director for the Star, as the club is known, oversees three tourneys during the year: one in the fall, one in the winter and one in the spring. This weekend's tournament is the largest of the three.
Last year's FVB tournament included 220 teams and netted about $50,000 for the club. Tournament proceeds go to the new Vinyard Complex, a structure that will add several fields to the Star's soccer venue in 1996.
"The complex is a big investment in our kids, when you get down to it," said Jones, whose two children have played for the club.
The complex will be open for next fall's tournament, and Jones is expecting about 25 percent more teams to compete. "Three hundred teams won't be out of the question," he said.
As the field of competing teams has grown, virtually every available soccer field in the area has been put to use. "Roanoke County has really helped us out this year," Jones said, adding that Hidden Valley Junior High and Northside High schools and Waldron Park are new sites.
Giving hundreds of teams the opportunity to play several games during a weekend in the late fall, without consciously starting any contest after dark, requires immense planning and teamwork. Jones has a large board and numerous subcommittees that help organize the event.
"Some games may require lights to finish," Jones said, adding that those games are scheduled on lighted fields.
The committee tried to schedule games so very few teams would have to play after dark because of the late fall temperature, said Jones.
Because of the abundance of traveling squads competing in the tournament, no local recreational teams are playing, but Jones said that may change in 1996.
"We're thinking about adding a recreational division next year," Jones said. "This year, the growth has been in the women's side." More than 40 women's teams will playing in the FVB this weekend.
Visiting teams hail from states up and down the East Coast. As most players travel with their families, tournament organizers expect the influx of about 10,000 visitors on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to bring more than $2 million to the valley's economy.
The tournament annually falls on the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, which Beamer said is the ideal time because the fall soccer season is over and indoor soccer hasn't started.
One concern for next year, however, is the competition of the Virginia Tech-Virginia football game in Blacksburg. Not only will the game be a draw, but hotel and motel space will be at a premium.
by CNB