MLS vs. the Fans

As the Major League Soccer opens its 23rd campaign, there is a battle brewing in many cities between the teams and their fans, as reported in today's New York Times.  Meanwhile, the Union opened the season with a 2-0 win at home over the New England Revolution.

No JAGS Tournament Again This Year - Or Ever?

As readers of this blog know, the JAGS Tournament was a big part of my life for many years, as a parent, coach and for more than 10 years as college coordinator.  During that time I had the pleasure of working with so many good people dedicated to the sport and the girls, most of whom I saw only once a year; and of getting to know many many college coaches from around the East Coast.

Last year it was announced that after 33 years there would be no JAGS Tournament because the fields were being used by the Special Olympics and no other weekend would work.  Some said it was the end of JAGS, others held out hope it would return in 2015.  There was a glimmer last September when long-time director (and JAGS League VP), Rick Firth e-mailed committee members inquiring as to their interest in working in 2015.  Count me in, I'll be there.  Looking forward to see everyone.

In January Rick sent another e-mail around saying the tournament would be U9 through U15.  OK, some colleges are looking at U15s in the spring these days and it would have been a good excuse for me to go watch soccer for a weekend.

But two days ago came the death blow when Rick e-mailed us:
 

It comes with great regret that we are forced to cancel this years event. We do not have enough teams in any age bracket to make it work. For those who have paid, you will receive your original check back as they have not been cashed. You should have them by Monday. Enjoy the rest of your season and best of luck to all.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of for your time and effort in this and previous years tournaments. I wish continued success to you and your teams.

Thanks again,

Rick

While I still hold out hope of a return in 2016, I am afraid two years in a row with no tournament will be more than any event can survive, even one as long-running and with as dedicated people as JAGS has.  But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

Missing JAGS

For the first time in more than 10 years I am spending Fathers Day weekend at home rather than at a soccer field.  As reported last year the 33rd JAGS was the last one.  So instead of watching girls chase their college dreams at Mercer County Park, I'm home watching the World Cup.  Not a bad second choice, but I miss seeing all the college coaches, my fellow committee members and the athletes, from 8 years old up to 19.

My daughter. Kirsten, played her first JAGS at age 14 for the Medford Strikers.  Now she's 35 with two kids.  Many of the girls I coached with Joe Dadura are mommies now and those who played for me with the Medford Strikers Xtreme will become parents in the coming years.  (At least one already is.) 

There are many many soccer tournaments and there are many college showcase tournaments, but JAGS was always special.  In the past five years or so it was my lone connection to the sport aside from the high school and this blog, and I looked forward to it each year. 

The End of JAGS

It begins with registration at the Mercer County Park HQ Tent. 

Nobody else is dwelling on the last JAGS, so I guess I shouldn't either.  But I'll miss it.

It was a great run - 33 years - for the tournament and for me as the college coordinator for more than 10 years.  Next year for the first time in nearly 20 years I won't be spending Father's Day on a soccer field.

Of all the long-time committee members at Mercer County Park this past weekend, no one really said anything about the end of an institution in youth soccer.  Work Friday and family commitments 

The sun is coming up at MCP at 7 a.m.

Sunday prevented me from going to breakfast or dinner with everyone on those days, which was my loss because they are such good people.  As I have often said, the tournament seems to run itself because everyone knows his or her job very well and does it very well.  But that would not be giving enough credit to tournament directors Tom Bayless and Rick Firth, who along with many others have put in countless hours every year to make this event work so well.

On my end, I've enjoyed meeting many college coaches, many of whom such as Joe Russo (TCNJ), John Sumoski (Wilkes), Christa Racine

Setting up the HQ tent early on Saturday.

(Drew), Erik Burstein (Kutztown), Rick Brownell (Arcadia), Nick Juengert (Stockton), Tim Dempsey (Mansfield), Kevin Davies (Centenary) and others, I consider friends even though I see them only once a year.  Many return year after year with the same school, others show up new to the job.  Now, many are younger than my own kids.  One who was here this weekend was a teammate of my son's in Medford nearly 20 years ago and is married to one of my former players.  I love hearing the coaches stories of the season just past, of seasons to come, of their own backgrounds in the sport.

The sausage sandwich with pepper and onions is huge.

The weekend was not without nostalgia.  I followed some of the same rituals I have for years: an early stop at the Dunkin Donuts at Sloan Avenue and Quaker Bridge Road before heading over to Mercer County Park; carrying the box of college coaches' profile books across the grass slickened by morning dew and setting up the table at the headquarters tent; the Italian sausage sandwich lunch at the concession stand Saturday, riding the golf carts around the site to make sure all the college coaches were happy.

And watching the games brought back memories.  There were smiles and laughter: The joy of scoring a goal, winning a game, advancing to the championship,  parents and girls hanging out with friends between games.  There was tension.  Players being a little nervous if a coach from one of their colleges was there.  And there were some tears: the frustration of giving up a goal, of losing, or worse, of an injury.  They are scenes played out thousands of time each year on soccer fields around the country.  They are scenes that have been part of my life for so long.

Sunday John Esposito and I talked about my good friend, Joe Dadura, who died last December.  Not surprisingly, John mentioned what a good age group coordinator Joe had been, trying to do the best for all the teams, not just his own.

But it's over.  I watched a good U16 championship game between the Randolph Rampage and the South Jersey  Elite Barons '96 (Barons won, 2-1) and that was it.  I drove my cart back to the HQ tent, said goodbye to John Esposito, Bill Gosselin and Tom Bayless and drove home for a Fathers Day dinner.

JAGS Countdown

More on the FIFA controversy and the Women's World Cup in the future. For now what matters in my soccer life is that JAGS is two weeks away.

This means the e-mails and calls from college coaches will start picking up and I'll undoubtedly get e-mails from team parents and coaches asking why we don't list college coaches attending the tournament on our website. I have a form response which explains the several reasons: the list changes daily; some coaches sign up on gotsoccer.com without planning to attend; some coaches register with every intention of attending and their plans change at the last minute for reasons ranging from the weather to spousal edit; some coaches don;t register and then show up. I always tell parents and players to let the schools in which they are interested know they are playing at JAGS (and their other tournaments).

I already messed up by sending out a mass mailing to several hundred college coaches and forgetting to attach the list of hotels I mentioned. I suppose if anyone needs a hotel they'll contact me. Every year I get a few requests for hotel recommendations, some for directions and lots about fields and schedules. But the most unusual request from a college coach was five or six years ago when a coach asked me for a recommendation for a golf course for a late Saturday round. I've never played golf, but fortunately my good buddy and Medford Strikers Xtreme parent George Sierra, is a golf fanatic and was able to help me out. Never heard from the coach how he played that afternoon.

JAGS: The Early Returns

So last night I sent out e-mails to 277 schools about the JAGS Tournament. I received 15 error messages - a 5.4% rate, which is better than most years. That may mean there is less turnover in the coaching ranks or simply that somehow I found about some coaching changes since 2010 and updated my mailing list before the initial blast.

At any rate, I sent out the first round at 10:42 p.m. and 10 minutes later I had my first registration: my old buddy, Kevin Davies of Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ, one of the good guys I look forward to seeing once a year at JAGS. I told him he won the prize for being the first college coach registration of the year and he said he'd take the trip to the Bahamas. Sorry, Kevin - the prize is a trip to Paulsboro.

Another Year, Another JAGS

It wasn't really that long ago that we closed down the headquarters tent at Mercer County Park after the 30th Annual JAGS Tournament. But here we are getting ready for the 31st in less than two months.

The first meeting isn't for two weeks, but the planning is underway. I've spent the past few days updating the mailing list for college coaches and am ready to send out the first e-mail blast to 277 college coaches. Statistically, about 5% will be returned because the coach has left the job and I didn't know it.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of good soccer in June and to seeing many friends whom I see on only this occasion each year.

It wasn't long ago that I lamented turning 64. When they roll out the first ball at this year's JAGS, I'll be 65. Time marches on.

Trip Down Memory Lane - #8: Beating the State Champs at JAGS in 1998

Our two year reign as state champs, at U15 and U16, had come to an end earlier in the spring of 1998 when we lost an overtime decision to arch rival Cherry Hill Rockets in the first round. (Payback is tough – two years earlier, at U15 - we had beaten the Rockets, former state champions, 3-0 in the first round of the Cup.) JAGS was all we had left to play for this year.

The tournament was at Rider College and I can’t remember who we played and haven’t had time to look it up. We made it through to the final and drew the Wyckoff Torpedoes, who had just a few weeks earlier won the U17 State Cup and were headed to regionals.

Don’t recall much about the game except that it was on one of the back fields at Rider and Lauren Calone, who went on to play at Georgetown, scored our only goal and we held on for a 1-0 win. That night I received an e-mail from Renee Engelhardt, mother of Torpedoes star, Erin Engelhardt (who later played at UVA) congratulating us and saying if Wyckoff had to lose, she was glad it was to us.

JAGS is back!

It's that time of year: Jersey Area Girls Soccer (JAGS) Tournament. This year is the 30th annual.

As I detailed last year, it is amazing how well the tournament committee operates. The main reason is a hard core group of people, including directors Tom Bayless and Rick Firth, who have been around forever, know what they're doing and do it well.

I just sent out our 2nd e-mail blast to 277 college coaches and am looking forward to seeing 50 or so of them June 19 and 20 at Mercer County Park.

Wet day at JAGS

This tournament seems to run by itself. After 28 years, I guess everyone knows what they're doing. Registration at the Hyatt in Princeton came off with out a hitch last night.

I stayed overnight at the Doubletree Hotel last night, which provides some comp rooms to the tournament in return for the out-of-town teams that book hotels through THS, the tournament's hotel broker. Many tournaments require out-of-town teams to use their designated broker under threat of disqualification if a team is caught booking rooms on its own. JAGS does not have that requirement.

Up bright and early and reported to Mercer County Park at 7:00 a.m. Saw a mother deer and two small deer driving back to tournament HQ.

Mid-morning the rains began, but without the predicted thunder and lightning. We had an all-time record of 46 college coaches pre-register for JAGS and nearly 20 had checked in before or during the 8:00 games. They kept showing up, even as the rains came down in varying intensity. Mid-day site coordinator John Esposito made the decision to shut down Field #9 right in front of headquarters and move the game to the front of the park to a less desirable but better draining field. I was happy we were playing. Unlike 15 years ago when my kids played in rain, mud and monsoons, today tournaments shut down after a few minutes of precipitation - often costing parents hundreds of dollars in travel expenses.

By the time the 3:30 games were underway it had stopped raining and there was hope for playing tomorrow. But during the second half of the 4:45 games, the skies opened and the county shut down the park. Whether we play tomorrow depends on whether we get more rain tonight.