August is almost over and we have just 2 summer weekends left until school and the new fall youth soccer season begins.  I am asking anyone who would like to contribute thoughts or experiences at a Long Island Youth Soccer tournament this past month to email me at coachmommyli@gmail.com.  I would like to complete a review of August 2013 youth soccer tournaments on Long Island and would like it to be more comprehensive than just my opinion.  Please reach out to me as a team manager, coach, or parent and share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences at any and all of the tournaments you attended that were held on Long Island this past month.  It helps other teams in the future determine which tournaments they would like to take part in next year.

Unfortunately, I was not able to write and post my Labor Day tournament preview blog in time for teams to register for the tournaments.  With the exception of a few open spots, both Long Island Labor Day tournaments have closed registration for 2013. I would like to share some information about each tournament for future reference for coaches and for parents who may be attending the tournaments for the first time this year.  I am reaching out to Columbus Weekend Long Island Youth Soccer Tournament Directors this week and hope to have a preview posted by Labor Day weekend so that my preview can be used to help determine which tournaments your team will attend this year.  If you have any experience at a Columbus Weekend tournament or are a Tournament Director, please email me so I can include information.  I am also looking to purchase journal space in tournaments in an effort to spread my website.

For many years, Labor Day weekend was my gift to myself and my team’s parents.  I never registered the team for a Labor Day tournament and figured we deserved a free weekend just before school started to relax and to get our school clothes and supply shopping done.  Then, my son began being invited to guest play for an HBC team and thus began the loss of our 1 soccer free weekend of the summer.  In an effort to appease my soccer parents, I decided to bring my team to HBC Labor Day tournament (since I was there for my son anyway) and this way I had less guilt when I stopped taking my team to a Columbus Weekend tournament so that I could travel out of state with my son and his team each October.  This is to say that my experience with soccer on Labor Day weekend on Long Island has been limited to the “HBC Peter Renzulli Labor Day Tournament”.  This is not to say that I recommend the HBC tournament over the “Oceanside Bob Schrager Memorial LI Cup”.  Both tournaments are held by large Long Island soccer clubs and have been held for 20 years or more.  (2013 is the 20th Annual Oceanside LI Cup and the 36th annual HBC Peter Renzulli tournament).  I am actually very interested in attending the Oceanside tournament, and almost did register my team this year.  Unfortunately, due to scheduling this August, I missed quite a few games of my son’s game due to my team attending a separate tournament and conflicting tournaments attended by my son’s teams.  I informed my trainer that I needed one weekend this summer where both of my sons and my team were all at the same tournament.

When I reached out to Oceanside Soccer Club, they responded quickly and in a positive manner regarding my inquiry about the tournament in order to write a blog.  (This is the number one reason I am following through with this pre-view: my guilt at not getting it written sooner after they were so supportive.)  Oceanside is hosting a 2 day Labor Day weekend youth soccer tournament this year that will benefit the club’s scholarship fund for its players.  This year, they are promising that every team will play their 3 guaranteed 50 minutes games in one day.  By having all games for each team on one day, it allows us parents to still have 2 days of the holiday weekend to relax and prepare for school opening.  Any other weekend of the year and I would say that I want the full weekend experience, but Labor Day weekend is that weekend each year we need to prepare for school and celebrate the end of our summer.  This tournament offers awards to the 1st and 2nd placed teams in each age group bracket and offers a 3-ref system for all games U12-U17.  There are multiple game sites, but many of the sites will have food vendors, including a deli catered offering at the fields for the U11 games.

HBC Soccer Club is offering a guaranteed 4 50 minutes games over two days this Labor Day weekend.  All games are played on fields along the Nassau/Suffolk border and many have vendors on site.  This tournament also offers 1st and 2nd place awards for each age bracket.  Historically, the fields holding the same age group are within a 5 minute drive of each other, and the tournament seems to do a decent job of keeping brackets on the same field site each day, even if the sites differ from Saturday to Sunday.  We have played on fields where there were food and soccer equipment vendors, and we have played on fields where there are no vendors.

Although I have only ever attended the HBC Labor Day weekend tournament, I believe it is safe to assume that both tournaments are equally well organized and run professionally.  Both HBC and Oceanside Youth Soccer Clubs have been running these tournaments for years, are well experienced, and they are both GotSoccer tournaments with GotSoccer points awarded for U12 and older.  I have never heard of a specific complaint regarding either tournament.  (Keeping in mind that every coach, player, and parent is never going to be completely happy with any tournament they take part in.)  I look forward to attending HBC and having every game I have to attend that weekend take part at fields that are within a 10 minute drive of each other, but I also hope that I receive feedback from some coaches and parents attending the Oceanside tournament as I am very interested in the experience.

Once again, I apologize that I was not able to get this post out prior to registration for the tournaments.  I plan to have a post in the next 2 weeks to preview your options for Youth Soccer Tournaments on Long Island for Columbus Weekend.  Please email me at coachmommyli@gmail.com any opinions and experiences that I can use to review this past month of soccer tournaments on Long Island.  As always, please comment below and Read it-Like It-Share It-Subscribe to It!!