More than 700 Youth Soccer Teams Compete In 2105 Cal South National Cup
A Total of 3,291 Competitive Teams Participate
US Youth Soccer has 55 state associations all across America, yet Cal South is highly recognized as the leader in competitive soccer – winning more National Championships than any other – in fact, 64 in total. With more than 12,500 teams and 300+ plus youth soccer clubs and leagues, Cal South provides excellence in soccer for all of its 204,000 registered youth and adult members.
Competitive soccer is flourishing in Southern California. 2015 State and National Cups have an astounding grand total of 3, 291 competitive teams participating. Far larger than most soccer tournaments in America, Cal South’s competitive youth soccer events reflect Southern California’s focus on elite player development.
Cal South State Cup, which is less competitive than National Cup begins at a younger age and has a total of 1,372 Boys teams and 1,140 Girls teams for a total of 2,512 teams participating.
Cal South State Cup events include Mayors Cup for players U9 to U11 as well as State Cup Governors and Presidents divisions for both Youngers and Olders. Players U9 to U16 can compete in Governors Division and players U9 to U19 can compete in Presidents Division.
The National Cup is the crown jewel of Cal South State Tournaments. More than 700 elite youth soccer teams will compete in the 2105 Cal South National Cup; it is estimated that close to 15,000 players will participate.
National Cup champions go on to Region IV Far West Regional League and National US Youth Soccer competitions to represent Cal South. The Far West Regional League joins the Region I Premier League, Region II Midwest Regional League and the Region III Southern Premier League as the top US Youth Soccer regional competitions throughout the country. Youth soccer players U12 to U19 work hard all year preparing for these important and highly competitive youth soccer matches.
The Youngers National Cup (U12 and U13) competition was concluded last weekend and to the delight of all the players — and for the first time ever — the finals were played at Ventura College in the stadium and a live stream was available to watch the games. Viewers tuned in from around the world to watch the Youngers play. Cal South has plans to provide a two-camera video stream for the Olders’ finals.
Here is a look at 2015 Cal South’s National Cup Youngers Video Stream:
How do Cal South teams perform on a National Level?
With a total of 64 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship titles since the Mission Viejo Soccerettes and Fram-Culver won the girls U-16 and boys U-19 titles in 1986, Cal South teams have a highly prestigious record of bringing the championship trophy back to Southern California.
Since 2001, when the U14 and U15 brackets were added, Cal South has won 48 National Championships — this is an impressive 27 more victories than the next top state association.
Two years ago, US Youth Soccer expanded the format to include U13 for the National Championship. Calsouth U13 teams performed very well at the younger age and in 2013, both Boys and Girls won the National Title. In 2014, Cal South Girls also won the National Title.
In 2014, 37 teams from Cal South qualified for the Far West Regional League tournament in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cal South teams won an impressive 11 of 16 US Youth Soccer Far West Regional Championships. Youth soccer teams from the BU12, BU13, BU15, BU16, BU18, GU12, GU13, GU14, GU16, GU17 and GU19 age brackets were victorious and returned to California with trophies.
21 Cal South teams from the Far West Regional and National League qualified for the 2014 US Youth Soccer National Championships. Cal South teams won 6 of the 14 championship titles.
California is such a ‘large’ state that it is divided into two separate associations in the world of US Youth Soccer. Cal South youth soccer members come from San Luis Obispo all the way south to the U.S. – Mexico border.
Steve Hoffman, Cal South’s Director of Coaching Education and Player Development knows how competitive it is to play youth soccer in National Cup and believes the coaches and clubs do an excellent job in player development. Complimenting the dedicated and talented coaches for their on going development of elite players and successful teams, Hoffman said, “Week in and week out, our youth teams face tough competition in their local area leagues and this helps develop our players and prepare them for success when competing at National Cup, and later on a national level. I am very proud of our coaches and the excellent young soccer players who are dedicated to our favorite game.”
The Cal South 2015 National Cup Champions for the younger division are: Total Futbol Academy (U-12 boys), Surf EGSL Academy (U-12 girls), Pateadores IER PDA (U-13 boys) and Eagles Soccer Club (U-13 girls).
The 2015 finalists were: Albion SC White (U-12 boys), Arsenal FC North (U-12 girls), San Diego Surf SC Academy (U-13 boys), and Legends FC G01 (U-13 girls).
Just the facts: For the 2015 Cal South National Cup, 771 competitive teams registered to play in the National Cup – this represents teams from both the youngers and olders. Turning back the clock to 2011, only a total of 531 teams had participated so there has been significant growth in the past couple of years. Of course, more olders teams compete than youngers (600 olders compared to 171 youngers teams participated in 2014.)
Big Numbers: As an example of the sheer volume of players — The BU13 bracket had 42 boys teams and 48 girls teams competed in this years Cal South National Cup. Over 1400 U13 players took part in the in the U13 bracket, reflecting the most competitive youth soccer teams. Cal South State Cup had an additional 184 boys teams and 169 girls teams participate in the U13 bracket.
The largest number of teams participating in the 2015 National Cup came in the U16 bracket, with 78 boys teams and 67 girls teams participating. An additional 87 boys teams and 73 girls teams participated in the U16 bracket in State Cup.
What do these numbers mean? What this growth shows us is that more youth soccer players are participating at a higher level of competition than ever before. In contrast to youth soccer across America, Cal South has an extremely high number of competitive youth soccer players participating at all competitive levels.
The bottom line is that the Cal South National Cup is a highly professionally produced soccer tournament run by David Lamb who is the Director of State Tournaments and has been working with Cal South for several years.
Hoffman said, “Cal South’s National Cup is an open youth soccer tournament. We welcome any team that wishes to prepare and compete in our highly competitive cup. For most age groups, we offer a two tier bracket.”
This year, Cal South created a new format for National Cup and teams can now play up to 8 or 10 games.
“Good soccer players just want to play soccer with other good soccer players and all these kids love to play games at Cal South National and State Cup events,” said Hoffman who was on the sidelines of the youth soccer games to scout players.
“We have a team of scouts out at National Cup scouting for ODP,” said Hoffman. “ODP is there to identify players for the US National Team and we are basically working in tandem with the academies, we just let out players play high school soccer too.”
Hoffman said, “Cal South has a very high percentage of competitive players when compared to the other 54 US Youth Soccer State Associations across the nation. It is very unusual to have a 50%-50% breakdown between competitive and recreational youth players and we really strive to provide the best events for everyone.”
Last year, six Cal South teams brought home the 2013/2014 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship titles: San Diego Surf SC Academy (U-13 girls), Pateadores San Diego (U-15 boys), Beach FC 97 Academy (U-16 girls), DMCV Sharks Elite (U17 girls), Beach FC Ingrassia (U18 Girls) and Santa Barbara FC White (U-18 boys).
Updated March 22, 2015 @ 5:50 AM
