Niagara United hosting 131 teams
The City of Niagara Falls will be awash with young soccer players the next two weekends with the staging of the 2024 Niagara United Soccer Club Spring Classic Festival.
The boys tournament kicks off April 19 with the under-8 division followed by the under-9 and under-10 categories on April 20 and the under-11 and under-12 divisions on April 21. The following weekend will see girls action with the under-8 teams competing April 26, the under-9 and under-10 squads playing April 27 and the under-11 and under-12 girls hitting the field April 28.
The annual tournament was launched in 2022 and has experienced impressive growth, starting with 54 teams in 2022 and increasing to 92 squads in 2023 and a sold-out field of 131 squads this year. Teams are coming from across Ontario including Juventus Academy Toronto, BVB Waterloo, TFC affiliate teams and other OPDL-affiliated programs.
Key organizers of the event were Lynn Phillips, technical director and lead facilitator with Niagara United, and Stephen Whitehead, Niagara United’s tournament director. Phillips has been integral in growing the tournament through her dedication to helping the Niagara Region continue to improve and be showcased as a strong presence in soccer in the province. Whitehead, who is also Niagara United’s executive secretary, has played a major role in planning the event.
“As well, all of our volunteers help make it a success,” said Sarah Fisher, Niagara United’s communications director.
Niagara United created the Spring Classic to be an option for teams in Ontario to get ready and revved for the start of their seasons.
“We thought the weekends at the end of April would be good for the boys and the girls to be able to do so,” Whitehead said.
The tournament is a labour of love for the volunteers and organizers.
“My kids have gone through the United system and I believe as a teacher that it is very integral that we give back to kids and give them the opportunities to strive,” he said. “It’s giving kids and opportunity to get on the field in a non-competitive format at this point in time and allows them to prepare themselves for the season.”
The non-competitive, festival tournament will see each participating team play a pair of games. There are other spring tournaments that have teams competing for championships but the Classic decided not to do that.
“The kids do feel a certain level of stress within the game (at championship events) but within our festival you play two games and you are done,” Whitehead said. “It is really getting their technical skills down and game play down and getting ready for the season without feeling that the outcome of the game is what is important.”
He is excited to see the tournament grow even more in the years to come.
“We are working with the idea that Saint Mike’s will build a turf field moving forward. Having that opportunity to have both fields should allow us to continue to double the number of teams that we are at now if the interest is there. We had to turn some teams away this year because of waiting lists and field availability.”
This year’s tournament is being staged on Niagara United’s two turf fields and the artificial turf field at A.N. Myer.
