SOCCER: Beating the heat at Three Blind Refs
<p>Flathead Force's Shayenn Thompson steals the ball from a Sandpoint Striker during the Force's opening game of the Three Blind Refs Tournament in the U17/18 division at Kidsports Complex on Saturday, June 4, 2016. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Flathead Force's Chloe Nadeau passes the ball to a teammate in the U17/18 division at the Three Blind Refs Tournament on Saturday, June 4, 2016. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
The greatest struggle at Kidsports Complex on Saturday was finding reprieve from the sun.
And when then that’s the worst thing that happens at an 18-field, 120-team, 202-game youth soccer tournament played at the same time and in the same place as a baseball tournament, softball tournament and a high school graduation, it’s been a pretty good day.
A busy first day of the Three Blind Refs tournament, hosted by the Flathead Soccer Club, went off mostly without a hitch as players and families from Montana, Idaho, Washington and Canada enjoyed a picturesque day of action that ran for 13 straight hours, beginning at 8 a.m.
“Everything’s going smooth,” Flathead Soccer Club Director of Coaching and Tournament Director Nate Evans said. “We’ve got great weather … no serious injuries at this point. Teams are playing well, coaches are happy, players are happy and the vendors are awesome.”
The tournament covered 14 fields at a jam-packed Kidsports and had four additional fields going at Glacier High School. The fields were dotted with a handful of tents for administrators, athletic trainers and referees, and a variety of food and apparel vendors were on site to accommodate an anticipated crowd of 3-5,000 people.
The event is run entirely by the host club, which is hosting the two-day showcase for the 23rd time this year.
“The wonderful thing about our tournament is it’s 100 percent volunteer based and out of members of our club,” Evans said. “It’s really neat and it’s a neat time, too, for families to give back to the club and also as a club to really just appreciate all those people that help us operate our fundraiser tournament.”
Evans estimated between 75-100 total volunteers were working on Saturday, and most would be returning for the final day of action today. Planning of the event began months ago and volunteers were at Kidsports all week making final preparations.
“Luckily we’ve been doing it for 23 years so they have it down to a science of what they need and what it takes to run,” Evans said. “Our board of directors is really solid and they do an extremely good job of getting everything organized, having committees and making it all tick.”
Tournament attendance was down from previous years, something Evans attributed primarily to the weakened Canadian dollar. Still, where some teams departed, others made the trip for the first time, like Joe Snyder’s under-14 girls team from Lewiston, Idaho.
“We do a couple of tournaments every summer,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve come up here and we’re enjoying it.
“We were over at the high school first and it’s a great complex over there, and (Kidsports) looks like it’s going to be a great complex. We’ve vacationed here in Kalispell before, we love coming up here, and when we had the opportunity to come to this tournament I was like ‘yeah, let’s do it.’”
Tournament play concludes today, with the first matches scheduled for 8 a.m. Championship matches in select age groups will be held this afternoon.
A complete tournament schedule is available at www.flatheadsoccer.org.