Saturday, June 9, 2012
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The only damper on the first day of Major Beach Soccer’s summer series at Daytona Beach was a thunderstorm that had a bigger bark than bite. After almost perfect weather conditions throughout the day, the last games of round robin play finished just in time, as beach patrol asked patrons to seek shelter.
“I’ve seen worse,” said one parent.
“We can play in this,” said a player.
Friday night’s coaches meeting warned of a possible weather problem, but no one suspected a thing when the sky opened and released sunshine. In fact, the previous night’s showers helped the conditions of the sand, allowing players to have better control on the ball. It showed, too, as shots were launched from all over the respective fields and dribbles were plentiful.
With one youth field and five adult fields – one of which being the stadium field – and six games going on at the same time, crowds were evenly dispersed. It almost seemed as if the youth field had the biggest crowd at times, and for good reason. The energy and creativity shown by the youngsters stopped passers-by who happened to be walking the beach.
Fans were so into the games that they abandoned their own tents to get closer. Supporters helped chase down wandering balls from nearby courts, sometimes jumping into the refreshing Daytona Beach waters to do so.
The MBS Daytona Beach tournament serves as a qualifier for the MBS National Championship in Clearwater in December. Sunday’s play sees the winners of each bracket, from U12 to U18 and Adult brackets, advance through a set of playoff matches in order to qualify.
Thanks to Umbro, ChillZone LLC of Daytona, TGI Signage Systems, Farpost Soccer Company, the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and Volusia County, MBS Daytona Beach has enjoyed one of its more memorable tournaments behind the beach’s famous Mayan Inn.
Stay tuned to @MBSsoccer on Twitter on Sunday for all of the day’s updates.