April 3, 2008
Kick off the Spring Season with an Over 30 Tournament! That’s right, as the weather begins to warm up, so do we. Who doesn’t like getting out there and enjoy a piece of a crisp, cool, and perfect soccer afternoon? Look no more because the New Mexico State Soccer Association invites you to its annual Over 30 Tournament on May 31 – June 1, 2008.
“The tournament has always been an end-of-season tournament, one last hurray before the summer season ends; this year we thought we move it to May and make it our season opener” said Event Coordinator Yvonne Garcia, explaining that it all started about fifteen years ago with the Albuquerque Over 30 Men’s & Women’s Leagues, which have been very successful.
With an entry fee of only $15 per player, you can enjoy a series of games available in both Men’s and Women’s 11 v 11 divisions. The event will be held at the Farmers Insurance Soccer Complex in Bernalillo – just 15 minutes North of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Over 30 event usually registers eight to ten Men’s teams and at least three Women’s. “We only have a Men’s and a Women’s Division, the plan is that in a near future we can grow the tournament to carry a Coed Division” said Garcia.
“For the last 3 years we have been growing our tournament participation by 70%. Our Fall Classic tournament fills up before the deadline every year and we not only have teams from New Mexico participate; we have teams travel to Albuquerque from Texas, Colorado and Arizona” she added.
If you are a player interested in participating and wondering what rules the NMSSA uses, the answer is “June 2007 FIFA Laws of the Game as modified.” If you are not familiar with these rules, the New Mexico Association will provide them prior to the game.
All entries for this event are due May 23, 2008. Entries will be accepted in a first come first served basis.
Click here to download the NMSSA Over 30 Tournament Entry Form. For further questions, please contact Event Coordinator Yvonne Garcia by email at yvonneg@nmssa.com.
More Soccer for New Mexico…
In addition, the Association will hold a tournament to close out the summer season!
The 10th annual Dog Days Over 40 Tournament will take place in Ruidoso, NM on August 2-3, 2008.
But the meaning of the tournament’s name is not what it really connotes.
“It gets pretty hot here in New Mexico in the summer, but Ruidoso is up in the mountains and is actually very pleasant. So, it is a little bit of a reprieve from the dog days of summer to travel to this beautiful picturesque mountain town for weekend tournament!” explained New Mexico State Soccer Association President Erin Langenwalter.
“And, it helps that it brings to mind "old dogs" - a tongue in cheek reference to the over 40 age group” she added.
“This year we will introduce some Fun-Awards such as the ‘Oldest Dog’ and ‘Youngest Puppy’ Award for the oldest and youngest player” explained Yvonne Garcia, who also commented that “It has been a Men’s Tournament in the past couple of years and we would like to invite some women to join us as well, so we decided to have a Men’s 11 v 11 and a Women’s 5-a-side Divisions.”
For entry fees, and registration application, please download the official form here.
