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By LAURA L. HUTCHISON
About 3,000 soccer players on 215 teams will descend on the area for the annual Stafford Area Soccer Association's 16th-annual St. Patrick's Day soccer tournament March 21-22.
Local teams, and those from as far away as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, will play at 10 sites from Woodbridge to Fredericksburg, with players ranging in age from 8 to 19.
"This is one of the largest youth sporting events in the area, in terms of sheer numbers," tournament director Sean Rose said, adding that about 2,000 spectators will join the players.
"This is a preseason tournament for the spring season," Rose said. "It's kind of the final tune-up event before the spring season starts."
It's also the primary fundraising event for SASA, in which 2,000 kids play in each of its fall and spring seasons.
The money is used to provide scholarships for players who can't afford to pay, and also general league costs.
"But the pie in the sky is to develop a plot of about 11 acres SASA has in Stafford county to make it a soccer-specific place for kids to play," Rose said. "Instead of going to 10 sites, we can go to one to three sites and have most of our activities there."
Rose said SASA's situation is unique.
"Most clubs would love to have a piece of land," Rose said. "We've got the land, but don't have the funds right now to go out and start clearing it and making it into something we can use."
Teams playing include the recreation leagues, where kids are playing mostly for fun, to the elite, highly competitive travel leagues.
"We have great buy-in from our volunteers for this event," Rose said. "In most cases, parents of travel team players are out at one of the fields, being a field marshal, making sure games get off on time. We need manpower to make this work."
For more information on the tournament, including schedules and directions to game sites, go to SASApat ty.com. Most games will be played rain or shine, but check the Web site for up-to-the minute information if weather turns bad.
Laura L. Hutchison:
Email: lhutchison@freelancestar.com
