Soccer tournament ready to kick off

Over the next two weekends Carson City could see a bump in revenue in the tune of $3 million. But the money stream won't come from a big business, instead it will be because of the 175 teams that will participate in the Comstock Shootout soccer tournament.

The tournament, in its 16th year, is expected to draw soccer teams from California, Oregon, Idaho and, of course, Nevada beginning Saturday with the start of the boys tournament and closing April 26 with the girls tournament. The boys will play the first weekend and the girls the second with most games being played at Edmond's Sports Complex and a handful at Mills Park.

Joe Briggs, tournament director, said the tournament is the biggest sports event in Carson City.

"The tournament fills up very fast," Briggs said. "Everybody that comes to the tournament books their reservation for the following year as soon as the weekend is over.

"Everybody really enjoys the community, the area, the soccer complex. We've always gotten very high regard with how the tournament is ran. It's always been a very positive experience for everybody."

The tournament is broken up into the two weekends in order to accomodate the large amount of people. As it is, many of the teams, coaches and players' parents stay in Carson City, but others stay in Gardnerville, Lake Tahoe and Reno. Briggs added that some parents have children playing in both weekends and make repeat trips to the area.

Team ages will start at under-10 and go up to under-19 and will consist of a variety of skill levels.

"It covers a wide range of playing ability," Briggs said. "It's sanctioned by the AYSO and the USYS. The AYSO is more of a recreational program and a lot of teams play under the AYSO affiliation. Others play by the USYS or the U.S. Club, which are traditionally more competitive teams. So by sanctioning with all three affiliations it gives us a pretty good diversity of playing ability."

The AYSO is the American Youth Soccer Organization and the USYS is U.S. Youth Soccer.

The tournament is completely ran by volunteers, which include members of the local AYSO chapter and Capital Soccer Club. Briggs said 15 teams will donate 30 hours apiece to run the event.

"The volume of things that need to be done probably creates the biggest hardship because everybody is doing this as a volunteer. We all have day jobs," said Briggs, who owns Ponderosa Stamp and Engraving.