For many of our students, the best time of the year has arrived…Pilot Cup time! Even if your child has never played soccer before, they will have a great time being part of the team with their classmates. Relevant info is as follows:
* The Daily Pilot newspaper sponsors a soccer tournament every May. All schools in Newport-Mesa are eligible to field teams – both public and private schools. Each school can field as many teams as desired.
* This year’s tournament runs from May 26-31. Each team is guaranteed at least 2 games which are played in pools of 3-4 teams from 5/26-5/29. The teams with the best records in pool play advance to the single elimination playoffs phase which is on 5/30 and 5/31.
* The tournament is split into several divisions: Girls 3rd/4th grade, Girls 5th/6th grade, Boys 3rd/4th grade, Boys 5th/6th grade. Each of these division is further split into 3 skill level groups – Gold, Silver and Bronze. At Harbor View, our goal is to form at least one team per grade – for example, last year we had a Boys 3rd grade team in Bronze AND a Boys 4th grade team in Silver. Last year we had a team for each gender/grade except for 5th grade girls and 6th grade girls. This year we believe we can get a full slate of teams for each gender/grade.
* While everyone loves to win games, our emphasis is on building camaraderie and having fun! We accept and encourage all skill levels to participate – from club soccer players to current AYSO players to former AYSO players to players who have never played soccer before. For example, some of our key players on last year’s Girls 4th grade team had never played soccer before. This is the first opportunity that students get to play competitive sports exclusively with their classmates. It is an amazing opportunity to build our school community and spirit! It is an amazing experience for students and parents alike!
* Coaches – all coaches are HV parent volunteers.
* Practices – the coach of each team will determine practice times. In most cases, practices will be twice weekly for 1.5 hours each practice and occur on weekdays. Most of the fun and bonding for Pilot Cup will happen during practices so you will want to make sure your player attends most, if not all, practices. Practices can begin as early as the week of 4/20 but I would anticipate that most teams will begin the week of 4/27.
* Registration – forms were distributed to teachers on 4/13 for students to take home to their parents. Please return registration forms by 4/17. If you can’t find your registration form, please click on the link below:
* Success – our primary measure of success is the fun and friendship enjoyed by the players, coaches and parents. We enjoyed a ton of this success last year! As a bonus, all of our teams competed well with the 3rd grade girls and 3rd grade boys making it to the finals and coming up just short of a championship. The 4th grade boys and 5th grade boys also made the semifinals. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for even more wins this year!
So, please have your child be a part of this awesome experience! Register today!
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your HV Pilot Cup coordinators – Laura Weaver (run4funlw92@yahoo.com) or Jon Spotts (jonspotts1@gmail.com).