GTCSC Season Kicks Off with Tournament, Booths and Fun

Rollins Park on Saturday, Aug. 17 was filled as Grand Terrace came together to celebrate the kickoff to the 2013 fall soccer season with the Grand Terrace Community Soccer Club (GTCSC) opening ceremonies. In a switch from past years, the event began in the late afternoon to combat the early in the August day heat and humidity, with team photos beginning at 3 p.m., an Under 8 Division daylong tournament—the first in the league’s history—beginning at 4 p.m. and the opening ceremonies starting at 5 p.m. and running through the evening. Throughout the day, those in the Under 8 teams participated in the daylong tournament, something players in these divisions (U-8 and U-6) did not do before. “The kids played all day and when the final two teams got down to the last game, it was their fourth of the day,” said GTCSC League Vice President Robert Sanchez. “They were tired but they were having a great time and they loved it. Both teams got medals.” This year differed from the last in that an emphasis was also placed on raffles and other prizes as rewards for participation and support, noted Sanchez. “We really want to get parents to participate in early registration,” he said. Early registration makes it easier for league board members to estimate how many teams they will have during any given season. “So for those who signed up at early registration, we placed their names into a drawing, and one winner basically gets to play for free because we gave the winner a certificate for $80.” He noted that $80 is the cost of early registration. From there, the cost of registration goes up to $90 or $100, depending upon the time frame a child is registered to play with the league. Of the league’s 600 soccer players this year—there are 60 teams in the league for this coming season, two more than last year—325 had registered early, said Sanchez. While they got the chance to play games and visit with their teammates and coaches, participants also roamed the grounds of Rollins Park visiting individual team booths, who sold things like hamburgers, hot dogs and other refreshments to raise money for their teams, which they can spend on necessities, team shirts, or even pizza parties. “Kids got a sort of passport and they went around visiting the booths, and then we put their names into a raffle box and raffled away some tickets to future [LA] Galaxy [soccer] games,” said Sanchez. The changes to the opening ceremonies were some of many the league would like to implement this season in an effort to continually involve their players and community in the sport and keep it fun. He shared that the league hopes to have a goalie contest between the divisions midway through the season, and to continue having the older teams (those ages 15–18) playing interleague with teams from the Colton Youth Soccer League, a change the GTCSC put in place last year. “We’re looking at more creativity” for this season, said Sanchez. For Rudy Garcia, a volunteer with the Grand Terrace Little League, community sports are beneficial because they give the community’s youth the chance to have fun and to continue practicing their sport during their vacation from school. “It prepares the kids, in my opinion, for when they’re older,” he said. “When you have programs like this, kids get the opportunity to practice in the off season [from school sports] and participate in sports year-round. It helps the kids who want to play high school CIF [sports] and collegiate [sports] the chance to keep working on their skills.” The GTCSC hosts teams from ages 6 and under all the way up to adult teams. Their 2013 game schedules can be found on their website at www.gtsoccer.org/Schedule.html.