Alumni TournamentBY KENSLEY STILL ON JUNE 5, 2013
Many months after the end of the men’s soccer season, senior Justyn de Quieroz, as well as several other senior soccer boys, are “very down that our season is over,” de Quieroz said.
However, de Queiroz has found a way to continue playing soccer at Rose through Project Connect, more commonly known as the senior project. The physical portion of his project consists of a soccer tournament with not only the senior soccer players from this year, but also with Rose alumni soccer players from past seasons. “I, as well as many seniors, are [upset] that our season is over,” de Queiroz said. “I thought a tournament would be a cool way to have one last chance to play with each other, [while also] including alumni players.” The alumni tournament took place around 9 am on Saturday morning, May 31, at the Rose soccer field and cost five dollars for each player to participate in addition to donations. Prior to the tournament, de Queiroz explained his purpose for hosting the tournament. “The money I made is going to the Humane Society,” de Queiroz said. “I raised 183 dollars total and had a few toys donated as well.” In order to raise awareness about the event, de Queiroz created a facebook group where he explained the event and invited several alumni players as well as current Rose soccer players. “I made the Facebook group online so I could get in contact with the Rose alumni players and to encourage as many as possible to participate,” de Queiroz said. De Queiroz was expecting about twenty alumni players to participate, including not only boys but also girls. To his surprise, de Queiroz exceeded his goal with 28 people showing up to play. “My sister, Cassie de Queiroz, attended the tournament along with some other players who graduated with her in 2010,” de Queiroz said. In addition to de Queiroz’s sister and her past peers, more recent graduates such as Kevin Cherry and Cameron Worden from the class of 2013 participated in the event. Since the exact number of participants was unknown prior to the tournament, de Queiroz divided up teams the morning of the event with alumni and seniors playing on a team versus a team of current Rose soccer players. After playing three 30-minute halves, the alumni team beat the current Rose players 12-7. “It was a lot of fun!” de Queiroz said. “The alumni that came were originally complaining that they were rusty, but they enjoyed themselves.” Due to the success of the tournament, Rose alumni soccer tournaments will be held in the future. While de Queiroz will be away on a mission in Puebla, Mexico for two years, coach Jed Smith is looking to continue the tournament as an annual event with the help of de Queiroz’s sister until de Queiroz returns. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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