Only 32 teams participated in this year’s Coaches Cup, the first time the end-of-the-season youth soccer tournament has been held in the Friendly City.
Although 50 teams were expected when the city first secured the event last year, officials say there is silver lining in the small number: It gave Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority and the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau an opportunity to get everything right during their first year as hosts for the tournament.
CLRA programs director Greg Lewis told the CVB board of directors Monday that the local tourism authority staff “couldn’t have scripted (how the tournament was run) any better.” That, he said, impressed Mississippi Soccer Association officials enough to get their word that the tournament will return to the soccer complex, which was completed last year at Burns Bottom.
The smooth operations suggest the complex is ready for a much bigger tournament which will be held in May, the President’s Cup.
“I’ve been to President’s Cups from one end of the state to the other and nothing compares,” Lewis added.
“Immediately after the tournament was over I asked (CVB Executive Director) Nancy (Carpenter) if she would come so we could publicly thank them because she and her staff did a fine job Friday night and all through the tournament,” he said.
Carpenter added that the event was a good test run for the much bigger May soccer tournament. Lewis said the number of teams participating would be four to five times that of the Coaches Cup.
“People are calling to make sure we have enough hotel rooms because there have been places where they went where you didn’t have any hotel rooms and you had to go 30 or 40 miles out of town,” Lewis told board members. “We know that some overflow is going to have to go to Starkville and West Point.”
Lewis said after the meeting that since he began working at CLRA, participation in the Coaches Cup has declined each year from about 90 his first year. He expected 50 teams in this year’s event initially but said there have been past installments where the number has been as low as this one. If Columbus gets the tournament again, Lewis said, he expects that number to grow based on the positive feedback the tournament received.
“The people who came out to play soccer felt it was unbelievable that you’ve got a soccer complex and just a block or two away, you’ve got Main Street. We got nothing but good comments on that tournament,” Lewis said. “The MSA, their staff came down to see what we had to offer and they understand that now we are capable of running a huge tournament. I think because of the way the coaches and referees were taken care of during this tournament that it’s not going to be a problem to get them to come back to Columbus. That’s going to have an economic impact for the city.”
Board business
Aside from Lewis’ report, the CVB board handled routine business during a meeting that lasted less than 20 minutes. It approved a project clearance report for the Roast ‘N Boast quality-of-life event held in August and funded it the full allotment of $4,000 for the second half of an $8,000 grant.
The board also approved Oct. financials of $126,532.29 in profits from 2 percent hotel tax and $164,160.30 in expenses, a loss of $37,628.01.
Carpenter reported to the board last month that the CVB had paid off $360,000 on its line of credit debt and with that released $200,000 in cash deposits which were being held as collateral.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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