E.M. Soccer Club preps for annual tourney

The 33rd annual East Meadow Soccer Tournament is just under two months away, but already the preparations are in full swing. In fact, the tournament is so large that it requires far more than two months to arrange.

“The preparations for every year’s tournament start as soon as the last tournament ends,” said Steve Epstein, executive vice president of the East Meadow Soccer Club, who is in his seventh year as the tournament director. “It’s a yearlong process of preparation because the tournament is the largest tournament in New York state and one of the largest in the United States.”

Registration is currently under way for teams of all ages and talent levels. Epstein expects this year’s pool to exceed the nearly 450 teams that took part in 2010. Teams come from around the Northeast and even Canada to play in the tournament. When it ends, more than 7,500 players will have competed in more than 1,000 games on some 50 fields at 17 locations around Nassau and Suffolk counties. This year the tournament is expanding northward, adding a Mid-Hudson Valley location.

According to Epstein, the tournament is the longest-running and most successful in the Northeast. He attributes the success to the organization of the schedule and to the competitive balance that organizers are able to achieve by carefully separating teams by skill level.

The top teams will compete in the flagship event of the tournament, the Covanta Cup, which will take place under the lights at the stadium field at the Mitchel Athletic Complex. Two $500 scholarships will be awarded to the MVPs of the Covanta Cup.

“For the past 21 years, Covanta Energy has sponsored the East Meadow Soccer Tournament as part of our efforts to support the local community, said Ken Straitz, facility manager of Covanta Hempstead. “We are thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with the tournament this year, and wish the participants good luck.”

East Meadow has two teams to watch for in the tournament. Both the East Meadow Sparks (girls under 15) and the East Meadow United (girls under 16) were state champions this year.

The prestige of hosting the tournament and the success of their travel teams such as the Sparks and the United has helped the EMSC get accepted to the Elite Clubs National League, which, according to Epstein, is the premier girls’ soccer league in the country.

All proceeds from the tournament are returned to the club’s teams to help cover training costs. “It’s the product of a tremendous amount of hard work by many volunteers who give up a lot of their personal time for the benefit of the children of the community,” Epstein said, “and it’s an example of how the spirit of volunteerism can work to make a community grow, and support its youth.”