The District II Cup is unlike any other youth soccer competition in Northern California. Each year, through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, the District II Cup brings together boys' and girls' recreational and competitive teams from ages U9 –U19 for a weekend of fun.
Over the years, District II Cup has grown to be an enormous event. In 2003, more than 550 teams will have participated over two weekends in early October and late November. This makes the District II Cup the largest youth soccer competition in CYSA-N, and one of the largest in California.
The District II Cup has two primary purposes:
- Fundraising—Proceeds are used to fund many different programs in the district, and are also deposited into our special account for building desperately needed playing fields.
- Competition—The two weekends give District II teams a chance to test themselves in a cup-style competition (as opposed to regular league play) against their peers.
To facilitate balanced competition, some attempt is made divide large age groups according to team record, and to "seed" within groupings. Several things are important to note about this process:
- This is not "March Madness" nor the NCAA soccer championships. There is no full-time, paid committee to consult "power ratings" or strength of schedule, in order to rank the 550+ teams and make it a perfect process. (What's more, when was the last time that there were no arguments about the NCAA's seeding?)
- Seeding is based on performance in last year's league and District Cup play, as well as in the league standings to-date.
- Remember that the U14 – U19 District II Cup is seeded in early September, before there has been much, if any, league play. For U9 – U13, about half of the current season can be taken into account.
Once the groupings and match-ups are set, the information is then forwarded to the individual host leagues, which must find fields (never easy), create schedules, and assign referees (also a perennial challenge). Delays sometimes occur due to rain-outs, field closings by cities and park districts, scheduling problems, and plain old human shortcomings.
In virtually every league the majority of work falls on a very small minority of volunteers. If you'd like to contribute to District Cup's success and help streamline the process—get involved!
The District II board is committed to continuing to tackle this monumental undertaking each year to offer boys and girls a fun soccer experience, and to raise money for the District's many worthwhile programs.
Play on!
