Ft. Wayne Sport Club Shines (Again)
The 30th Annual Midwest Region Tournament of Champions was held on the immaculately manicured fields of the Ft. Wayne Sport Club the weekend of August 1st and 2nd. The TOC pits the State Champions of the 14 Midwestern States against one another. Perfect weather and perfect fields marked the weekend. It's hard to describe just how good the fields were, but let's just say there was no blaming a bad touch on a bad bounce. It's amazing what happens when you start with really good fields, then add a ton of slow release fertilizer and 56,000 gallons of water every other night for 3 weeks.
Indiana had 6 teams representing us in 4 Divisions: Women's Open, Men's Open, Men's O-30 and Men's U-23. We managed to come away with 2 Runners Up trophies. Indianapolis Dynamo finished second in Men's U-23 behind Cincinnatti 1790, and Ft. Wayne Sport Club finished second to Michigan in Men's O-30. Ft.Wayne was the defending champion. In Men's Open, Elkhart SC won its group but lost to eventual champion Louisville Soccer Alliance in the semi-finals.
The hard work of all of the volunteers at the Sport Club really paid off. The oldest and finest soccer club in the state truly shined. There was plenty of good food and lots and lots of good beer. Next year's tournament goes to Cleveland the third weekend of July, but we have been asked to submit a bid to become the permanent home after that.
Congratulations to the Sport Club, to our teams, and to all of the Indiana referees who donated their time to make this the best TOC ever.