First indoor tournament brings community together
Published 8:01 am Monday, February 21, 2011
Wesley Schultz of the Oakland FC turns to play the ball in their game against Oaxaca during Riverland Community College's first ever five-on-five soccer tournament, held in the RCC gym.
The soccer season got an early start in Austin Saturday.
No, teams weren’t playing outside. Riverland Community College held its first five-on-five soccer tournament in the school’s gym, something that could become a common occurrence in Austin. Riverland Boys’ soccer coach Soner Dogan organized the tournament in part to give his players an early start to the practice season before the weather cooperates. However, he said the sport also brought together people from different cultures and exposed young people to Riverland.
While Dogan anticipated about five teams, 12 teams signed up to play Saturday. Players included people on college soccer teams and others who recently took up the sport.
Chelsea FC's Miguel Cisneros plays the ball off his chest during a game against the Unstoppables Saturday morning. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
While many parts of the country have a year-round soccer season, Dogan noted Minnesota’s season is shortened by climate.
“Soccer’s an outdoor sport, but we live in Minnesota,” he said. “Weather doesn’t always allow us to play.”
In the Twin Cities and other communities, indoor soccer leagues keep the sport alive through the winter. Dogan said he hopes that could soon be the case in Austin.
Dogan said the tournament was in part a trial run to gauge interest in holding similar tournaments or an indoor league at least once a month.
The tournament wasn’t strictly limited to Riverland students, as teams came from Albert Lea, Owatonna and Iowa. In future tournaments, Dogan said the tournaments will be open to anyone in the community.
“We want the community to get to know the college,” Dogan said.
But more importantly, Dogan said the tournament was a chance to bring people together and expose people to the college.
His goal was to inspire young people to become interested in going to college.
“Our goal is not to promote soccer,” Dogan said. “We don’t want them to play soccer. We want them to go to college and play soccer.”
Along with exposing people to the school, Dogan said the tournament brought different cultures together. Dogan said players with ties to Korea, Mexico, Guatemala, Kenya, Brazil and Vietnam all played together at Riverland Saturday.
“It brings societies together,” Dogan said.
Dogan said the college needs to be a leader in promoting activities that bring cultures together.
The tournament came down to a championship match between the Galaxy and Foreigners. In the end, Galaxy pulled through with a 10 to 7 win to take the tournament.
