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Tourney, complex get rave reviews
Piedmont Shootout at Smith River Sports Complex
Grey Ferguson, left, moves the ball downfield Saturday at the Smith River Sports Complex while playing for the 12-and-under Guilford United boys team, which is made up of athletes from this area. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray)
These were just some of the words used to describe the Smith River Sports Complex on Saturday during the facility’s first youth soccer tournament.
Sixty-eight youth soccer teams from all corners of Virginia, as well as North Carolina, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, came to the complex Saturday for the two-day “Piedmont Shootout” tournament run by the Piedmont Youth Soccer Complex.
“I think it’s better than we expected,” said Billy Russo, director of operations at the complex. “Everything came off without a hitch. Parking’s been good and there have been very few, if any, negative comments.”
Russo and others said the condition of the complex’s fields was one of the most impressive aspects to visiting soccer players, coaches and fans.
With rain having soaked much of the East Coast over the past week, two major youth soccer tournaments scheduled for this weekend —one in Richmond and another in Greensboro, N.C. — had been canceled.
Ben Berube, a soccer official from Raleigh, N.C., was impressed.
“It’s a beautiful place. I was shocked this (Saturday) morning when I got here, because I’d heard of all the rain you got here,” he said. “But when I walked up, the Bermuda (grass) fields were perfect, and the turf fields of course were nice.”
Tournament director Steve Lovgren said there was never any doubt whether the Piedmont Shootout would continue as scheduled.
“Everybody else is closing down, but because of the drainage factor, we were able to walk (the fields) Thursday in the rain and they were fine,” said Lovgren, who works for the Richmond-based Commonwealth Soccer Programs, which partners with the PYSL and also helps coordinate youth tournaments across the state.
“The playing surface is the cleanest and smoothest complex in the state,” he added. “It’s just a soccer player’s dream, being able to play on such a smooth surface.”
PYSL President Richard Byrd expected 3,000-4,000 people to come through the gates of complex by the time the tournament concludes today. On Saturday, the paved parking lots were full and some cars were set up in the overflow area, where tailgating tents dotted the landscape.
License plates from as far as Kansas and Arizona were seen at the complex.
“This is exactly what they built it for,” said Byrd of the Harvest Foundation’s $8.5 million investment into the facility. “We’ve got hotels booked. They (players, coaches, parents) will go out to eat, go to the movies. Some of these teams might play at 8 o’clock in the morning and not play again until 7 at night. So hopefully, it will give some boost to the local economy.”
Donna Huff was at the complex to watch her three daughters play. Huff, of Roanoke, was impressed with the facility.
“It’s awesome. I wish Roanoke had this,” she said. “Some of the bigger places, you’re on two different fields. Like in Danville, it was nice, but it was on two different fields. It’s just great to have it all at one complex.”
The event also marked the first tournament hosted by the PYSL here in Martinsville, something that did not go unnoticed by area soccer players.
“This is our first tournament we’ve ever had,” said 17-year-old Zack Clifton, a Ridgeway resident and member of the 18-and-younger PYSL Hurricanes. “It’s great to sponsor one and get to be the home team.”
Six Hurricane teams competed in the tournament, including the 12-and-younger Hurricanes team of which Jack Gardner is a member.
Gardner, 10, Martinsville, said playing a tournament at the complex was “nice, ’cause you get to sleep in every morning.”
He also thought the complex was “nicer than all the other” facilities where he had competed.
Greensboro resident Nikki Rumsey also gave the complex high marks.
The 14-year-old member of the Greensboro United Futbol Club noted that unlike many other tournament sites she’s played at, the Smith River complex’s fields were “not muddy. They take care of them. They’re not overgrown.”
Rumsey said her team has traveled as far as Georgia and Kentucky to play in similar tournaments, and added that it was great to compete within an easy drive of her hometown.
“It’s a lot nicer than having to go to states far, far away,” she said.
Enda Crehan, the director of coaching for the PYSL and an assistant coach for the men’s soccer team at Averett University in Danville, made a point to credit the numerous volunteers and organizers who helped make the tournament happen.
“It’s one thing having a great complex. It’s another to actually make it happen,” said Crehan, who has coached or played in 40 states while working with a youth soccer organization.
“I’m really impressed,” he said of the complex. “I’ve been here since January in Virginia, and I think it’s incredible. It’s phenomenal.”
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