Two class soccer for Indiana

The Indiana High School Athletic Association today gave the green light to reformat the boys’ and girls’ soccer state tournaments into two classes — based on school enrollment – beginning in the fall of 2011.

Both sports have been of a single class structure since the IHSAA began sponsoring the sport in 1994.

Plans for the new tournaments will be announced in the spring of next year following the next classification realignment.

http://www.ihsaa.org/dnn/Media/MediaReleases/IHSAANewsRelease5310/tabid/826/Default.aspx

World Cup Countdown – a spot of bother over leopard Zakumi

They almost become as famous as the players who light up the World Cup, and sometimes they can be as controversial as decisions made during the tournament.

We’re talking about the mascots, and there have been some pretty interesting – and odd -- ones through the years.

The first was the quintessentially English lion (with the quintessentially Scottish moniker), World Cup Willie, in 1966.

Willie was considered a commercial masterstroke, who sent a feelgood factor through the team. If he could have talked, he might have even claimed it was he who helped England win the Jules Rimet trophy, as it was then.

Others include Mexican sombrero wearing boy, Juanito (1970); Naranjito, the Spanish orange (1982); German lion Goleo and his sidekick talking ball, Pille (2006); and, of course, Striker, the American pup of 1994.

Goleo was criticized because most people couldn’t see what a lion had to do with Germany, while Japan and South Korea fought over, amongst other issues, what to name its trio of representatives. The Koreans thought the names – Ato, Kaz and Nik -- were too Japanese.

And now we have South Africa’s Zakumi.

Zakumi is a leopard, a common animal found in South Africa, with green hair and wearing the green and gold colors representing those of the host nation.

His name comes from "ZA", (which stands for South Africa), and "kumi", a word that means "10" in various African languages. We are told by FIFA he is a “mascot with attitude,” and is jolly, self-confident, adventurous, spontaneous and very shrewd. Others have called him “creepy.”

I didn’t know this previously, but Zakumi is 15-years-old and his birthday falls on June 16. It coincides with Youth Day in South Africa and also with the game between the host nation and Uruguay.

Here’s the controversy: Zakumi figurines were being made in China by Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products as part of a contract in excess of $112 million.

South Africans were not best pleased on hearing this, as they believe the merchandise should be sourced locally so as to give a boost to the flailing manufacturing sector. There was also a bit of politicking going on too, as the contract was awarded to a company owned by an ANC representative member in the South African parliament.

Allegation of sweatshop conditions at the Chinese factory led to an audit, which revealed a number of non-compliance issues.

As a result, FIFA suspended the contract last month due to the abuses.
So all’s good again, except for the fact that there’s still those who think the jolly chap looks a bit creepy. You can decide for yourself come June 11.

Net-Surfers gallop to Derby Cup success!

Let’s hope the weather at Churchill Downs is better this Saturday than it was for those who played at the sixth annual Derby Cup tournament at the weekend.

The rains and tornado alerts may have slowed down the competition’s gallop, but they didn’t stop the Thoroughbreds SC/Oldham County YSA hosted event reaching the finishing line.

All Saturday afternoon games were halted during play and forced to be concluded early, while the later evening matchups were decided from the mark in shootout format.

Over 180 teams from the Midwest region competed in the select soccer tournament, and among them was a large representation from southern Indiana’s Net-Surfers, which had six teams participating over the three days.

And the weather certainly didn’t stop Net-Surfers U12s, who won the White Division by beating the aptly named Cincinnati Thunder 1-0 in the final.

To make it there, the southern Indiana girls beat ESC United 5-2, tied 0-0 with Thoroughbreds, thumped AC United 7-0, and then took care of KASC United 4-2 in the final.

Net Surfers' U11s also made it to the final, losing out to Thoroughbreds in the decider (5-0). Before that, it had lost narrowly to the same opposition in group play (4-3), but trounced SKY SC of Bowling Green 10-0 on Saturday, and beat AC United 5-1 on Sunday. It then beat SWISA Inferno 3-1 for a place in the final.

Net-Surfers had a large representation at the Derby Cup, with other participating teams including U9 Purple and White, U10s, and U14s.

Net Surfers U14 girls beat Louisville Soccer Club Arsenal 1-0 on Friday, lost to SKY SC 2-1 on Saturday, and finished off with a 0-0 tie against the Footie Chick from Taylorsville.

U9 Purple had a nice 5-2 win against LFC on Sunday, while White beat SWISA 5-4, and the U10s tied Nelson County Elite.

Meanwhile, the second week of the Mockingbird Valley organized Louisville Cup saw U10-U18 boys in action, including four teams from Southern Indiana United.

Like the Derby Cup, this competition held at Bullitt and Oxmoor fields was also hit with stoppages thanks to the elements.

And speaking of the weather, one of those taking part was SIU U12 Storm.
Storm has had a good start to its season, as it is 2-0-2 in Kentucky Select Soccer League play and the only unbeaten team in its division.

Tim Rice’s charges got off to a thunderous start at the Louisville Cup, beating CUSC Premier Inferno 4-1, and then tied a shortened game with FSC White 1-1. It narrowly missed the chance to play in the championship game when going down by a lone goal to LSA Central.

U15 Renegade didn’t get off to a great start against Frankfort Fury (4-0), but it bounced back in style to thump Warriors ’94 Black by a 5-0 scoreline. It finished out Sunday with a 1-0 loss to LSA ’95, the eventual winners.

Others SIU teams in action included U10 Revolution, who found Nelson Titans, Carmel United Bradley and Mockingbird Green too good, and U11 Blast, who battled well against LSA East, Mockingbird Gold and Dynamo ’99 Red.