2009 Viking Cup - Canceled!

Dear Soccer Fans,

It is our sad duty to announce that North Kitsap Soccer Club's Viking Cup Soccer Tournament has been canceled for 2009.  Washington Youth Soccer (WYS) has instituted changes to the soccer calendar that shifted the start of annual soccer tryouts to mid-May.  As a result, team tryouts for most age groups will begin the weekend before the tournament was scheduled to be held.

Last year's Viking Cup Tournament was one of the most successful in recent years, which made our decision to cancel the 2009 tournament more difficult.  However, 87% of last year's Viking Cup teams will be in the process of completing tryouts and forming teams this Memorial Day weekend. Given the new select soccer tryout schedule, the Viking Cup Organizing Committee determined that too few teams would be able to commit to a Memorial Day weekend tournament to make it a competitive success.

Because of the financial impact this cancellation will have, not only on NKSC but on the North Kitsap community at large, the Viking Cup Organizing Committee strongly considered the possibility of moving the tournament to an alternate weekend.  However, other Western Washington soccer clubs are already hosting long-established tournaments on each weekend of the newly compressed spring/summer soccer tournament season.  Introducing a new tournament in direct competition with a sister club could tarnish NKSC relations within the local soccer community and would very likely fail to produce the influx of cash local businesses have come to expect after twenty-four years of Viking Cup tournaments.  Additionally, trying to find referees who are not already preparing for other tournaments would be very difficult.

We at North Kitsap Soccer Club sincerely hope that WYS will reconsider their tryout dates for 2010 and beyond.  We urge you to lend your support by contacting WYS directly:

Doug Andreassen, President - statepresident@wsysa.com
Laurie A. Myers, 1st VP of Administration - vpadministration1@wsysa.com
Gail Zimbelman, VP of Competition - vpcompetition@wsysa.com

Address:
500 S 336th St Suite 100
Federal Way, WA 98003

Phone:
1-877-424-4318 (Toll Free)

Sincerely,
Aaron Vernik

NKSC President / Viking Cup Committee Co-Chair
president@northkitsapsoccer.org

Updated 3-11-2009