WESA to host 28th annual adult soccer tournament in CB

Like the Champions League, but different

By Than Acuff

Hard to believe that what started out so long ago, and involves soccer, continues as West Elk Soccer Association (WESA) is hosting the 28^th annual Crested Butte adult coed soccer tournament Saturday and Sunday, June 17-18 at fields in town.

Jamie Watt can be credited with starting the tradition so many years ago, a tradition that ebbed and flowed over the past 27 years. At one point the Crested Butte tournament was one of five such tournaments each summer throughout the mountains and western slope of Colorado and built such energy locally that the Crested Butte Kickers team had a travelling fan base known as the Couch Brothers and made the trip twice to play in a tournament in Las Vegas. Granted, Sin City possessed far too many distractions for the Crested Butte Kickers to focus on soccer, but it was still worth the trip, I think. 

Regardless, the mountain tournament energy waned and dropped to just three, including one in Crested Butte, and the Crested Butte tournament dropped to eight teams total with a team from Boulder or a team from Denver usually winning.

Eventually, WESA took over the tournament and over the past seven years has brought it back to its glory days and then some with 12 teams playing, including squads from the Front Range, Grand Junction and Ridgway to battle against the Kickers and Gunnison/California team X-Force FC.

“We have some solid teams returning, two of which made the finals the past two years,” says tournament director and WESA director of coaching Tom Lewis. “Teams intentionally find the best players to bring here so they can win, and the level increases each year because I think our tournament is the one everyone wants to play at, the one everyone marks on their calendar.”

The Butte Kickers rarely make it to the finals as they often have a variety of players, oftentimes too many that want to play since it’s in their backyard. But this year is different as Lewis has made a point of picking and developing a squad to make a run at the Front Range hordes, including calling on some young guns fresh out of high school. And, for the first time ever, the team is getting a training session in to establish some cohesion prior to the start of the tournament.

“It’s the first time in a while we purposefully chose players based on ability and positions,” says Lewis. “It’s probably one of the strongest teams we’ve had and includes two players from Crested Butte Titans state title champion teams.”

Games will be played at both Rainbow Field and the school field from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Crested Butte Kickers are playing at 8 a.m. at Rainbow and then again at 2:30 p.m. at the school field. The first day of play concludes with the annual tournament party Saturday night. The soccer then starts again on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. with the semifinals and consolation game with the tournament finals at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at Rainbow Field. 

The tournament also serves as a fundraiser for local youth soccer as proceeds go to the West Elk Soccer Association. For more information about the club and a tournament schedule go to westelksocer.org.