Annual soccer tourney kicks off this weekend

SIKESTON -- The 8th Annual Sikeston Bootheel Classic Invitational Soccer Tournament takes place Saturday and Sunday in Sikeston.

There will be 125 teams representing 18 towns from Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Northern Arkansas at this year's event.

"We have more teams this year than we've ever had," said tournament director Phil Black. "We have more from up in the Mineral Area this year."

The tournament is for both boys and girls, and features prekindergarten teams all the way up through high school seniors.

Matches will be played on fields at the Sikeston Recreation Complex, Calvary Temple Church, First Baptist Church, Sikeston High School, Sikeston Junior High and Matthews Elementary.

The event will start at 8 a.m. each day and finish up around 6 p.m.

"We appreciate all the local merchants for helping us out," said Black. "A lot of them will purchase ads in our program book, allowing us to give them to each participant. The City of Sikeston Parks Department, the school system and a few churches help us by letting us use their fields. We certainly appreciate that. We also get a lot of volunteers that help man concession stands."

Each age group has a different number of teams entered, from four teams to 10 teams in a division. There is an A-division for the larger towns, then a B-division for smaller towns and the B-teams. All tournaments are round-robin.

Trophies will be awarded to first and second place teams in each tournament.

All participants in the second grade or below will receive a participation award.

"The chamber and a lot of the merchants have indicated it is either the biggest or the second biggest weekend of the year for them," said Black. "A lot of the teams spend the night at the motels. It usually ends up being a busy weekend in town."

The tournament is sponsored by the Sikeston Youth Soccer League, a not-for-profit organization that accommodates 500 soccer players each year.

"We're trying to make some money," explained Black. "We use this as part of our fund-raising efforts to help keep our registration fees and our sponsorships low. We're also trying to get some money for lights for the fields so we can have more time to practice and play our games."