In 2009 the Jefferson Cup
reached it's highest ranking ever being ranked the #1 youth tournament for boys in the United States.
Each year the tournament
draws an average of over 150 State Cup Champions, over 10
Regional Champions and over 5 National Champions per year
throughout the nine age groups.
In 2012 over 425 college coaches
attended the Jefferson Cup, achieving record numbers for
both boys and girls weekends.
The main sponsors of the
Jefferson Cup are Markel Corporation, NIKE, Famous
Dave's BBQ, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Richmond Sports Backers,
Richmond
Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau,
SportsQuest and the Richmond Strikers
Soccer Club.
The Jefferson Cup has become
associated with tournaments such as the Dallas Cup, The San
Diego Surf Cup, WAGS Women’s Tournament, and the Disney
College Showcase as one of the five premier North American
tournaments in the country.
General
Information:
The
Jefferson Cup is going into the 32nd year of competition in and
around the Greater Richmond Area. Each year we invite around 350
teams (U10 thru U19) per weekend to play over three days at a
maximum of 13 field sites, with the showcase age groups at our
main complexes Striker Park or West Creek.
Divisions of Play:
Boys and Girls U10 through U19
U10s will play 7v7
U11s &
U12s will have divisions in both 8v8 and 11v11
U13s and up will play 11v11
Format of Play:
U10 to U15 will play Championship
Format on Saturday and Sunday
U16 and older will play Showcase
Format on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Jefferson Cup Mission Statement:
The
Jefferson Cup is committed to quality above all else;
-
Quality Competition
-
Quality Fields
-
Quality Referees
-
Quality Organization
Quality
Competition:
Selection Process:
The
Jefferson Cup averages 1100 applications for 700 +/- spots per year
for entry into the event. With an extensive 4 week research
period, the tournament committee will consider equally:
-
team
history
-
results (and yes, a 1-0 loss to top competition is better than a
10-0 win against much lesser competition)
-
results
against other teams in the application pool.
-
placement in state, regional, and national competitions
-
team
makeup
-
other
events of acceptance
-
rankings
It is a
very difficult process that includes, but is not limited to,
contacting tournament directors, league administrators, state
administrators, and club contacts. We have been fortunate to
consistently bring the top competition from all over North
America with more than half of the teams being their respective
state cup champions or finalists (remember, any given day even
the best team in the state can lose early in state cup).
Our main
focus during the selection process is QUALITY OVER
QUANTITY. Each
bracket is carefully laid out to make sure that every team’s
placement gives them a chance of winning. Lower bracket
winners have potential of moving up to higher brackets.
Based on
this philosophy, the Jefferson Cup over the past five years has
rose from a great middle-range tournament to the top ranked
tournament in gotsoccer.com.
Quality
Fields
Field
Sites:
The
Jefferson Cup bases their field site criteria on four premises:
-
Quality of playing surface
-
Ensuring
proper field sizes
-
Amount
of field space
-
Convenience for age groups
Quality
Playing Surface:
Yes, it is
true that the further you travel south, the better chance you
will see green grass, so it becomes a struggle to make sure we
can compete at that level during March in Virginia. The Striker's
main facilities,
Striker Park
and
West Creek, and
many of the sites we use are taken care of with great success by I.T.A.C.
(Innovative Turf Application Consulting). This company's
knowledge of sport surface growth and weather treatment has
allowed us to bypass the normal brown Bermuda, and have some of
the greenest fields East of the Mississippi River. Of course
this can not be guaranteed at all sites, but when we can’t
control the maintenance of the fields, we try to make sure that
all measures are taken to secure the next best sites.
With the high quality standard of fields used by the Jefferson
Cup, the Jefferson Cup has cancelled only a single game for each
of it's U16 and older age groups for the past 31 years that the
Richmond Strikers have run the tournament. And in all have
only had three weather related issues in the past 29 years where
games were cancelled while using all-grass surface fields.
Ensuring
proper field sizes:
The Jefferson
Cup has always made it a priority to ensure that teams play and
age groups play on appropriate size fields, utilizing maximum
field widths.
Amount
of Field Space:
A priority
of the tournament is to make sure that you have one
place to go all weekend. We try to make sure that all field
sites can house at least the bracket you are in. With most sites
having four or more fields, we are able to allow the groups to only
have one map and to also bracket watch throughout the weekend.
Convenience for Age Groups:
Lastly, we
try our best to make sure that each field site is within
reasonable driving distance from hotel accommodations offered by
the Cup. Knowing that mobilizing 18 players and a group of
parents isn’t always easy, our goal is to make this process
simple.
Quality
Referees
How does a
tournament guarantee quality referees?
Simple
Answer: They can’t.
The
Jefferson Cup does, however, set certain standards and suggestions
for our referees that we hope they take out onto the field each
and every match. The first step we take is not to try to assign
referees ourselves. We outsource all referee assignments to one
of the top groups in the country, CVSRA. They do their best to
make sure that all referees are able and graded to referee the
age groups assigned within the event. We also have promoted
consistency. The most repeated quote by the tournament staff “If you
are going to be good or bad, just be consistently good or bad. A
coach can always adjust, but mixing it up is what makes it
unpleasant.”
Quality
Organization
The
Jefferson Cup prides itself on the decisions and steps we take
every year to make sure the stay in Richmond is a quality one.
The Strikers have been running the Jefferson Cup for 31 years
and, in our experience we have found a lot of things that don’t
work and and many more that do. Our field sites will
always have easy to find help, tournament gear is available at
all sites, and college coaches are all given the proper care so
that they will be notified of all changes and know where the
right ages are. And thanks to the GotSoccer SoccerScheduler system,
schedules, college profiles, rosters, and formal team contact is now
more
efficient and precise.
Hotel
Accommodations
The Richmond
Strikers are proud to announce a new housing service
partnership with Anthony Travel, a travel agency with a
nationwide reputation for excellence in managing travel
to sports events. We feel strongly that Anthony Travel
will bring the same degree of professionalism, attention
to detail, and quality service to fulfilling your
tournament travel and housing needs that our Strikers
staff brings to the organization and execution of the
tournament itself.
All teams are
mandated to book any hotel reservations through
Anthony Travel to insure their place in the 2011
Jefferson Cup – teams found to be in violation of this
requirement are subject to disqualification without
refund of their entry fee, and will jeopardize their
participation in future Richmond Strikers tournaments.
Please
click here to
e-mail a Anthony Travel sports travel expert or call
(800) 736-6377.
However teams can begin booking hotel rooms as soon as
they enter the 2012 Jefferson Cup. Teams will need
to provide Anthony Travel with
their 2012 Jefferson Cup Registration number in order to
book hotel rooms
By
using Anthony Travel as our booking service the Richmond
Strikers and the Jefferson Cup can offer our "Act of
God" Clause. Should the event be canceled for reasons
beyond the Organizer's control, all reservations covered
under our "Act of God" will be released at no charge:
(1) If event is cancelled prior to 6:00 PM day of
check-in, no penalty will be assessed; (2) If event is
cancelled AFTER 6:00 PM day of check-in, all
reservations are subject to a fee of one night's room
rate plus tax.
Entry
Fees:
Travel Divisions:
$600 for U10
$750 for U11-U12
$850 for U13-U15
$950 for U16-U19
Entry Fees
should be mailed to:
Jefferson Cup
c/o Richmond Strikers
4202D Park Place Ct.
Glen Allen, VA 23060
Divisions of Play:
Boys and Girls U10 through U19
U10s will play 7v7
U11s &
U12s will play 8v8 and 11v11
U13s and up will play 11v11
Be a
part of the 2012 Jefferson Cup!
Click here to enter Boys Teams
Click here to enter Girls Teams
Click here to enter Girls
Qualifier Weekend
©
2011 Richmond Striker Soccer Club
