Nott's Forest Football Club continues its Labor Day Weekend dominance with more than 300 teams participating in the Forest Labor Day Cup. Director David Banks attributes a variety of reasons to the tournament's success.
The top-two reasons are quality fields and quality competition. Banks, who is the director of football at Nott's Forest and coaches the club's GU11 Red AAA and GU17 Red Premier teams, participated in many tournaments throughout the year. He says his teams continually faced the same opponents at various tournaments in both bracket play and in the playoffs.
"[The Nott's Forest tournament] brackets have the luxury of having different clubs coming from all over," Banks said.
The Forest Cup serves up competition from Temecula, Arizona (including Sereno), Northern California and even Alaska.
The long history of the tournament, combined with Banks' connections and abilty to meet tournament expectations, is what keeps teams coming back.
"We are doing quite well," Banks said. "I am very pleased with the teams that are coming."
Another reason for a spike in numbers is some strategic planning on the part of Nott's Forest. The club offered a "stimulus package," which gave a discount to teams that registered in both the Memorial Day and Labor Day tourneys.
Despite its success, the Forest Cup isn't immune to today's economy. Before the recession, the tournament boasted more than 450 teams but dropped to 270 last year. This year, there are more than 300 teams participating from around San Diego County. Field locations include Hickman Fields, Nobel Athletic Park, Robb Field and more.
The pre-tournament festivities kick off with a chocolate extravaganza on Sept. 3-4. Both registration days will have two fountains of chocolate for the 300-plus teams to dive into with fruit and more. Banks says its just one of the many ways things are done differently at the Forest Cup.
Who's all coming?
For a complete list of participating clubs, click here.
History of the Forest Cup from Nott's Forest
The Forest Cup originated from the Villa Soccer Club in 1995, which merged with its parent club, the Mesa Soccer Association. The competitive program was renamed San Diego Fire and the tournament was named the Villa-San Diego Fire Labor Day Classic in 2000. In 2004, the name was changed once more to the Forest Cup, which has established itself as Southern California's number No. 1 Labor Day tournament.
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| The Nott's Forest welcoming committee. |
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