A new all-time high of over 400 teams packed into venues across Southern Utah and Nevada, including players from the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Australia, Spain and Canada.
We saw Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 international teams from7 Elite Academy UK fly over to Utah and Nevada, as well as Under-18 teams from AFC Liverpool and Steve Gerrard Academy in Liverpool.
Along with staff and coaches, that amounted to well over 100 travelling personnel who made the trip – and they were given a warm welcome by every single person at the tournament.
As well as those teams from Europe, more clubs than ever travelled from out of state. In fact, clubs from Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma and Wyoming all made the trip to our tournament. On the pitch, we saw an incredible 653 games played by 400 teams – a total of around 6,000 players! That included over 7,800 penalty kicks… all that tension and excitement!
Overall, we handed out 68 trophies to winners of brackets across 19 male and female age groups, ranging from Under-9 to Under-23, with over 2,100 winners and runners-up medals also handed out. That’s not including the 225 medals handed out to boys and girls who put on a brilliant display during our Saturday morning Pre-Academy Jamboree in Mesquite!
But what about the effect on local towns and cities? Everywhere you looked throughout the weekend hotels, restaurants and shops were packed with players, coaches and their families.
In fact, we believe the economic benefit to the local region was well over one millions dollars of additional income. We’re absolutely delighted to have put something back into our local communities.
There were also college scouts, professional academy scouts and even professional club scouts from the MLS in attendance. Luke Mulholland, Head Scout at Real Salt Lake took a keen interest in players, as did his assistant.
Not only that, recruiters from Steven Gerrard Academy in Liverpool were on the lookout for new recruits at the tournament, as was Jonny Broadhead – Head Coach of Men’s Soccer at Utah Tech.
Our social media profiles were another focus of expansion during the tournament. To give you a brief outline, the official tournament Instagram account had 54,000 impressions during the event month. The official 7 Elite Academy US Instagram account also had around 54,000 impressions, while the official 7 Elite Academy UK Instagram account gathered a record-breaking 174,000 impressions during the same period.
So what’s next? Where do we go from here? Next year will be bigger and better than ever before. We’re already working with local authorities to make sure venues offer better facilities throughout the weekend.
Then there’s the game itself. This year featured the highest standards of youth soccer we’ve ever seen in Southern Utah and Nevada. Can that be beaten? Well, that’s up to the players – but we’re sure they’ll raise the bar once again.
7 Elite Academy administers and coaches teams for thousands of players across the world, in the United States, the United Kingdom and in East Africa.
