Hundreds of youth soccer players will descend on fields at Blanchard Woods Park and Patriots Park for the annual Columbia County Cup tournament Aug. 27-29.
“It’s a really great event for community soccer,” said Andrew Hammer, director of coaching for the Bulls Soccer Club. This is the 26th year for the event. Prior to last year, it was held in Aiken and was called the Aiken Cup.
More than 130 teams from Under 8 to Under 19 are set to play around 222 games at the three-day tournament on 13 full-sized fields and six smaller fields. Teams represent Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Hammer said moving the tournament to Columbia County last year made sense.
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“About 90% of our players are from Columbia County,” he said. “We felt it was a good representation of the county.”
A handful of games are scheduled for Friday night with the bulk of them being played Saturday. Games start at 8 a.m. Saturday with the last games scheduled at 7 p.m. Finals will be played Sunday.
Hammer said the tournament is a great economic booster for the community. Teams travel to the area and stay in local hotels and eat at local restaurants.
He welcomed soccer fans to enjoy the games. Admission is free.
“It’s a fun event,” he said. “And there’s some great soccer.”
Teams in the younger age brackets will play at Patriots Park with teams predominantly in the Under-14 to Under-19 age brackets at Blanchard Woods.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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