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Jefferson Cup Premier Soccer Tournament Fast Facts:

• The Tournament accepts over 700 teams from around 35 States throughout the country.

• In the past 4 Years, the Jefferson Cup turns down an average of over 500 teams per year.

• In 2009 the Jefferson Cup reached it's highest ranking ever being ranked the #1 youth tournament for boys and #4 youth soccer tournament for girls in the United States.

• Each year the tournament draws an average of over 150 State Cup Champions, over 50 Regional Champions and over 5 National Champions per year throughout the nine age groups.

• The Tournament is held at 14 different complexes around the Greater Richmond Area with the main facility being Striker Park.

• Striker Park is a 11-field soccer facility that has been regarded as one of the country's top soccer complexes.

• Each year the tournament brings around 200 college coaches per weekend to scout the players participating.

• The main sponsors of the Jefferson Cup are Markel Corporation, NIKE, Pepsi, Famous Dave's BBQ, Froots, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Richmond Sports Backers, Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, 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 29th 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 two days at a maximum of 13 field sites, with the showcase age groups at our main complex Striker Park.

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

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 550 +/- 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 risen 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 three premises:

1. Quality of playing surface

2. Amount of field space

3. 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 29 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.

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 28 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

To ensure the quality of service provided at the 2009 Jefferson Cup, the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club has appointed Outer Zone Sports as the Official Hospitality Service of the tournament.   All teams are mandated to book any hotel reservations through Outer Zone Sports to ensure their place in the 2009 Jefferson Cup. Any teams that do not comply will be at risk of forfeiting their acceptance.

For hotel reservations, contact Brenda or Melissa at Outer Zone Sports at 1-800-374-9310 or info@outerzonesports.com.  Or you can visit the Outer Zone website at www.outerzonesports.com

Entry Fees:
Travel Divisions:
$600 for U10

$725 for U11-U12
$800 for U13-U15
$900 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 2010 Jefferson Cup!

Click here to Register for the 2010 Jefferson Cup...

© 2010 Richmond Striker Soccer Club