Stadium draw
helps SCORES
Organizers of the SCORES Cup have Gillette Stadium for the tournament's backdrop. (Justin Rice for The Boston Globe)
By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / May 28, 2009
FOXBOROUGH - Limping through the concourse at Gillette Stadium before a recent New England Revolution game, hobbling on opposite legs and looking like they were tied together for a three-legged race, David and Nicole Chang slowly headed for their seats.
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Hobbled by ankle injuries - David was hurt in a recreation league game, Nicole on the family trampoline - the Norwood couple was uncertain if they would be able to play in Saturday's fifth annual SCORES Cup on the very pitch where the Revs were about to take on the Colorado Rapids.
Saturday's all-day corporate challenge at Gillette is the number one fund-raiser for America SCORES New England, an after-school soccer/creative writing program serving third- through eighth-graders in 24 Boston public schools.
"It's special for everyone who loves to compete," said David Chang, a participant in the first SCORES Cup before becoming a board member and organizer. "To think we get to play in this stadium where we watch the pro teams."
This year's tournament will feature 16 teams playing 7-on-7 round-robin games from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three fields will be set up across the width of the field, and the practice facility behind the stadium will also be used. Winners will be honored at halftime of Saturday's Revolution-D.C. United game.
The draw to play at Gillette Stadium, at $5,000 per team, was so popular last year that the tournament netted $95,000, a large jump from the $63,000 raised the previous year at Tufts University.
Craig Tornberg, vice president of business development for the Revolution, said the $5,000 fee is a good deal, considering the stadium charges $10,000 to hold a clinic on the Gillette turf.
"So to have the opportunity to play here for $5,000, knowing it is going to a good cause, and doing it in a $350 million stadium; when do you have the chance to do that in a lifetime?" said Tornberg, also a board member at SCORES the last two years.
In the struggling economy, eight corporations that fielded teams a year ago did not reenter, including defending champion Reebok. But the downtown Boston financial firm Chang works for added a second team.
"People just want to come to Gillette," said Chang, joking that his company was even forced to make cuts.
And once their cleats meet the field turf, competition is fierce, even if 90 percent of the 68,756-seat stadium is empty.
Tornberg said he was expecting the level of play to equal that of a Sunday beer league.
"Then I came out and watched the competition, it was amazing," he said. "I'm not sure if it improved because they were in Gillette, but competition was intense. It was amazing to watch."
The pool of players included a few former members of the Brazilian league and two Revolution alums (Greg Lalas and Kevin Wiley).
"We're safe; nobody we saw was necessarily ready for prime time," Tornberg said.
But they do take the competition seriously.
"This is for fun, but at the same time I don't think any of us step on the soccer field to play for fun," said David Chang, who played at Brookline High. "Last year was the best competition in [the tournament's] four years."
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