By Marie DeMars, NSC Media Intern
You’re invited to watch the PUMA vElite tournament, returning this year and attracting some hot competition. “The feature team in the group is Tottenham,” said Teri Vogt, SCHWAN’S USA CUP tournament director. She’s referring to the Tottenham Hotspurs U16 team from England, of course.
The vElite group aims to increase the caliber of competition at the USA Cup, and the teams are hand-picked and then invited to play during the USA Cup Weekend tournament. For Tottenham to take us up on the offer is a big deal. “I view it as a huge compliment that they accepted,” Teri said.
The U16 team that will be playing is essentially a feeder team for the pros of the same name that you see on TV. They go to Academy, which is a year-round, full-time program designed to shape them into players who can compete with the Tottenham Hotspurs.
Abby Maxson, who plays soccer for MSU-Mankato, tried to explain Tottenham’s system to me. Since they don’t have high school sports, kids in England join clubs. If they’re really good, they can get into one of the youth programs that feed into a pro team. “All of the European teams have a youth system, at least most of the premiership,” she said. (My new favorite word: premiership. It makes so much sense!)
The professional Tottenham Spurs belong to Barclays Premier League, which Abby assured me is “THE prestigious league. A lot of big teams are in there.” She’s psyched to have the U16 team here. “I would actually really like to see the team play. It’s probably a little bit quicker than American (soccer).”
I’m so excited to watch a smashing team from England and then explain to all my friends how cool that is – we’re more of a running, snowboarding, kickball crowd, so they’re going to need some help understanding the level of cool on this one.
Look for more information about vElite teams coming soon to the blog! I’ll be profiling more teams as I get information.
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