So what does it take? What does it take to run a tournament that encompasses about 1,500 games over three months, in 
countless locations across Long Island, culminating in a finals weekend that includes 68 games, in 10 boys and 10 girls age groups and multiple divisions? Well, it takes a lot.
“The thing that makes it work is all the volunteers that I have,” said LI Cup Chairman Frank Asselta. “I have GREAT volunteers from all over LI, and they put a lot of time and effort in. They probably put more time and effort into it than I do.”
Judging by the reaction of players, parents, and fans out at Stony Brook this weekend, the efforts are appreciated.
“I think this format is great,” said Clyde Hawley, who’s daughter Jessica plays for the Rockville Centre Dynamite. “They are playing these games in addition to league play, so they are getting a lot of repetition, a lot of playing time.”
“It’s a great experience,” said Allison Metzler of Garden City, who was there to watch her daughter play in the finals. “The league does a great job organizing it. It’s awesome.”
“We’ve been doing this for many years,” said Kara Gully of North Babylon. “My daughter is 18 now and she played here twice. This is my son’s first time here. I think the format is great. I mean, single elimination can be tough, but it makes them work. I thought it was an amazing tournament.”
That’s no understatement. It IS an amazing tournament, unique in both its’ size and scope.
“It’s the largest single elimination tournament in the world,” said Marc Stein, the LI Cup Boys Chairman. “It’s larger than the World Cup. We have more teams participating in this event. As a single elimination tournament, it’s the biggest, which most people don’t realize.”
The league also goes out of its’ way to make the finals a special event for everyone, regardless of the outcome of the games.
“As I say at every awards ceremony, there are no winners or losers,” Stein continued. “Forget the score. It’s not important. Once you get here, you’ve gone through three or four rounds just to get to this point. You’ve been playing since March 20th, in addition to your normal Spring schedule, plus maybe you’re in State Cup, and weekend tournaments, so you’ve played all these games in the spring, it’s a huge accomplishment just to get here to the finals. That’s why we’ve turned it into this type of big event.”
“We try to make this event special for the kids,” added Anthony Maresco, the LI Cup Girls Chairman. They’ve had to go through 3-4 rounds just to make it to the finals, so we want to make it as special as possible for them. It takes so much to get here, we want it to be a positive experience for them at the end when they walk out of here. Whoever plays this weekend is considered a champion.”
Most importantly, the players like the season-long format.
“We’ve been playing in the tournament for about five years,” said Matt Carr of Carle Place. “We won it two or three years ago. I like the atmosphere. The fans get into it because it’s a cup game, it’s big. And if you get into overtime or penalty kicks it’s wild because the intensity just gets kicked up even higher.”
“It’s pretty fun waiting to see who you are going to play after each round,” said Kara Gully’s son Kyle.
“I think its exciting to be in this tournament to play people that we normally don’t play in leagues,” said Kerri Metzler, who’s Garden City team played in the Girls U13 Major Division final. “We played in Division 2, but we ended up playing against Division 1 teams in the tournament as part of the major division. That makes it fun, and it helps make us better.”
But as the organizers put the final touches on another successful event, the focus really is on the kids. They are the reason all this happens.
“My favorite thing about the tournament is probably when the younger players play on Sunday and they bring out all the grandparents and aunts and uncles, basically the whole clan,” Asselta said. “Everybody comes out to watch the kids at the finals.”
Stein seconds that.
“The best part is just watching the kids playing.”