Adults Take Their Turn On The Pitch In Recent Tourney

Adults Take Their Turn On The Pitch In Recent Tourney
Inaugural 5v5 Coed Soccer Tournament a rousing success

Submitted photo The top three teams in the inaugural 5v5 Coed Soccer Tournament held at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner last weekend gather for a group photo. The tournament was organized by Gardner resident Shaun Buckingham (far left). Joining them is Gardner Youth Soccer League President Luis Bonilla (far right).

Ken Powers
Sports Correspondent

GARDNER  Long considered a hotbed of youth soccer — with more than 300 kids participating through the Gardner Youth Soccer League and Chair City Soccer — the city could very well be known in the near future as a destination for adults wishing to take to the pitch as well.

On August 8, what is widely believed to be Gardner’s first-ever adult-based soccer tournament was held at Mount Wachusett Community College. The mixed-gender tournament, known simply as the 5v5 Coed Soccer Tournament, was viewed as a rousing success with 11 teams and more than 90 players _ some coming in from as far away as Boston — participating.

The tournament was organized by area resident Shaun Buckingham, who developed a love for soccer, which he often calls football, while growing up in England.

“I played the sport all through my childhood and into my adulthood,” the 38-year-old Buckingham said. “As soon as I could I had a soccer ball on my foot. It’s the sport I’ve always loved. In England playing soccer is a big part of a young boy’s life.”

Buckingham moved to Gardner from the United Kingdom two years ago with his wife, Jennifer (Audet) Buckingham, and their two sons, Logan, 6, and Noah, 4. Jennifer Buckingham grew up in Gardner.

“We’ve been back and forth between Gardner and England a couple of times over the years, but we’ve made this our personal home now,” Buckingham said. “We moved here to be closer to my wife’s family, so we can have a family network of support around us.”

Shaun Buckingham works at Devens while his wife is a registered nurse working in a residential school system.

Buckingham said the idea of organizing a 5v5 (five vs. five) tournament came to him while watching Logan play in the Gardner Youth Soccer League (GYSL).

“In the GYSL the parents either coach the teams or help out with the coaching. I noticed while watching the games the last two years that a lot of the adults were interested in playing the game as well,” he explained. “So, seeing this, I thought I would test the water with a 5v5 tournament.”

About four months ago Buckingham discussed his plan regarding the 5v5 tournament with Luis Bonilla, the GYSL president, and his daughter, Hope-Marie. Both were in support of going forward with the tournament.

“To be honest, the idea (about organizing a 5v5 tournament for adults) has been on my mind since I moved here and noticed there was nothing available for adults in the area wanting to play soccer,” Buckingham said. “Now seemed to be the time and the opportunity (to organize an adult 5v5 tournament), so I suggested the idea to Luis and Hope-Marie.

“It went well. It went really well,” Buckingham said of the tournament. “Now we plan to move forward and develop more adult programs in Gardner as well. This is just a start. My three-year plan is to have an adult league in Gardner. Even if it’s not a full adult league, Gardner will have an established soccer club and have a team entered into one of the surrounding adult leagues that’s already there, whether it be in Worcester, Leominster or another area. If we could have a league established in three years it would be great. We already have weekly pickup soccer meets.”

Buckingham said adult soccer programs are common in the United Kingdom and also exist here in the United States. He said locally Worcester, Leominster and Fitchburg all host adult tournaments.

The August 8 tournament took about five hours to complete and featured a total of 30 games. Winning the inaugural 5v5 Coed Soccer Tournament was the Cage Memorial Football Club, a team made up of a mix of players from both Gardner and Boston which included Max Gutmans, Tyler Colombo, Garrick Legault, Forrest Iwanik, Pat McKeogh, Christian Walsh, Nate Mallet and Evan O’Reilly.

Finishing second was the Cowboy Up FC, captained by Ken Berry. Finishing third was The Crazy Gang, captained by Sean Creney. Buckingham said teams representing Worcester, Clinton, Fitchburg and Leominster all participated in the tournament.

“There was a lot of interest and a lot of positive feedback,” Buckingham said. “This is something we plan to make an annual event. We’re looking to grow it to at least 20 teams and 150 players next year.

We already have people that didn’t take part this year asking to take part next year.”

Buckingham said any proceeds realized from the tournaments will go to the youth soccer programs in Gardner. He said he used social media — especially Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — to promote the tournament. Buckingham also designed a flyer about the tournament and passed it out all over Gardner.

While 5v5 soccer tournaments are not particularly well known in the United States, they are well known in the countries where soccer is the most popular sport. “A 5v5 tournament is a very common, European-based way to play the game of soccer,” Buckingham said. “There are really no set positions other than goalie. You’ll have players that have strengths, but 5v5 is played on a smaller field, and players are switching in and out of positions depending on what’s going on in the game. If a player gets caught forward, another player will switch back and defend. It’s a much more active brand of soccer. In 5v5 you don’t have established defenders or established midfielders; that’s not the way it works.

“It’s a very physically active form of soccer,” Buckingham said. “A lot of larger, more established soccer teams use 5v5 for training for its close-quarters passing and movements. If you play 5v5, when you move to a full-size soccer pitch you feel you have more room. You certainly have more space than what you’ve trained with.”

Buckingham said the fields the tournament games were played on were approximately 100 feet by 60 feet (33 yards by 20 yards). He said the dimensions of a standard 5v5 field are slightly smaller.

With the popularity of soccer on the rise, especially in Gardner, Buckingham is hoping the GYSL and any adult league that is formed will be able to have soccer pitches in the area they can call their own.

“We don’t have dedicated fields in Gardner for soccer and we really need them,” he said. “I’m hoping in the future to get dedicated soccer areas for our youth leagues and our future adult leagues. For the tournament we used Mount Wachusett Community College and we’ve been using the school fields as well, but we really need dedicated soccer fields to keep up with the volume of children we have playing.”