It's on, Park City Soccer Club's Extreme Cup

Soccer happens in every season. Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah. — Parkites with children have likely either tried out for, volunteered for, sponsored, played for a year, played for ten years, or not unlike the executive director of the Park City Soccer Club (PCSC) Shelly Gillwald, had a child who grew up playing soccer and parlayed the passion into a job with Major League Soccer (MLS).

The Park City Soccer Club’s Extreme Cup youth soccer tournament is scheduled for July 29-31. COVID protocols are in place and enforced within the club as Gillwald teams up with local, state, and national health officials. Being able to safely hold the tournament is high on the wish list of summer activities for the multitude of stakeholders.

The Extreme Cup historically brings lots of athletes to Park City as multiple teams from multiple states converge into Park City. Games are played in Oakley, Heber, and Park City.

Regular season local practices and games are played at Ecker Hill, Trailside, Quinn’s Jct., North 40, Willow Creek, indoors at Basin Rec and the MARC as well as Rose Park, Riverton, and similar spots around Northern Utah. Park City Soccer Club teams attend tournaments in Las Vegas, Vail, Mesquite, Salt Lake City, and further reaches. The program attracts top-notch talent for its coaching staff.

Team tryouts, or as the popular process is known throughout the community, ‘Player Placements,’ are being held on May 24 and 25 for younger and June 1 and 2 for older athletes at the Trailside fields facility.

Scholarships are available and donations to the scholarship fund can be made here.

At one of the very first parent’s meetings that many folks attend, it’s explained in honest-talk terms that if your vision for your child is to have him or her completely immersed in the sport of soccer then this club might not be the very best fit for your family and that there are clubs in the Salt Lake Valley that will gladly accommodate your young soccer fanatic. That said, if you simply want to include soccer into your child’s skiing or swimming or gymnastics or chess or robotics hobbies, then this park City program is the absolute perfect place to play. Loads of logistical options within the PCSC are available for example for families who don’t even stay in town for the summer months.

One of the perks of participating in PCSC is being invited to purchase one of the hottest tickets in town to The Parkseys, with an admiring nod to the ESPYs. The brainchild of Gillwald, it’s a unique way to recognize teams and individuals that performed well and/or performed admirably as developing athletes with stellar sportsmanship.