Park City Soccer Club gears up for Extreme Cup under new leadership, World Cup watch parties

Photo: Courtesy Park City Soccer Club, Primary Extreme Cup Photo

PARK CITY, Utah – The Park City Soccer Club (PCSC) is hosting its annual Extreme Cup tournament July 30-Aug. 1 in Heber, Francis, Kamas, Oakley and Park City, drawing thousands of U9-U19 boys and girls from multiple states. In the meantime, the club is hosting local watch parties for the FIFA World Cup.

This year’s Extreme Cup is the first under new leadership. Lee Davis was hired this year as PCSC’s new technical director, bringing 15 years of director-level experience guiding nonprofit clubs, statewide player development and coach education. He spent six years with Wasatch Soccer Club, helping shape the club’s direction and build out its approach to development. At the state level, he served as director of coaching and player development for the Utah Youth Soccer Association, leading statewide coach education as well as the Olympic Development Program. With an extensive array of educator licenses, Davis will work closely with PCSC’s new general manager, Anthony DiCicco.

DiCicco’s late father, Tony, coached the United States to one of the most momentous victories in the history of women’s soccer. In 1999, Coach DiCicco guided a team that included Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy to a heart-stopping victory over China in the World Cup final before more than 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl. Tony DiCicco’s coaching career also included Olympic and World Cup titles. He went on to found the SoccerPlus Camp & Academy program in the Northeast and co-authored “Catch Them Being Good: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Coach Girls.”

“This year’s World Cup celebration has brought back a lot of fond memories of my father and attending games with my family growing up, including the final at the Rose Bowl,” Anthony DiCicco told TownLift. “It’s something that’s near and dear to my heart, and an awesome opportunity for people who are a little bit more peripheral to soccer to understand why we love this game so much.”

Beyond the leadership transition, the tournament remains a significant draw for the region. Thousands of players and their families are expected to travel to Park City from states including Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. The influx is a lodging, shopping and recreation win for local communities, often described as a “racecation,” a colloquial term for families who travel to different states to watch their kids compete in activity-packed towns.

“It’s going to be another fun Extreme Cup,” Carrie Sheinberg, an alpine skiing Olympian, PCSC board member and soccer mom, told TownLift. “Our athletes have already benefited immensely from Anthony and Lee’s incredible expertise. Getting to watch the World Cup matches with them and watching them analyze game strategies and footage with the kids has given the club families and players new inspiration for sure.”

Sheinberg said PCSC is also pushing back against a national trend of large businesses and national clubs acquiring smaller, independently run organizations. “PCSC, Lee and Anthony especially, believe in the importance of a locally run club. It’s a lot like the plight of the independent bookstore versus the national bookstore chains. But we are confident that keeping our administrative knowledge, facilities, talents and passions native to Park City is what’s best for our kids, families and our community.”

PCSC has also launched a college soccer advisory planning program, and its involvement with the Soccer Parenting Association is creating connections on and off the field.

“A lot of the tactical trends that appear in youth soccer start at the professional level, so it’s good to stay on top of the way the game’s evolving,” Davis told TownLift. “Some of the trends that we are seeing in the World Cup are going to be the things that we try and teach the kids in the next year in order to prepare them for the future game.”

Scholarships are available for PCSC’s year-round programming, and volunteer and stipend-style paid positions are still open for the Extreme Cup tournament. No experience is necessary.