Over 500 teams ready for action as Virginian Memorial Day Tournament celebrates 37th edition

By Roger Gonzalez

Every Memorial Day Weekend, thousands of Americans visit memorials of fallen soldiers, attend concerts and other events paying tribute to those who lost their lives representing this country and salute the nation’s flag as it flies at half-staff until noon.

Another constant is the Virginian Memorial Day Soccer Tournament, hosted by the Springfield-South County Youth Club (SYC) and held at a range of venues across Northern Virginia. On Saturday, the event’s 37th edition will begin, displaying some of the region’s best youth soccer over three days of match play.

Over the last five years, the tournament has hosted over 500 teams, with boys and girls from nine to 19 years old competing. This year it is no different as 501 teams will be taking part at the dozens of different fields set to host games around Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties. Here are the fields that will be used — organizers have asked participants and spectators to be aware that athletic trainers will be provided at most sites for the competition.

Teams representing Canada, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. will take part in this tournament, which has made a name for itself by doing what it can on this special weekend to help those who were wounded in battle through support of the Wounded Warrior Project.

Storms are a constant worry for tournaments at this time of year, but this weekend’s weather looks likely to cooperate, with lots of sun and an average temperature of 87 degrees forecast over the three days.

The tournament’s program guide can be accessed by clicking here, and those with aspirations of playing in college will want to learn more about the Virginian’s partnership with Sports in College. To figure out which team is playing where, check out the Virginian’s groups and fixtures page.

The Soccer Wire is your official source for the Virginian tournament action. With several reporters on site over the course of the weekend, we’ll be posting game stories, breaking news, features, Q&As, video and much more on our Virginian coverage home page, including a live blog to bring you the latest updates.