Daniel Ewers, Arely Salgado, Jonathan Ruiz and Oliver Peña are hoping to leave Port St. Lucie Saturday afternoon with another road trip marked on their calendars.
The four Plant City youths are set to compete in the regional round of the Elks Soccer Shoot, an annual shoot-to-score tournament that starts on the local level and branches into national competition. The group advanced to the regional round after performing well against district-level competition in October.
In the Elks Soccer Shoot, competitors at levels U9 through U16 are placed in front of a goal sectioned off into a grid where certain areas are worth more points than others. For example, a shot in the center of the net is worth two points, shots to the bottom corners are worth three and either top corner will net the maximum five points. Those at the U8 level, generally children age 5 through 7, have to score on five nets at 48, 44, 36, 24 and 17 inches that are assigned one through five points, respectively.
Ties are broken based on the number of five-point goals scored. Plant City group organizer Ben Edgemon said Peña won a tiebreaker at the district level because he made eight five-point shots en route to a 53-point performance.
Edgemon said 122 players came out to compete at the local level and, of that group, 27 advanced to districts in Arcadia. The program’s growth in popularity is something the Elks are pleased about.
“The sport’s just growing by leaps and bounds … it seemed like a good thing to try, with the popularity of the sport nowadays,” Edgemon said. “It’s paid off so far.”
Soccer became a greater focus for the Elks after basketball hoop shoot numbers gradually declined, Edgemon said. He was asked to take the reins for the soccer shoot in 2016 and, with help from his connections through the Plant City Lancers organization, put together an event with 102 participants. He’s hoping to build upon this year’s 122-person turnout in 2018 and promote the event to girls eligible to compete in the U16 division (none competed in this year’s Plant City local event, though the division was a new addition).
If Ewers, Salgado, Ruiz and Peña win at regionals, they become eligible for the Jan. 6, 2018 state championships in Umatilla. If they also do well there, they will advance to compete against players from other states in southeast regional play in Valdosta, Georgia.