By Kim J. Harmon

Memorial Day weekend is upon us . . . and you know what that means, don’t you?

Yes, 100 teams from Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will descend upon Newtown this weekend for the Newtown Soccer Club’s 18th annual Memorial Day Kick-Off Soccer Tournament.

Ten Newtown teams will join the three-day competition, which will be spread out among 13 local fields The Navigators (U10 girls), Vipers (U10 boys), Aftershock (U10 boys), Nitros (U11 girls), Rage (U11 boys), Rockets (U12 girls), Knights (U12 boys), Knockouts (U13 girls), United (U13 boys) and Strikers (U14 boys) will all be fighting, perhaps, for a championship trophy.

Competition actually begins Friday night at Treadwell Park, but the tournament does not gaina  full head of steam until Saturday morning, at 8 am, when games kick off all around Newtown. The U13 United will be in one of those 8 am games.

The annual tournament, which began back in 1983 with 32 teams, is the end result of the efforts of dozens of people on the Kick-Off Tournament Committee (headed this year by Stephanie Gaston and Lori Hoagland). From advertising to awards, field schedules to sponsorships, t-shirts to signs, it is almost a year-long commitment to planning.

Committee members include Leslie Konnecker and Mimi Moran (advertising); George Peters and Anne Brennan (base operations); Mary Pat Frobey (coaches reception); Keith Miller (communications); Cheryl Clark and Joanne Shpunt (field managers coordinator); Jeff Wolcott (field operations); Gaston, Hoagland, Pat Barczak and Alan Helfer (field schedules); Tammy Marks (field sponsorships); Anne and Gus Brennan (referee schedule); Anne Regnery and Sheila Stickles (registration coordinators); Kim Weber (secretary); Judd Doyle (scoring); Gary and Jennifer Ober (signs); Phil Keane (t-shirt and patch design); Jeff Hanson (tent supervisor); Candice Davies (tournament sales); Frank Scheuerell and Tammy Kearns (treasurers); Janice Fields, Tara Gaston and Adam Konneker (typing coordinators); and Kaki Taylor and Hoagland (voice mail).

This year, all divisions that are playing finals will have those games late Sunday afternoon. All divisions will start with a round-robin format, with each team playing at least four games. The U11 girls, U12 boys, and U14 boys will all feature a playoff format after the round-robin competition has been completed.

Also, Major League Soccer is sponsoring a Dibble, Pass & Shoot Skills Competition on Sunday, May 28, from 1 to 5 pm, at Newtown High School in conjunction with the Memorial Day Tournament. The competition is free of charge and open to anyone, even those not participating in the tournament (see page B-4 for further details).

Soccer Extreme, Soccer Post, Boy Scouts, Family Counseling, and Pop Warner will all be booths at various fields. There will also be t-shirts and other vendors as well as food and refreshments at all the fields.

The action is going to get hot this weekend.