FC GEORGIA UNITED TEAMS GO UNDEFEATED IN 2013 FLORIDA
CLASSIC
Playing in the Over 60 Division
of the 2013 Florida Classic at the beautiful Auburndale, Florida facility, the
two Georgia teams went undefeated in the tournament played over the MLK Holiday
Weekend.
FC Georgia United Over 60
Team
The Over 60 team handily won
all of the three preliminary matches in their bracket, scoring 9 times without
conceding a goal. In the finals, against International of Florida, after a
close opening 45 minutes, the team pulled away in the second half to gain a
convincing 5-2 victory. FC Georgia United Over 60 has now won this tournament
three times in the last four years. Besides winning the trophy, the team also
took home $1,000.00 in prize money, which the club is donating to local area
charities.
FC Georgia United Over 65
Team
The Over 65 team, that played
against and lost to the Over 60 team in the 2012 finals of this competition,
narrowly missed out on being a finalist for a second year in a row. The team
ended up a close second in the other
bracket. Only a missed penalty in the 92nd minute of one of their three matches
prevented them from advancing to the finals.
FC Georgia United
Background
In the spirit that “you’re
never too old to compete,” the FC Georgia United Club started out several years
ago when a small group of “old boys” began scrimmaging on Saturdays in the
Atlanta area. Then later, since the group included a number of retirees and
others who were able to “play hooky” for a couple of hours here and there, they
began kicking the ball around once or twice during the week.
What started out as a small
group of guys (also referred to by some as the “slackers”), has now grown to
where it is not uncommon to have anywhere from 16 to 20 players show up twice a
week during the week, and so many participants on Saturdays that they have to
break it out and have two games going. The group now includes several over 50
guys and, recently, over 50 gals, so the level of play has sharpened, making
for a more competitive environment for the older players.
Travel & Expansion
The FC Georgia United teams,
now more organized, have enjoyed traveling to several soccer events outside of
Atlanta. In addition to the Florida Classic, the two teams also competed in the
USASA 2012 Veterans Cup National Championships held in San Diego in June (where
the FC Georgia United Over 65 team won the Over 65 Division for the third year
in a row!, and were recognized in December by Governor Nathan Deal at the
Georgia State Capital for their accomplishment), and a combined team
traveled to Japan in September, where they played several friendly games
against Over 60 teams from in and around Tokyo.
With the increase in the over
50 turnout at the weekly scrimmages, the next logical step underway is gauging
if there is sufficient interest and quality to form younger teams to compete in
the Over 50 and Over 55 men’s and women’s divisions of tournaments, and
competing under the FC Georgia United banner.
Contributing to the
Community & Sponsors
One of the more rewarding
aspects of involvement with the club is their goal of contributing to various
causes. In addition to donating prize money and funds raised from other events,
including charity soccer games, FC Georgia United was able to raise over
$5,000.00 from players and sponsors for the Miyagi Boys & Girls Club of
Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, one of the hardest hit areas from the 2011
Tsunami. While visiting Japan last September, these funds were presented to
representatives of the Boys and Girls club in a very moving ceremony prior to
one of the matches in Japan.
While FC Georgia United has
enjoyed good support from its sponsors in the past, they continue to look for
new sponsors who share the goals of the club.
Information About the Club
Anyone wishing to learn more
about FC Georgia United should contact Steve Lang (Over 60 team) slang02@bellsouth.net, or Dietmar
Doehring (Over 65 team) duralinc1@gmail.com.
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