Major Beach Soccer Partners with Rough Riders

Major Beach Soccer has announced a partnership with the Long Island Rough Riders and their Beach Bash beach soccer tournament. Champions from the second annual Beach Bash event will earn a spot at the 2013 MBS National Championships, set for December 14-15 at beautiful Clearwater Beach, Florida. This partnership will add to the existing and highly successful Soccer in the Sand/MBS Championship partnership.  

Currently in its second year, Beach Bash featured more than 80 teams ranging from U9 to adult coed in 2012, and will once again be held on New York’s Jones Beach. The tournament will feature two qualifying weekends in 2013 (July 20 and August 3), with the champions in the U14 and older age groups qualifying for the MBS National Championships. (2013 Beach Bash information)

“We are proud to be working with the USL to be on the forefront of the development of beach soccer in the United States,” Long Island Rough Riders President Peter Zaratin said. “We are excited to offer teams from the northeast the opportunity to qualify for the USL Major Beach Soccer Championship in December.”

The third annual MBS National Championship will set the bar even higher with the addition of the Coed Over 30 Division to go along with the U14 through U18 boys and girls divisions. The inaugural MBS National Championship in 2011 featured 12 teams, with that number growing to 38 in 2012.

Major Beach Soccer is in its 23rd year of bringing the top beach soccer tournament action to Florida’s shores.  Registration is now open at www.majorbeachsoccer.com for this year’s qualifying tournaments in Daytona Beach (June 14-16), Clearwater Beach (July 12-14) and Fort Myers Beach (July 27-28).

“We’re delighted to have a longtime USL partner such as the Long Island Rough Riders becoming a part of the MBS National Championship,” MBS Director Peter Mellor said. “The addition of the Beach Bash qualifiers will further raise the level of competition, and we are in talks with other beach soccer events from throughout the country.”

MBS is supported by Nike, Saint Leo University, the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Sports Commission, Volusia County, the Lee County Sports Authority, Soccer on the Beach, Soccer in the Sand, and Far Post Goals.

About Major Beach Soccer: Created by USL Technical Director Peter Mellor, Major Beach Soccer joined USL in 2010. A fixture on Florida beaches for the past 23 years, Major Beach Soccer events feature teams competing five-on-five in 30-minute games with prizes for champions and runners-up in all age groups. Flicks and acrobatic bicycle kicks are the norm in beach soccer, where the fields and goals are small but the action is nonstop. For information, go to the website, www.majorbeachsoccer.com.