The Hot Shots charge toward the review stand as they sprint onto the field, one of hundreds of youth soccer teams from throughout the country in town on the opening night of the Fort Lowell Shootout at Fort Lowell Park, Friday, Jan. 15, 2015, Tucson, Ariz. This is the 25th year for the annual two-day youth tournament, which attracts thousands of players to Tucson every year. Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Goosebumps aplenty at soccer tournament’s kick-start
Each January on the weekend of the Tucson Association of Realtors Shootout, some 5,000 players on about 350 soccer teams spread out across the city to compete. But Friday’s opening ceremony is special — a celebratory spectacle fit for Olympians, with a parade of athletes at Fort Lowell Park, lighting of a torch, fireworks and skills contests for medals. It is hard to find this many smiles in one place.
Originally known as the Fort Lowell Shootout, the tournament started in 1991. Said its director, Diana Cannon, in the Jan. 17 Star: “When you ask so many of the athletes what do they remember about the Shootout, what they remember is the Friday night.”
