More than 2,000 expected

When more than 2,000 adult soccer enthusiasts descend upon Wilmington, N.C., this July 19 to 23 for the Veteran’s Cup tournament being held here for the second consecutive year, the local pubs will be prepared. “We’re dealing with real die-hard warriors here,” says Tom O’Shea, executive vice president of North Carolina’s Adult Soccer Association and general chairman for the host committee. “These are people who have been playing for 10, 20, 30 years. They like to play hard, and they like to party hard, too.”

Wilmington will again host the annual tournament, which draws more than 100 soccer teams from across the U.S. Teams from Canada and Japan are also expected to make the trip. Many teams have been participating since the first Veteran’s Cup in Bellingham, Wash., in 1998, and this year will mark the first for the new over-60 men’s division, in which one team boasts an average age of 68 (the two 79-year-olds on the team help boost that average).

O’Shea, who has played in five Veteran’s Cups as part of Greensboro United teams, says one of his favorite features of the event is getting together with friends. If last year’s tournament was any indication, closing ceremonies on the waterfront are likely to close down the cobblestone streets of Wilmington’s downtown historic district as well, as hundreds of players fill the many pubs — in uniform, of course. “That’s the spirit of amateur sports,” O’Shea said.