Happy Friday, Beacon readers! Lauren Frick here, and if today’s Daily Roundup could have a dedication page, that space on the pulp would no doubt be allocated to my parents. 

This weekend, the Flathead Valley’s own Glacier Surf Soccer Club will host its inaugural “Rumble in the Rockies” tournament, and it’s got me reminiscing on my club soccer days. From age 10 to 18, my parents drove countless miles (seriously, I couldn’t even begin to guess) across the Midwest just to see me kick a soccer ball in weather that could range from “complete scorchers” to “I think I’ve lost feeling in my toes.” They did all this with the hope I’d play in college, just so they could drive countless miles across the Midwest … and East Coast … and South. So shoutout to all the parents, grandparents, guardians and everyone in-between this weekend making the endless journeys so your favorite young players can kick a ball around too. 

But enough about me — here’s how you can catch some great youth soccer this weekend. 

Glacier Surf Soccer Club, which was established in 2019, is bringing together top youth soccer talent from Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington, and Canada April 25 and 26 to compete for the title of “The Best of the Best in the Northwest.”

“It’s really just great for our families to get local games against really good, diverse competition,” said Nate Evans, Director of Operations for Glacier Surf Soccer Club. “That’s a huge, huge thing for our program.”

The first-ever Rumble in the Rockies tournament will feature roughly 100 soccer games for ages ranging from 8 to 19 at Whitefish’s Smith Fields Soccer Complex. Glacier Surf Soccer Club will be sporting 16 of its own teams for the weekend of competition. Community members are welcome to join as admission is free and food truck fare will be available at the complex. Click here to view the weekend’s game schedule.

“It’s a year-one event, so just getting off the ground is the biggest challenge,” Evans said. “We’ve got a really good number of teams in year one. For year two and year three, we already have more clubs committed, so it’ll only grow from here.” 

Local games against higher-level competition is key for the club, whose teams typically travel out of the region for games. As part of the wider network of Surf Club — a top soccer club in the United States — Glacier Surf’s teams will regularly play in tournaments in Nevada, Southern California, Arizona, and Virginia, Evans said.

“It’s tough to ask a bigger market to come to Montana, but we’ve been able to do that just because we’ve built so many good relationships with clubs around us,” Evans said.

The tournament won’t just benefit Evans’ players, however. Evans said another key goal was to help stimulate the local economy during the tourism shoulder season.

“October and April are the two slowest months economically in the Flathead Valley, so bringing this extra tourism to the valley and booking out hotels and restaurants has been a big target for the local chambers,” Evans said. “Discover Kalispell has been a huge sponsor and part of helping us get this off the ground in year one and help boost the local economy when it’s a little slower.

With 10 local sponsors helping make Rumble in the Rockies happen, Evans said the club feels “immense gratitude” for the outpouring of support from the community for the tournament, which he knows will become a premier soccer tournament in the years to come.

“It means the world to us as a club,” Evans said. “It shows how invested and committed our families and the community is in trying to keep leveling up the soccer environment here.

“It shows how committed families are to helping the youth and helping push soccer forward, and bringing these local events here that benefit our kids and our community. It helps us run the most quality events, so that everyone that comes to visit has a great experience.”

Now it’s time for you to score by kicking it to the rest of today’s Daily Roundup.