CENTERVILLE – Dan Monahan is the tournament director for the Mead/CUSA Cup, hosting 413 teams on three venues around the Dayton metro area this Labor Day weekend. There are 723 games to be played, over 450 volunteers to coordinate, over one hundred vendor contracts to negotiate and 275 referees to schedule, house and feed. But don’t try giving him all the credit for the job; he won’t take it.
“The real strength of our tournament is the deep committee and volunteer structure the tournament and CUSA club has built over the past twenty-seven years,” claims Monahan. “There are fewer than twenty-five premier-level soccer tournaments across the country. We take pride in being able to attract the top-level clubs and keep them coming back to Dayton every year.”
The Mead/CUSA Cup is ranked number one in both boys and girls for Ohio South, and nineteenth national-wide, according to GotSoccer.com.
Monahan started his tournament career much like most; he volunteered to do something he liked to do. His first job eight years ago was coordinating the hotels and housing the guest teams. In 2002, he moved into the tournament director position, overseeing an average annual growth of 20 percent. This year, the Mead/CUSA cup will be host to local premier teams and teams as far away as New York.
“Our goal is to continue to attract the best teams to compete in the Mead/CUSA Cup, wherever they are, both nationally and internationally,” Monahan adds.
With the competition getting ready to kick off this weekend, it looks like Monahan and his tournament team are well on their way to achieving their goal.
PHOTO: Monahan addresses the volunteers one last time at the volunteer thank-you dinner last Sunday.