Big Soccer Tournament Canceled
WAGS Event Called Off Because of Safety Concerns
By Brian Straus and Greg Sandoval
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 11, 2002; Page D01
A prestigious girls' soccer tournament for 372 of the nation's top club teams, most from outside the Washington area, that was to be played in Maryland and Northern Virginia this weekend was abruptly canceled Wednesday night in response to the sniper shootings, forcing families from California to Florida to hastily change travel plans.
"Nobody's happy about it, but you've got some choices and first and foremost we cannot guarantee their safety," said Kathie Diapoulis, president of the Washington Area Girls Soccer League (WAGS). "Wouldn't it be a coup for this guy to set up in the woods around one of the locations and pop off one at my players, parents or tournament officials? I'm not willing to take that chance."
Many older players had hoped to use the 28th-annual WAGS tournament to attract the attention of the more than 300 college coaches expected to attend games. For hotel officials in the area, the cancellation will mean a loss estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars as reservations for blocks of rooms were canceled at the last minute yesterday.
"In 28 years we've never had to do this," Diapoulis said. "Believe me, this is breaking everybody's heart. On a small level, maybe one percent will say we've let [the sniper] win. But I can sleep at night having people ticked off at me because I canceled it. I couldn't sleep knowing something happened to someone at the tournament."
Diapoulis said she was concerned that had she not canceled the tournament, area officials would have rescinded her field permits after all the teams had arrived.
There were 292 teams entered from outside Maryland and Virginia and 63 from states west of the Mississippi River. Most of the teams from the western United States planned to arrive yesterday, forcing team managers who heard the news Wednesday night to scramble in order to try to recoup travel costs at a time when many airlines have tightened their restrictions on changing tickets
The financial loss varies, according to team officials interviewed yesterday. All the hotels contacted by The Washington Post said they would refund deposits and not charge cancellation fees. While a few teams were able to recoup some of their airline ticket costs, others were not so fortunate.
Julie Wilmoth, whose daughter plays on a Dallas-based club, D'Feeters, said American Airlines has told her that unless her team books flights to another destination within the next day, it will lose all their airfares entirely. Wilmoth said that rental car companies have yet to decide whether they will charge the team for canceling early.
American Airlines did not return a phone call for this story.
The under-17 San Diego Surf White already got a break from Northwest Airlines last year. The Surf was among the 30 teams that backed out of the tournament after Sept. 11, but Northwest allowed the funds for those tickets to be used for this weekend's tournament, according to Becky Blanche, the Surf manager.
Northwest Airlines "renewed our group rates for a whole year, but now they're gone," she said. "Each girl was close to $300, plus there were about 10 parents going.
"I'm afraid I agree with the decision, though. I hate to say it, but I do."
Several high school seniors based in California or Arizona who had not yet secured a college scholarship said they were devastated by the cancellation.
"I was so frustrated," said Anastasia Nikas, a high school senior who plays for the Sereno Golden Eagles in Phoenix. "I was checking out [11th-ranked] West Virginia, and they said, 'We'll watch you play and we'll determine whether to fly you out or not.' There goes any chance there. I couldn't sleep last night. I didn't go to bed until two in the morning. It was like sitting in a black hole.
"It could have been worse," Nikas continued. "A life is much more important than soccer any day."
The Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, the site of the under-16 through under-19 competitions and all of Monday's finals, will lose in excess of $20,000 this weekend in field usage fees and concessions, according to Maryland Soccer Foundation executive director Trish Heffelfinger. She said the SoccerPlex had been prepared to open this weekend with increased security, but that she accepts the decision.
"Ultimately you have to get back to life, but I think it comes down to that it really isn't worth the risk of one person's life to hold a soccer tournament," Heffelfinger said. "The impression I have gotten from the calls they made to the teams was one of relief, because teams from out of town were very concerned."
Hotel operators from Manassas to Gaithersburg said they faced losses that ranged from $4,500 to $40,000. Kathleen Richman, general manager of the Best Western Potomac Mills, said all of the hotel's 172 rooms were booked before the tournament was canceled. "Now only 30 rooms are reserved," she said.
Hotel employees also will suffer. Richard Johnson, the general manager of the Hilton hotel in Gaithesburg, said he scheduled 13 housekeepers to work the weekend but has cut back to seven.
Miguel Gonzalez, the general manager of Days Inn Alexandria, whose daughter was scheduled to play in the tournament, said he hit the phones last week to make up for the reservations he stood to lose from the tournament. He said because of that, the losses for his hotel will be about $4,500 and he did not have to reduce staff.
