The Ferguson North American Sand Soccer Championships (NASSC) returns to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront June 7-9. One of the largest global beach sports festivals, the NASSC has been produced by the local non-profit Hampton Roads Soccer Council (HRSC) since 1994. This year, the event is expected to draw a boardwalk attendance of over 200,000 including over 10,000 youth and adult sand gladiators, from 8-year-olds through adult kickers. Stroll along the boardwalk and you'll see over 80 skill/age/gender divisions participating in this year's festival.
NASSC is repeatedly honored by the Southeast Tourism Society (STS) as one of its Top 20 summer events, and has been cited by Discovery/ESPN's "BRAND USA" concept as one of the premier sports tourism attractions in the United States.
Athletes will be competing between 9th and 35th streets, but the focal point of the event will be the stadium that will be constructed between 24th & 25th Streets to host the Men's and Women's U.S. Open Pro Division. Spectators can enjoy many of the top U.S. and international teams battling for a cash purse. Men's pro entries include teams from Columbia, Canada, Peru, Senegal and the USA.
The inaugural Women's U.S. Open Division will be hosting elite women's teams from California, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. Additionally, many non-soccer "SideKick" beach sports will be joining this year's festival, including: Field Hockey, Flag Football, Kickball and Volleyball.
HRSC, a local 501c3 non-profit organization, created NASSC as a fundraiser to develop and maintain its privately operated 75-acre Hampton Roads Soccer Complex located in Virginia Beach. NASSC is hosted as a collaborative effort by the HRSC affiliate soccer clubs including Beach FC, the Over-30 Men's League, the Southeastern Virginia Women's Soccer Association and the Virginia Rush.
NASSC is open to the public at no charge. For more information, please visit www.sandsoccer.com. See you at the beach!