The Youth 7v7 State Championships is bringing in travelers from all over the state.
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – This weekend kicks off a big month for visitors in Aggieland.
One of those events is the 6th annual Youth 7v7 State Championships at Veteran’s Park. This youth football tournament is from Friday through Sunday.
The President of BattleCat Sports Group, which oversees the Youth 7v7 State Championship, Charlie Cortez, said this is the largest independent 7v7 state championship in the nation with 114 teams present.
“We’ve had teams from Mercedes down to south Texas, Abilene, we got a bunch of teams from the Dallas Metroplex coming in, Houston, and we got teams from Waco and Austin. I mean this year it seems like we have teams from all over the state,” said Cortez.
Cortez said he expects 5,000- 11,000 people at Veterans Park this weekend.
Teams have traveled from all across the state to play right here in College Station.
“All of our local businesses here that understand the number of people we bring in, I mean we have 114 teams, the economic impact this weekend is going to be huge for us,” said Cortez. ” We got three big weekends coming up that everybody knows about but this is another one.”
The owner and head coach of Texas Epic 7v7, Don Smith, said they’ve been coming to College Station to compete in the tournament for several years.
“Cortez runs one of the top circuits in the country and being in Texas we know that football is our religion,” said Smith. “Anytime he has anything going on, we’re always going to be in.”
Foster Sawyer, the head coach of AP Ranch, said everyone gathers for the love of one sport: football.
“At the end of the day, that is what this is all about, competing, having fun, and learning how to problem solve as a team and not individually,” said Sawyer.
The Youth 7v7 State Championship will not be the only sporting event in town, the NCAA Regional is happening this weekend, and the Mexico versus Brazil soccer tournament is taking place next weekend.
These sporting events are bringing thousands of travelers into our community this weekend and next, making a huge impact on the economy.
