SportScope : 1,500 Youths Expected to Play in National Soccer Games

The American Youth Soccer Organization will celebrate its 25th anniversary July 2 by placing a plaque at Jefferson Middle School in Torrance, site of the first AYSO game.

The event kicks off a week of festivities that will conclude with the organization’s second National Games at UC Irvine on July 3-7. Other activities include the general meeting of executives in Long Beach, a picnic at a South Bay park to be named later, a three-mile ball-kick parade for youths and the annual Soccerfest.

About 1,500 youths are expected to participate in the National games. AYSO was founded with nine teams in 1964 by Torrance residents Hans Stierle, Ted McLean, Steve Erdos, Bill Hughes and Ralph Acosta. It has 22,000 teams and 330,000 players in 38 states and U.S. territories. AYSO is a nonprofit organization for boys and girls ages 5-18.

Sprint cars make another California Racing Series appearance at Ascot Raceway on Saturday night before embarking on a two-week sojourn to the Midwest and Northern California. Action begins at 8 p.m. On Sunday evening pro stock, bomber oval, figure 8s and a demolition derby start at 6.

UCLA’s top-ranked men’s volleyball team meets USC, the defending national champion, at UC Santa Barbara in the Clash of the Titans Tournament tonight at 6.