This past weekend, Cal South held its annual convention.  The Soccer Nation Expo consists of a vendor’s midway, demonstrations and the Deadly 5 tournament.

Soccer Nation is targeted at three constituencies: coaches, players, and administrators.  For coaches, the demonstrations are fantastic.  Cal South brings in a variety of trainers.  This year included coaches from Stanford, Manchester United, Santa Clara, Everton, Club America and Chivas USA.  There were a variety of vendors plying training gear, uniforms, balls, even goals.

For players, there was the Deadly 5 tournament.  Training sessions abounded.  Autograph opportunities also presented themselves with Mia Hamm and members of Chivas USA present.  There were more “lifestyle” vendors than I have seen before.

For administrators, there was a variety of fun raising opportunities.  There also seemed to be and endless stream of software vendors and tournament organizers.  Of course, Cal South administrators were also present allowing administrators and coaches to take care of administrivia, fingerprinting and club related activities.

AVID Soccer took the opportunity to meet with as many of the manufacturers as we could.  We were very pleased to see so many new vendors and the expansion of our beautiful game.  We will be expanding our coverage into some new areas including more lifestyle products and more of the infrastructure.  Expect to see the results in our upcoming reviews.