For a 14th year the Days of Glory soccer tournament, hosted by the Half Century Club, returned to the Wheatland Athletic Association fields. The annual two day-event brings hundreds of players from not just the Naperville area, but around the world together to compete in the beautiful game.
The Half Century Club was created by people like club president Edward Sabin with a connection to Team Chicago, who wanted to provide athletes over the age of 50 the chance to continue playing soccer in a competitive environment.
“We welcome anyone who wants to play. We have different levels of play, including tournaments, everything from just recreational soccer on weekends and sometimes the weekdays, and then tournament soccer like you see today. And we travel. We travel to Florida, to Hawaii, California, everywhere, all over the United States. We even went to Albania last year. We were guests of the Albanian country,” said Half Century Club President Edward Sabin.
“It started here in our facility at Wheatland, a bunch of guys. They’re getting older, and, they wanted to play with each other, everybody in their age group. A little bit later, they grew and they started the Half Century Club here in Wheatland, this facility,” explained Wheatland Athletic Association Facilities Manager Magno Barreto. “And I, as a manager, always interacts with them. And now when I turned 50, I became part of the group.”
Players from across the globe continuing to play the beautiful game
Days of Glory has a 50 and up, a 60 and up and a 65 and up bracket competing in the tournament, with seven players on each side playing two 25 minute halves. This year 19 teams suited up with athletes from over 30 countries represented in the field as the annual event continues to grow.
“Every year we get more and more teams coming on the for myself I it’s great opportunity for me to play with guys there on my age group. I really enjoy that every week getting together and, and playing the beautiful game,” said Barreto.
While the HCC is made up of local players, the Days of Glory tournament, organized by tournament director Al Tineo, brings in teams from across the country to compete every summer.
A yearly highlight for over a decade
With the tournament nearing its second decade, longtime friendships have developed with players and their families making the trip to Aurora to take in the weekend of games year after year, even for those who have hung up the cleats.
“Everybody really enjoys it. As you can see, they set up tents, people bring food, we go to restaurants together afterwards. People retire and come back for this tournament. We’ve got guys from Texas, California, Colorado, etc…”Some of the guys have told me, especially people have lost loved ones. Thank goodness for this outlet. I look forward to it every week,” said Sabin.
“It’s great getting together. Then during the, for the tournaments especially, having, there are teams that are coming from out of state every year. So it’s great to see them every year. teams from Indiana, Cincinnati. so we always look forward for the, these time of the year and, play on these, also these beautiful fields that we have here. We very fortune to being able to play on these fields for this tournament,” said Barreto.
While their bodies may not cooperate the same way they used to, the spirit of competition remains for this group, who cherish the opportunity to play the game they love for as long as they can.
“I think we just want to keep going this week. I’m 76 years old. if it wasn’t for this knee, I think I’d be very optimistic about the future,” said Sabin. “This helps us keep young. It does.”
Have a story idea? We’d like to hear from you!