65 teams playing at Albion’s indoor soccer tournament

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – There are 65 teams playing indoor soccer Friday and today at the Ben Kirby Memorial Tournament. The top photo shows McKinley Knight of Albion trying to get the ball past a Brockport player in the high school gym.

There are teams from Albion, Attica, Batavia, Brockport, Buffalo, Canandaigua, Holley, Newark, Pavilion and Warsaw in the tournament. That is approximately 500 players from grades 3 and 4 up to adults in the open division. With other spectators, well over 1,000 people are expected for the tournament, which also includes games at the elementary school gym.

Some of the volunteers at the tournament include from left Peter Borello, Kyler McQuillan, Wendy Kirby, Stacey Braley and Nisi Beltran Roblero.

Borello coaches and coordinates the tournament. He said Albion’s location in between Rochester and Buffalo helps bring in the out-of-town teams.

The Albion Soccer Club organizes the two-day tournament which honors the memory of Ben Kirby of Albion. He was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology when he died in a car accident on Nov. 6, 2017. He was 21 at the time, in his senior year majoring in software development. Kirby played youth soccer for Albion and also on the school teams.

Some of the proceeds go towards a $500 Ben Kirby scholarship given to a student nominated by one or more of the teachers in the Albion High School. Three of the scholarships are awarded each year.

The tournament includes sponsorships from Kirby’s Farm Market, A & J Kirby Farms and Oak Orchard Health.