Albion indoor soccer tournament will honor memory of Ben Kirby
Upcoming 2-day tourney is named for Kirby, an RIT student who was killed in a car accident
The Albion Soccer Club is using this logo to promote the Ben Kirby Memorial Tournament.
ALBION – A two-day indoor soccer tournament later this month will honor Ben Kirby, a long-time Albion soccer player whose family has been dedicated to the program at Albion.
Ben Kirby
Kirby was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology when he died in a car accident on Nov. 6, 2017, on Route 531 in the Town of Gates. He was 21 at the time, in his senior year majoring in software development.
The Ben Kirby Memorial Soccer Tournament will be Feb. 22-23. There will be 72 teams competing in nine different divisions.
Cole Schmitt, the tournament director, expects about 600 players, from elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as an open division for adults.
The tournament will be at the school district using the gyms. The Albion Soccer Club organizes the event. The Soccer Club wanted to name the tournament in honor of Kirby, who played youth soccer for Albion and also on the school teams.
His older brother Aaron also was a key defensive player for Albion many years. Ben and Aaron’s parents, Dennis and Wendy Kirby, also have been active volunteers for the Soccer Club, working in concessions, even after their kids graduated. Mrs. Kirby always could be counted on to have homemade cookies for the players after a game, Schmitt said.
“The family has been so prevalent in the soccer community,” Schmitt said. “They have given so much to the program and we wanted to recognize that.”
