Amigo Cup hosts second annual tourney at Bill Stephens Track, Soccer Complex

UCA hosted its second annual UCA Amigo Cup Soccer Challenge this past weekend at the Bill Stephens Track and Soccer Complex as part of an effort to bring more Latino students to the UCA community.
Four women’s teams and eight men’s teams from around the state and Memphis competed in the single elimination tournament for cash prizes, medals and a championship trophy.
“There were over 1,000 participants in all of the events over the weekend,” Dean of Students and Amigo Cup Committee Chair Gary Roberts said.
The radio station La Que Buena 1380 AM had live radio coverage and interviews at the tournament. The station also played music throughout the tournament.
There were bounce houses, a rock wall and face painting set up for children. Food vendors also had booths set up and provided Mexican food at the tournament. On Saturday bus tours of the campus were given to tournament participants.
“The tournament got its start last year when the Mexican consulate asked us to create activities to celebrate the Mexican bicentennial. This year, UCA internalized the tournament and it’s going to be a yearly event to help reach out to the Latino community. We want to attract Latino students to the university,” Professor of Management and co-founder of the Amigo Cup Rebecca Gatlin-Watts said.
Last year, six local teams competed in the tournament.
Co-coordinator of the Amigo Cup and UCA alumnus Manny Sepulveda said, “This is the first state-wide Latino championship.”
Roberts said the tournament is a recruitment tool for the university.
“We wanted to provide an event to attract and recruit Latino students,” he said. “We’re interested in this because the latest census says the Latino population has grown 114 percent in the last decade … we’ve also come to realize that we need to put the needs of Latino and Hispanic students on the radar of the faculty and staff so they understand the need to recruit and provide resources for them.”
This year, Sepulveda reached out statewide to encourage teams to come compete in the tournament.
“It’s one thing for these people to see a ‘you belong’ advertisement, but it’s another thing for them to see the campus and make the advertisement true and real when they visit, because for most Latinos, college isn’t real,” Sepulveda said.
Students from North West Arkansas Community College combined two separate women’s soccer teams and competed in the tournament.
NWACC student Rosey Salinas said, “It was fun for us to combine two teams into one and come down here … we’ve become really close to who we play with, like a soccer family. We also thought the tour [of the campus] was a good idea. I’m more interested in the college.”
Sepulveda said events like the tournament are good for the campus because it shows students what the real world is like.
“We have a diverse population and the real world is becoming a more global economy every day, so it’s important for students to encounter people of color and for the Latino community to become well rounded and get an education,” Sepulveda said.
Sepulveda also said the event shows the real UCA.
“It shows the positive things UCA does. People will want to bring their children here to get a good education. It shows that UCA cares about everyone of all colors and has open doors to everyone who wants a higher education,” Sepulveda said.