History of the People of the Planet Soccer Tournament

This tournament was established in April 2007 as part of the Diversity Celebration Week. Dr. Rahman Tashakkori, faculty of the Department of Computer Science at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC lead a team from ASU and the Boone community to organize and manage the event. The first tournament was held at the Kidd-Brewer Stadium on April 15, 2007. Due to the bad weather and 3 inches of snow that fell between 12:00-3:00 pm, on April 15, 2007, the two afternoon games were postponed to April 22. These two games were held at the ASU Soccer Field at the State Farm. The beautiful weather and a large number of participants made the event a great success.

The first tournament involved 4 adult teams (2 U.S. and 2 International). The International teams were Fire (Red), Space (Black) and the U.S. teams were Water (Blue), and Earth(Green). Players representing 28 different countries participated in the first tournament.

The purpose of this tournament was to bring the people in the community and ASU together to celebrate diversity and unity on the soccer field.

The first tournament was sponsored by: The Blue Horse Promotions, Booneweather.com, MPrint Inc., ASU Equity Office - Diversity Celebration Program, and Krause Construction Company Inc. The tournament was supported by the Office of International Education and Development, Appalachian State University Bookstore, Office of the Registrar, Boone's "I Have a Dream Task Force", Watauga County Parks and Recreation, and Watauga High School

Children participated in the event by carrying flags of participating countries to the field before each game.

Chancellor Peacock and Vice Chancellor Cindy Wallace attended the Closing Ceremony.

2009 Tournament - The 3rd Annual, Kidd-Brewer Stadium
The tournament in 2009 was a great success and was held on Sunday April 5th at the Kidd-Brewer Stadium. This year, the tournament involved larger number of Youth players from the community. Youth players U6 to U14 played in the afternoon games and participated in the events. There were still 4 adult teams that for the first time were drwan randomly from the pool of U.S. and International players.

Chancellor Peacock and Vice Chancellor Cindy Wallace attended the Closing Ceremony.

The 2010 Tournament - The 4th Annual, Kidd-Brewer Stadium
The tournament was held in Sunday April 11. We had 4 Co-Ed adult games, one 7 v 7 all ladies games. Youth players aging from U6-U12 playes this year. A large number of people from the community participated in the event.

ASU Men's Soccer team provided referees for the adult games.

Chancellor Peacock and Vice Chancellor Cindy Wallace attended the Closing Ceremony.