3v3 soccer tournament - Lima Ohio

Apex Sports Zone hosted a 3v3 indoor soccer tournament over the weekend.

Sam Shriver | The Lima News

ELIDA — Nearly 40 teams descended on Apex Sports Zone on Elida Road over the weekend for the Ohio 3v3 soccer tournament.

The event, billed as a “snowball fight,” didn’t include any actual snow.

“That is how the tournament began as Apex calls it the snowball fight,” said Lisa Barnard, general manager at Apex Sports Zone. “No snow this year. Last year, we did have snow so it all just depends on the year.”

Apex has run the tournament over the past 10 years but this year they turned it over to Ohio 3v3, which runs tournaments all over the state.

“We’re just the host this year, kind of helping everything out and doing the behind the scenes stuff,” said Barnard.

The teams came from all over the region.

“We had a team from north of Toledo. We have girls from Toledo, Bowling Green, down in Columbus. We have teams from all over the state kind of come in and play.”

The game itself is different than a regular indoor soccer game with a smaller field and much smaller goals.

“There is no goalie. There’s just three field players, and it is half the field. So we do the width of the field,” said Barnard. “It’s a lot of working the angles and positioning and it helps, especially the younger athletes, kind of figure out the sport a little more and then you’ll see as they get more talented, they get themselves in a good position and they get those quick fast touches to get a goal. But it’s a lot harder to score than you would think without a goalie.”

Collin Oglesbee, a 17-year-old junior at Bluffton High School competed Sunday in the high school division. He says he enjoys the 3v3 game.

“It’s a lot faster pace,” said Oglesbee. “It usually revolves around passing and not as much as beating people one on one. You got to be able to play quick and play with your teammates really well.”

Katie Butterfield, an 18-year-old senior from Ada High School said you really have to play your position well.

“I feel like with this you make one mistake to goal and so it’s pretty intense but it’s fun,” said Butterfield.

Apex Sports Zone hosted a 3v3 indoor soccer tournament over the weekend.

Reach Sam Shriver at 567-242-0409.