Well, at least the HALO version of the World Cup is coming to Washburn.

   On October 29, the Hispanic American Leadership Organization will host its first ever soccer tournament fundraiser in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.  The tournament will follow a bracket style pooling system, with the winning team of each half hour game moving on, and is open to all who wish to participate, regardless of whether or not they attend Washburn.

   “We’re open if anyone from the community wants to put a team together and participate,” said Bianca Martinez, vice president of HALO and a senior biology major. “Depending on what groups we get, we’re going to try to categorize too.  Like if we get some younger kids, we’ll put them together to try to make it a little more fair.”

   The tournament will be held on the soccer fields at the south end of campus.  Registration is $8 per an eight person team, including the goalie.  Registration forms can be found at the table HALO is setting up in the Union from Monday-Wednesday from 11-1 of this week and next week or by emailing [email protected].  All completed registration forms need to be emailed to [email protected].

   HALO is also looking for some volunteers to serve as referees for the event.  People interested in refereeing should email HALO at the email address previously mentioned.

   The money raised by the event will go towards funding future HALO events.  However, another goal of the soccer tournament is to raise awareness for Hispanic Heritage Month.

   “In the past our fundraisers have revolved around food,” Martinez said.  “We thought this would be something different that we could also raise funds for.”

   The idea for a soccer tournament came from the excitement over the World Cup this past summer.  “What really motivated us was that the World Cup was just this summer, so we were like ‘Hey, that’d be kind of cool if we incorporated that into our Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations.’…That’s why we’re calling it HALO WU-rld Cup,” Martinez said.

  In the past, HALO has also offered a variety of fundraisers, including the popular Latin dance class.  “A lot of students, after our first one [Latin dance class], kept asking ‘When are you guys going to have it again?’ and we’re just hoping the same happens with this [tournament],” Martinez said.

   Hispanic Heritage Month usually runs from September 15-October 15, but HALO is extending it to a little longer this year.  The goal of Hispanic Heritage Month is to recognize the accomplishments of Hispanics.  HALO tries to have weekly events during the month to promote Hispanic culture.

   HALO meets even Thursday at noon in the Cottonwood Room, which is located in the upper level of the Memorial Union.  For more information about the tournament email [email protected].