Davis World Cup 2025

August 3, 2025August 3, 2025Leave a comment

It’s not May in Davis without the annual youth soccer bonanza, the Davis World Cup. I am on the committee for this tournament (I design the logos, medals, pins, t-shirts and I update the website; all the hard work is done by everyone else). The committee has had many of the same members for a number of years now so we’re a pretty efficient team; all our offspring have either aged out or no longer play regular AYSO to even take part in the tournament themselves; I last coached at the tournament in 2018 (with the Spurs!), and my own teenager last played the Davis World Cup in 2019 (for the Dawgs, they were a nice team with a great coach). Above, I sketched all the flags displayed outside the AYSO headquarters in Community Park. This is what I love about the Davis World Cup. Each team that applies (and they come from all over northern California, plus we always get a few from Nevada) gets assigned a country, and they get the flag of that country and are encouraged to offer their opponents little gifts or such associated with that country. So for example if you are Spain, you give a little keyring that says ‘Spain on it, or if you are Uzbekistan, you give a little keyring that says ‘Uzbekistan’ on it, and so on. Actually teams get way more thoughtful and creative than that, giving out candies or trinkets, when my team Spurs played we were assigned as Serbia, so I made little keyrings with ‘Serbia’ on them (along with information about the country and the Serbian alphabet, showing you how to write your name in Serbian). Fun stuff. I coached another AYSO Select team in 2020 (the Titans; I still wear the t-shirt as it was one of my best logos) and I was really hoping (as a committee member) to maybe be able to pick a country for our team, probably Belgium to give out chocolates, probably Ireland due to the family provenance of both coaches, but I really wanted Italy because I was hoping to have the team sing the anthem before each game, they have the best anthem. However, we never got that far because 2020 turned into the 2020 we know and can’t forget, so the tournament was cancelled that year (and I recycled the retro Top of the Pops style logo for the 2022 event). I enjoy making the logo, but I spend an inordinate amount of time faffing about with the design during the year before. I went this year for a more playful design again, using a similar kid-like graffiti style lettering that I’ve used for some of our old teams (like the ‘Duh’, the first AYSO Select team my son played on, coming 4th in the 2017 tournament at U10 level). I went with a ‘splat’ background full of flags, after my friend spilled some milk at a cafe in Nob Hill and I really liked the shape it made on the table. I’ll have that, I thought. So the logo below was born. It was a hit with the t-shirt vendor. I got very excited when I first drew the little cartoon water tower on my iPad, and abandoned the cartoon cow theme I was originally going with. Maybe I’ll resurrect that for next year, if I don’t go with a classic retro World Cup style again.

Some of the cartoon cows came back for the Keeper Wars logo though, as you can see in the sticker design below. This went through a lot of versions too, one of them looking like an explosion in hyperspace. One of the balls says “Footy Footy Footy” which is a reference to the Adam and Joe “Footy Song” from the 90s (watch that here). Keeper Wars is a fun tournament, though I didn’t make it out to watch it this year. While my wife did a lot of running around from field to field, I was at home a lot as the guy in the chair, to be on hand for any last-second website updates (which I had to do during that sketch at the top, but I only live about three minutes away by bike).

And below, here are some of the medals, pins, stickers, coins and the committee t-shirt. The medal came out particularly well this year, it’s my favourite one yet. If in doubt, always add some stars, that’s my design rule. Splats don’t always work.

Here is how the t-shirt logo looked, as sold by the on-site vendor. So cool seeing so many people lining up to get them. It was cool to see someone running in one of my older shirts from 2022 the other week. What’s even cooler is when I see people wearing an AYSO or DWC shirt I have designed and I show them the original concept drawings on my iPad.

And here are pins from the previous World Cups I have designed. I love this year’s one, I kept the pin just black and white.

the 2024 davis world cup…

May 26, 2024May 26, 2024Leave a comment

Today is the second day of the annual AYSO Davis World Cup, a youth soccer tournament held every year in parks around Davis. The HQ is in Community Park, and we’ve got all the flags up and everything. My job on the committee is designing the logo and medals and t-shirts etc, and looking after the website. this year I went for a retro theme with a toned down colour scheme, I was happy with how it looks on the shirts and medals. On the Saturday morning my wife (who handles ordering all the tournament swag and does more general committee help) and I went over to the building to help with the set-up, and later on I sketched the building (above). The weather was a little cooler than it’s been but still warm and sunny, with a breeze kicking up the allergens. The scouts were nearby, their job is collecting trash and bringing water/Gatorade to the volunteers. There are a load of volunteers involved (we’re all volunteers), from the committee through all the field marshals and gophers and the many many referees, and of course all the coaches, I used to be one. I don’t think I miss the coaching, although it was most fun on the tournaments like this, and this one is special – every team is given a country that they become for the tournament, they get a flag and are expected to have little gifts based on that country to give to players on the opposing team. The only time I coached at the tournament was at the U10 level, as my (very good) U12 team had to stop playing in March 2020 because of that Covid that happened. I’ve been a parent a few times, and been on the committee since 2019, drawing up so many logos. Today I was back in the building helping sort out all the medals (first place is so shiny!) which will be given out tomorrow. I had a little lunch and sketched the inside of the building:

Here are the Davis World Cup logos for this year:

It’s the whole three-day weekend, I’m hoping that it all continues to go smoothly, and that all the teams enjoy it!

davis world cup 2023

July 22, 2023July 21, 2023Leave a comment

I got back to the US in time to take part in the organizing committee for the 2023 Davis World Cup. We handled the gear, medals, pins, logos, website, etc. I had done most of my work (which was the design) some time ago, but while I was away the stickers, medals, pins and t-shirts had arrived. The Davis World Cup is a youth soccer tournament that has been going for many years, involving teams from regions across northern California aged from U10 to U19. I started designing the logos in 2019, having coached a team in the 2018 tournament. I do spend a lot of time trying to come up with ideas, trying to make them a bit different (so many tournaments use a pretty bog-standard vector logo these days, some variation of a shield and a ball). I wanted this year’s to be very different to the round retro Top of the Pops style logo I did for 2022 (which was just the 2020 logo re-used since 2020 was cancelled), have an actual player on it (non-gender specific, and I could change the kit – the main design had a Brazil kit), and make it look fun, make it look like an event which is for the kids. I have a new logo already thought up for next year, a different retro style, but I was really pleased with the 2023 logo and it gave me a lot to play with. The design above is the one we sued for the colourful stickers each player received. They also got metal pins; although we did not provide t-shirts this year, they could buy those from the on-site vendors.

I didn’t sketch much at the tournament (I was all sketched out from the London trip), but I did draw a quick one at a game we went to check out at Nugget Field. I didn’t watch many games this time at all in fact, and my own son’s team wasn’t taking part. Still it is always great helping to make this fun tournament happen every year, and I’m glad to have been able to create a look for it that I think was pretty popular. Here are the two main versions used on the t-shirts, one of which has a Mexico style kit:

Learn more about the Davis World cup at: https://www.davisworldcup.org/. We’ll be back in 2024!

playing with colours, missing the games

April 14, 2020April 14, 20202 Comments

Decided to play with this big set of Prismacolour coloured pencils I’ve had sitting my cupboard, while watching old sports events, in this case the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. That was fun. I really miss my sports. I especially miss the Formula 1, which nearly started they all went down to Australia, they were having practice and qualifying, and then decided maybe you know having a big event like this at the start of a major pandemic probably isn’t a good idea, so the season did not start. I love the F1 so the lack of it has been worse than not having the football. No honestly the way Jose’s Spurs have been playing, it’s not been missable. Watching this old and ridiculous race brought back some memories, and I had forgotten some of the drivers were that long ago, it doesn’t feel like it. Jos Verstappen was there, Max’s dad, for almost a lap at least, and Schumacher wet out early. Damon Hill was there of course but did not win. And of course Murray Walker, the great voice of Formula 1, commentating in his memorable diesel tones, and I had forgotten who he pronounces the word fastest like they are two separate words, “Fast-Est”. So, sat on the couch. The exercise I’ve gotten used to this past year has fallen away, I’ve been getting up too late in the mornings for my morning runs, just not been feeling it.

And here, using the pencils again, but this time sat at the dinner table (though admittedly we eat our dinner in the living room). These are drawn in a Stillman and Birn ‘Nova Trio’ book I got in Amsterdam last summer, it has grey, black and beige paper, so perfect for these sort of fun drawings. I watched the classic 1982 World Cup game Italy v Brazil, that was very enjoyable. I was only 6 during that World Cup so my memories of it are extremely foggy, just remember seeing them talk about it on telly, my brother watching it a lot, I remember Kevin Keegan being absolutely massive around then and that brilliant England shirt. I met Kevin Keegan 18 years later in Charleroi, in Belgium. This game though had the legendary Socrates (no, not that legendary one) for Brazil, and Italy’s Paulo Rossi nabbing a hat-trick. I’m gutted right now because all our youth soccer is being cancelled for the season, much to my son’s great disappointment. In particular, the Davis World Cup, our annual soccer tournament. I had designed the badge again, going for a very retro logo this year, but I’ll have to save it for next year. And change the year to 2021 obviously. Here they are, the three versions (for the t-shirts, medals, and other materials). After all this, the things we love will be back! In the meantime I’ll be watching old games, like listening to old records.

The 2019 Davis World Cup!

June 2, 2019June 2, 20192 Comments

Last week was the Davis World Cup, an annual youth soccer tournament organized by AYSO. This year, we were on the organizing committee (I did the website and designed the logo, my wife handled all the t-shirts and medals and pins and everything). I was really happy with this year’s logo (above) and a lot of people really liked it, we got many nice compliments. It was pretty cool seeing loads of people going around with this on their shirts. My son was also playing in the tournament this year, for the Davis Dawgs, 12U-Boys. Each team is assigned a FIFA country in the Davis World Cup – we were the Cayman Islands. I didn’t coach this year, so I was on the parents side, and while I didn’t sketch that much I did capture one of the games below. This was our second game – we had lost the first one to Antelope (7-2), and unfortunately lost this one as well, to Mountain View Tornadoes, 3-2. Both really good teams. My son did score in each game though, but had to wait until the third game for his hat-trick.

Unfortunately we got knocked out in the eliminations so didn’t make it until Monday. So on Monday morning I walked over to the park (it’s handy the games are only a few steps from my house) and watch Antelope play Winters in an epic quarter final, ultimately won by Winters in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. I sketched the game below. Winters ended up winning the final later that day in an even more dramatic game, against San Mateo, once more in a penalty shoot-out.

Hundreds of games, many hundreds of players, the Davis World Cup was another success.

our world cup…

May 31, 20181 Comment

Davis World Cup 2018 sketch sm

So the Davis World Cup took place last weekend. Our team (Serbia / Davis Spurs) didn’t make it to Monday, we won one but lost three, but it was good for at least a couple of the other Davis teams; New Zealand / Davis Hurricane Raptors (10U Girls) won their competition, Namibia / Davis Frostbite (10U Girls) came runners-up in the other 12U competition; China / Davis (U16) won their competition; Germany / Davis Sivad (U14 Boys) lost their final 4-3, while in the U19 category, Austria / Davis Hotspur (U19 Men) won their world cup final 2-1, and France / Davis (U19 Women) won their final 7-0; for many of those players this will probably be their last, as it stops at U19. Very emotional! There were a LOT of games over the weekend. And as mentioned in the last post we had a sketchcrawl. I was only able to sketch one game, another 10U Girls game (Faroe Islands / Davis Riverhawks vs Cayman Islands / Menlo Park). I’ve coached some of the kids on the Davis team before so was pleased to see them win. Now before the sketchcrawl I held a little demo, well less of a demo and more of a talk, well I read from the book I wrote about five-minute-sketching people, and gave out schedules and maps for all the games in the park that day. That was fun.

There are more sketches posted by other sketchers from this sketchcrawl on the brand new ‘Let’s Draw Davis’ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/383785982124525/

I know, Facebook is Facebook, and to be honest I rarely use it now except for Let’s Draw Davis, but it’s a handy way for people tom post their sketches from the monthly events. We do of course have a page (maintained by a couple of other local sketchers): https://www.facebook.com/LetsDrawDavis/

And if you are interested in learning more about the Davis World Cup, visit: https://www.davisworldcup.org/

Now, we look forward to the FIFA World Cup in Russia this summer… I can’t wait to do another post about all the kits. This year they are incredible!

let’s draw the davis world cup!

May 21, 2018May 21, 2018Leave a comment

LDD May 2018s

It is time for another ‘Let’s Draw Davis!’ sketchcrawl, and where better than to sketch at the Davis World Cup. The youth soccer tournament will feature 104 teams from across northern California, each assigned a different country, and so will be a colourful sporting spectacle. Also a great opportunity to practice some quick people sketching!

The sketchcrawl will begin this Saturday (May 26) at 10:00am outside the Davis Arts Center (the corner of F St and Covell; we will meet by the entrance) where I will give a quick demo of fast people sketching. I won’t however get much sketching done after that, as I myself have to go and coach one of the teams playing (Serbia), one of the co-organizers Ann will be available. The group will meet up at 1:30pm at the Davis Library to look at each others’ sketchbooks, and of course you can keep on sketching after that! (Check out the ‘Keeper Wars’ in the evening, it’s really fun!).

As always, this sketchcrawl is free and open to anyone who likes to draw. All you need is something to draw with and something to draw on. Oh and maybe bring snacks and a drink. And cheer on the Davis teams! (We all wear white or blue).

Let’s Draw Davis is a monthly sketchcrawl in Davis California, organized by myself, Alison Kent and Ann Filmer. It was started in 2010 as a way to encourage local sketchers to get outside and draw our city, and meet other people who like to do the same. We hold sketchcrawls each month in different locations with a different focus each time, they are open to all ages and levels and a great opportunity to learn from each other. Check out the Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LetsDrawDavis/