Opened in 2000, the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Park has been a big draw for tournaments such as this week's U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Regionals.

The week-long tournament, which begins this morning, serves as a national qualifier and has attracted 248 youth boys and girls teams from 12 states and more than 8,000 players, coaches, family members and administrators. The soccer complex, located in Waipahu, has a 4,500-seat main stadium and 21 adjacent fields. In the tournament's opening rounds, more than 100 games will be played each day from 8 in the morning to the early evening.

"If we didn't have Waipi'o, they wouldn't come in and play regular or national games here in Hawai'i because our other parks do not have enough fields at one location," said Scott Keopuhiwa, president of Hawai'i Youth Soccer Association (HYSA).

"The quality of the fields out in Waipi'o is one of the best. It's definitely the caliber of fields that is required for hosting these type of events. I believe that's always part of the reason it was built."

Next month, the AYSO National Games, another national youth soccer tournament, will be played at Waipi'o. That tournament is expected to draw 186 youth teams and 3,000 players and coaches.

There was such a high from hosting the Far West Regionals at Waipi'o in 2003 that HYSA placed a bid to host it again. HYSA helps run the regional tournament behind a force of nearly 300 volunteers.

"It was such a good event last time," Keopuhiwa said. "We got rave reviews from everyone. We got so much support from the soccer community. It's something that (for) our membership, we wanted to provide to members an opportunity for teams to play at the regional level, at region competition and at home in Hawai'i."

The City & County has also provided immense support, spending months to prepare and maintain the entire complex, from taking care of the fields to repainting lines in the parking lots and roadways.

"They (staff) did a lot of continued maintenance that they do," said Gail Haraguchi, deputy director of parks and recreation. "They did a lot of dressups to make it ready in terms of the stadium itself. It's just that the staff takes extreme pride in what they do, try to do the best in what they do and take it up to another notch to make it presentable and be proud of what they represent."

Michele Nagamine, a local soccer coach and director of sports marketing and sales at Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, said all the credit goes to Keopuhiwa for bringing the regionals back to Hawai'i.

"He has the respect of all the state (soccer association) presidents," said Nagamine, who is technical director of Leahi Soccer Club and coaches the Kamehameha Schools girls team and Hawai'i Pacific University women's team. "If Scott pushes something on it, they have his back on it."

Jason Kelley, owner of Xtreme Soccer Hawai'i in nearby 'Aiea, is planning on an increase in business from the regionals and July's AYSO National Games.

"It's an exciting thing for Hawai'i to host two high level tournaments," said Kelley, who was recently hired as Chaminade's men's soccer coach. "Hopefully people support it so we can get it again."

These two tournaments underscore the state's marketability in hosting major sporting events.

"I continue to promote Hono-lulu as a major sports venue," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said. "The addition of these prestigious tournaments to events such as the Pro Bowl, the Honolulu Marathon and the Sony Open point to the fact that Honolulu is the gathering place for sports in Hawai'i."