Some 3,000 10- to 19-year-old players from all over the country and world gathered here to participate in the American Youth Soccer Organization World Games. 

Several Inland Valley teams took the field against teams from throughout California and various states such as Hawaii and Illinois. The 185 participating teams played five days of soccer matches at eight locations in Ontario, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga. Semifinal and final games were held Sunday. 

AYSO Area G, which encompasses Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Ontario and Montclair, acted as host for the tournament. 

An opening ceremony at Chaffey High School in Ontario on July 21 kicked off the event in style, complete with a visit from Paul Caliguiri, an AYSO alumni from the Walnut-Diamond Bar region and a member of the professional Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team. 

Before the speeches and parade of teams, players mingled. They took photos of one another and held identification banners. Hawaiian teams sported a variety of leis. 

The team from Johannesburg, South Africa, carried a flag from its country. The 12 boys and coaches Neil Kirby and Michael Dankworth had traveled 23 hours with a six-hour stopover for this tournament. They were one of two international teams participating. A team came from Germany. 

"We've always wanted to see how the boys could play against the Americans," Kirby said. "It'll give them exposure to other teams." 

Willie Puertas, coach for the Rancho Cucamonga Flames boys' team, agreed: "It's a good experience for the boys." 

His son, William Puertas, 12, was excited to play in the tournament. 

"I'll get to play other teams other than those in my state," he said. 

The younger Puertas was confident his team could handle the competition. 

A soccerfest was held the day after opening ceremonies. Individual players from each team were scrambled and reassigned to entirely new teams during a soccerfest event. 

At the Upland AYSO soccer complex in Cabrillo Park, players sported new jerseys, designating their scrambled team for two 30-minute games. Boys and girls gathered with their own teammates to eat lunch or "hang out" when not playing on the mixed teams. 

Playing with people she didn't know was "scary," said 11-year-old Tia Brown of Kenweed, Mich., while squirting water on her head. The coach let the girls try any position they wanted, making it fun, she added. 

Co-coach John Muth of Ossining, N.Y., carried a big stack of pizzas to his team, the Indians, who were gathered under a portable canopy. 

"The fields are fabulous here, much better than ours." said co-coach Charles Chehebar, who also is the soccer commissioner in Ossining. "(The fields) must be difficult to maintain in your arid weather." 

Brett Garner of Lake Arrowhead mingled with two of his own teammates while waiting for his next game to begin. 

"It's kind of weird, because you don't know what (your teammates) are going to do," Brett said. He thought the second game would be easier. 

The Alta Loma High School site was the only one to make its teams co-ed, said site director Pat Gibson. 

"We just lined them up and said 'You're on team A, you're on team B' and so on," Gibson said. "Some of the girls have been showing up the guys." 

The decision to combine boys and girls was due in part because the site featured the 18-and-under players and because the soccer fest was not for competitive play. 

"This is a very laid-back event," said Sam Handley, a coach from Desert Hot Springs. "I wish every game we played was like this weekend." 

The focus of the event was fun. And there was a festive atmosphere, said Jessica Davis, 15, a member of an Arizona soccer squad. 

"We brought pins and T-shirts to trade with other teams," Davis said. "We've had fun meeting the other teams so far." 

Jessica and her teammate Hope Davis, 16, (no relation) were grateful for the weather. 

"It's much better here," Hope said. "Back home it's incredibly hot compared to this." 

The first soccerfest event was held at the 1990 national games, because there had been problems between two boys' teams at the first national games in 1988 in Irvine, said Lolly Keys, public affairs director for the AYSO national support center in Hawthorne. 

"We felt (that) if they got to know each other as teammates, then by the time they met as opponents there would be less friction," Keys said. 

The strategy has proven successful. It showed in the day's games. 

"When we go out to play harder, (the players) will have already learned to respect these people because they played together," Handley said. 

After the soccerfest, players cooled off at Raging Waters. 

Regular pool games began July 23 and ran through Saturday. 

Because the emphasis was on fun rather than competition, only two trophies was handed out - for overall sportsmanship - to Division 1 girls teams from Carthage, N.Y. and Redwood City, CA. They each received a perfect score of 150 points. Each division also handed out individual sportmanship medals.