On the opening day of the Langley Labour Day Michael J. Smith Memorial Tournament, chair Jim Shopland was in a sunny mood - and not just because of the pleasant late summer weather.

The 12th annual youth soccer tournament, known as the LLDT, drew 128 teams of boys and girls ranging in ages from U11 to U18 to 30 fields throughout Langley from Sept. 4-6.

Shopland, in his fifth year as chair of the LLDT, told the Advance on a partly sunny Saturday at McLeod Athletic Park that the tournament got off to a smooth start.

"The weather's held, which has been great, so we are very happy with that," he said. "Everyone's getting their first games in, so we've been very pleased with how everything has turned out with the tournament, so far."

Shopland said planning for this year's LLDT started almost as soon as last year's event wrapped up.

He said the LLDT organizing committee met on a monthly basis leading up to the summertime, adding that the bulk of the prep work was done in July and August.

"This last week, there's the final preparations, making sure everything's ready to go, and the fields are ready to go, and the teams have all checked in and stuff like that," he said. "It's been good, though. It's been nice having the same people [on the committee] for the second year in a row."

Shopland said once the tournament begins to roll, his stress level goes down.

"The teams show up, the referees are there, and as long as the weather holds off, we're just fine," he said. "It's sort of the last couple of nights before the tournament, where we are making sure we've covered all the details, and that we haven't scheduled two games on the same field at the same time... all those little details.

"Once the games get going, I start to wind down a little bit, and then by Monday afternoon, I feel much more comfortable."