When the HBS student soccer team had to pull out of the National MBA Soccer Tournament two weeks before it was scheduled to begin last February, defending the School's honor fell to a group of HBS alumni booters. Not to worry — the recently formed HBS Alumni Soccer team leaped into the breach and surprised everyone (including itself) by walking away with the hotly contested championship trophy.

At the event, held at the University of Texas in Austin, the HBS alumni squad dispatched teams from Texas A&M, Kellogg, Chicago, Yale, Wharton, and, in the final, Texas Law. (The lawyers were called in to provide some Longhorn representation.) Partying is part of the scene, but “the competition aspect is really the main attraction,” said team organizer James Gowers (MBA '01). “Despite the fact that we didn't have the best talent and hadn't played together before — our players flew in for the game from London, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York — teamwork, discipline, and passion made the whole worth much more than its parts.”

The team invites interested alumni to join them for the three annual U.S. MBA tournaments, which also welcome alumni and international teams to compete on a space-available basis.

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