CORNING, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Lurie Cup Soccer Tournament began as a high-school service project and has now grown into an annual give-back event. For the third year in a row, Rohan Amin has gathered his friends and family to play the game they love while raising money for a good cause.

Amin is a senior at Corning-Painted Post High School and was born with portal vein hypertension thrombosis, a very rare condition that resulted in his need for multiple major surgeries at a young age. He and his family say those surgeries helped save his life.

Amin's father, Jaymin Amin, shared that Rohan had a couple of major surgeries beginning when he was around one and a half up until he was three years old.

"So basically the blood flow from my liver to my spleen wasn't flowing well, so they had to take my jugular from my neck because you only need one of those," said Amin. "It's a little bit like your kidney. So they put that in there so that the blood flow could have a different path. And this hospital -- like it's a really rare condition and the Lurie Children's Hospital is one of the only hospitals that does it in the country, so I'm really, really grateful for them that they were able to do it successfully."

Using the namesake of the hospital, in December 2022, his sophomore year, Amin was required to do a school service project. This is when he first had the idea for a soccer tournament that raises money for other children seeking care at the same hospital that saved his life.

As he began to organize, the Corning Family YMCA became the spot for all the games and it has continued to be home to the tournament each year.

So far, Amin has raised around $4,000 dollars each year for Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, and this year, their goal is sitting at the same amount.

Each year, participants pay to play in the tournament. This year, the entry fee was $10 and every dollar goes back to Lurie's where Amin still travels for annual checkups.

"We love this community, and so just seeing how people get together in this place and how we're paying back for the cause that's near and dear to all of us, it's just amazing," said Jaymin Amin, Rohan's father. "It's just really amazing for us."

Amin's family greatly helped with the organization process. His father, mother, and brother worked on admissions and attendance, collecting money and having participants sign waivers. His mother also helped set up the snack table.

Additionally, Amin had help from a co-organizer this year, Lilia Mack. Amin said she helped with social media by posting on the tournament's new Instagram account.

Mack also shared that her father who works for the Corning Museum of Glass wanted to help out with the event. So, as a glassblower, he was able to hand-make this year's Lurie Cup for the winners.

This time around, Rohan says about 61 players joined the competition. Several participants are Amin's friends from soccer who have since gone away to college. Some of those individuals have played in all three Lurie Cups and say it's great to come back and meet up with friends for a good cause.

Colton Loeber, one of the players and friends of Amin, says he is aiming to win the cup but just being there is an honor in itself.

"We've been lucky enough to keep playing," said Loeber. "Each year it's getting better and better and better competition. It's great to play for a cause. People aren't here necessarily to win, just to have a good time. Everyone's doing it for a good cause, so it makes me proud."

Several attendees and Amin himself say the cup is also a great way for friends to reunite each year and play the sport they love. It ensures that they come together once going their separate ways after graduating high school. Amin says the date for the tournament is intended to fall around the time of college winter breaks so that they can all come out and he can continue to host once he is done with high school in just a few months too.

The 2024 winners of the Lurie Cup were La Familia FC, pictured below.

  Rohan Amin

Lurie Cup 2024 winners, La Familia FC.

Photo Credit: Rohan Amin

"It's a really, really exciting thing," said Amin. "I've always wanted to hold a tournament, but to have something that's close to my heart is also really, really special. I think it's a testament to kind of the cycle of rebirth and the cycle of giving back. I really hope that some of the kids that we're helping out with these funds would be able to do something similar."

Because of Amin's idea, the money set to Lurie Children's Hospital will be able to help other children receive lifesaving surgeries just as he once did several years ago.

"I think the biggest thing that I want people to take away is the power of community," said Amin. "I think that soccer has a really special idea to it that it could bring so many people together, also being a team sport and just like the popularization of it, it's such a global sport and I think that's what really makes it special and I think that to be able to take that and really remember that how much as a community we can make a difference, especially with soccer, is a really, really awesome thing."

Amin and Mack also started a GoFundMe to collect donations for the Chicago hospital. A link to the page can be found here.

To follow along with the Lurie Cup and be on the lookout for next year's tournament, you can check out the event's Instagram page to stay up to date.