The Coffee High School Drone Soccer Team has been invited to compete in the Long Beach USA Drone Soccer International Cup, part of the FAI Drone Soccer International Series, in Long Beach, California, this October.
The international competition will bring Coffee High School students from rural South Georgia together with teams representing the United States, Mexico, Croatia, Kazakhstan, and Taipei/Taiwan-China.
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is the world governing body for air sports and international aviation competition. Founded in 1905, FAI oversees international competition and record-setting across numerous aviation and air-sport disciplines. Participation in the FAI Drone Soccer International Series gives Coffee High School students an opportunity to move beyond domestic competition and test their skills in an international air-sport environment.
The invitation follows a breakthrough 2026 season for Coffee High School. The team placed third at the United States Drone Soccer Association District V Championship, advanced through the Wild Card, and earned a berth at the USDSA National Championship at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Coffee entered Nationals seeded 22nd and finished tied for ninth in the nation. The invitation to Long Beach marks the next step for a team that has continued to advance through increasingly competitive levels of the sport.
Drone soccer combines aviation, teamwork, strategy, technical skill, and piloting into a fast-paced competitive air sport. Pilots fly specially designed drone soccer aircraft enclosed in protective spherical cages inside an arena. Teams work together in assigned positions, using precise aircraft control, strategy, and communication to create scoring opportunities while defending their own goal.
Competition requires skilled piloting, rapid decision-making, teamwork, aircraft maintenance, troubleshooting, and the ability to make repairs and adjustments between matches. Coffee High School competes through the United States Drone Soccer Association (USDSA) with a competitive roster made entirely of high-school students.
The Coffee High School Drone Soccer Team is part of Trojan Aviation, Coffee High School’s Small Unmanned Aircraft CTAE Pathway. Students study aviation and unmanned aircraft systems while developing hands-on skills in flight operations, aircraft systems, maintenance, mission planning, safety, and unmanned aircraft technology.
The Coffee High School delegation is planning for 10 students and five chaperones, along with the aircraft, controllers, batteries, chargers, spare parts, repair equipment, safety gear, and uniforms required to compete. For a rural South Georgia program, the approximately 2,500-mile trip from Douglas to Southern California presents a significant financial and logistical challenge.
Trojan Aviation is currently seeking community and corporate partners to help make the trip possible through support for airfare, lodging, meals, local transportation, competition equipment, and other essential travel expenses. The students who compete in Long Beach will represent Coffee High School, Douglas, Coffee County, and South Georgia, as well as the businesses, organizations, families, and community members who have helped build and support the program.
For the students of Trojan Aviation, Long Beach represents the next step in a journey that has taken them from district competition to a national championship and now to international competition. It is an opportunity to demonstrate how the aviation skills, technical knowledge, teamwork, and experience developed at Coffee High School can carry students from a Small Unmanned Aircraft CTAE Pathway in rural South Georgia to competition on the world stage.
