I recently had an informal meeting with one of our Ohio-based soccer tournament directors and the issue most raised during our conversation was the various ways we helped bring value to their event was by being available as human support. As I watched the FCC take a vote to repeal Net Neutrality on Dec 14, 2017, I couldn’t help thinking how that decision could potentially affect the soccer tournament industry, which has fully embraced the internet as the de facto platform to market, communicate, register and manage games through websites and apps.

I crafted this letter to my elected Ohio representatives with that conversation still fresh in my head.

Since 1999, TourneyCentral has been the front door for close to a million soccer players, their families and fans each year. Furthermore, since we are based in a military town with WPAFB as an integral member of our community, our soccer tournament websites have afforded parents who found themselves stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the world to engage actively with their kids as they played in soccer tournaments. We have stories we could share; they are heartwarming.

Our business depends on a stable and predictable access to the internet.

As a small business incorporated and based in Ohio — one that provides jobs, tax revenue and increases the economic impact of other small businesses — I am concerned about the cost of providing affordable access to the tournament websites for our tournament directors. But more importantly, I am concerned that my customers have ready access to human tech support when they most need it, so they can provide a quality tournament-going experience for their guest teams, players, families and fans.

As a company and as an active member of the soccer community, we do not support the repeal of NetNeutrality. The Net Neutrality rules are not perfect, but anything less than the protections and access they currently afford the soccer community is untenable.

As a company that believes strongly in the superiority of human support over chat bots and AI, we also seek out suppliers of hosting and other services that share our values. We believe that even as the line-item cost of purchasing these services is higher, it reduces our overall costs due to increased productivity working with skilled people.

Our soccer customers (many who are volunteers who do not develop technology) also want and need human-supported help for their tournament technology. TourneyCentral provides this much-needed service. With the FCC’s repeal of Net Neutrality in yesterday’s vote, we will most likely be forced to continue to seek out providers and services that reduce our costs elsewhere so we can continue to provide the human touch our customers tell us they need and want.

We recognize that the trends are towards automation and we’re not fighting evolution. However, at some point, we as a society need to recognize when we need to provide a human touch for human activities. The goal here is a balance between automating those things that computers do well with human skills that humans do better. Few things are more human-centric (or as satisfying) for us than talking a tournament director through a critical tech process at 11pm on a Friday night, with only a few hours before they host a soccer tournament for thousands of players, their families and fans, and the local community.

It is our official position that our elected representatives introduce and pass legislation that protects access to all of the legal parts of the internet, regardless of content.

While access to the internet is foremost a human issue for us, it is also a business issue. The lack of open access to the internet endangers not only the soccer tournament business and the soccer community, it stands to limit all organized youth sports, including football, basketball and the most American sport, baseball. It also endangers the small businesses that rely on their support.

Soccer is a welcoming, benevolent community. Help us continue this fine tradition of supporting and engaging in our communities through sport by keeping this in mind as you take up votes regarding the repeal Net Neutrality many in our community now rely on for access to their teams. For many, their soccer team is their life’s purpose.

I understand that national laws operate at a 30,000 ft level. I just wanted to give you a small example of the unintended consequences of these regulations at a ground zero level. In the whole scheme of what Net Neutrality means for the entire internet, TourneyCentral is a tear in a rainstorm. But for that one grandparent who only wishes to see his grandkids play at a local event, it means everything. That is what drives us and what I hope sticks in your mind as you review potential legislation regarding Net Neutrality.

I urge you to vote with this in mind; to think not only of the wider arc of the health of the internet, but also the health of the businesses that rely it, including your own Ohio-based, TourneyCentral.

Recently, to accommodate a larger holiday meal, another batch of forks were added to my cutlery drawer by someone who thinks a fork is a fork is a fork is a fork.

The fork on top is thin and well-balanced, with long, tapered tines and a flat handle that rests against my palm. It feels like an extension of my hand as I deftly navigate my way through the food on my plate to my mouth.

The fork on the bottom has short blunt tines, with a thin handle where I struggle to keep the fork aligned with my knife. It feels like I’m fighting my fighting my food, bludgeoning it to give up its home on the plate.

What do forks have to do with a soccer tournament? Everything!

Our Advice: If you are using TourneyCentral to manage your soccer tournament event, you are already honing the user experience for your tournament. We are obsessive about sharpening the tines and shaping the handle so your web site and management tools feel like an extension of your event.

But you can do more.

Make sure your news on the front page is clear and concise. Keep updating the news for your event during the tournament. On the ground, make sure your signage to the parking is clear and visible. Make sure all your volunteers know the web address, the twitter, facebook, snapchat and instagram accounts. Update the scores as quickly as you can after the games. Post the standings in real time. Dedicate one or two people (depending on your tournament size) to posting scores during the tournament–that is all they do.

Broadcast about your vendors and sponsors on a schedule. Make this part of their sponsorship package, especially the vendors who rely on you for foot traffic to their on-site booth.

Build a media team.

Highlight some of your guest teams. Write short personal stories about them. Include human interest photos. Crop your photos well; don’t just slap up a team photo. Show your tournament personality. Capture the fun and excitement, the agony and the joy of being there. Shine a spotlight on some of the attendees by picking them out of a crowd and showing an interest in their story. (Get permission from their parents, please, if you are posting photos of minors… preferably a release your media volunteers already have. It’s 2017; be mindful.)

Make stickers with your tournament logo and social channels, maybe even establish a special “secret” instagram or snapchat account they can join. Kids love stickers. (Their parents secretly love stickers, too. Really.) Make sure your volunteers have a ready supply and hand them out generously.

Create a program/yearbook and publish it using CreateSpace, then push it to the Amazon store where participants and their families can buy it for a nominal price. Make it special so it is worth buying by designing it. Yes, hire a graphic designer… a good one.

Give your guest teams a seamless experience, from registration through posting the schedule and field maps to finding the games to enjoying the social activities to connecting with you on social to chatting about your tournament on the ride home to not being able to wait until next year to participate in your tournament. Expand the 90 Minute Attention Span a few more minutes.

Tiny details, huge user experience difference.

We are taking a stand on health insurance and health care.

Regardless of your personal stance on the Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare, ACA) the goal of the soccer community should be to make sure any kid who wants to play on a soccer team has access to health insurance and affordable health care. Expanding the available talent pool and deepening the bench of soccer talent for all should be the goal of any soccer organization. The lack of health insurance with the exception of those who can afford the premiums, threatens this goal.

Despite the myths, slights and shade the media wishes to throw at soccer sometimes, competitive soccer is a contact sport. The sport is growing and has become an American sport in many households across the country.

My son played keeper throughout high school and on select soccer teams. Any parent of a keeper knows the anxiety of seeing their kid being charged at by a forward or the risk of hitting their head on the cross bar. Like any keeper, he was all-in on the field. There were many times when he put his body between the net and several forwards twice his size. He won more than he lost, but there was an injury cost.

My daughter played mid-field most of her club and high school career. Despite her deceptively slight frame, 5’6″, 110lbs, she was a bruiser. When there was a tackle or a challenge, she was going to win that ball. She was fearless and the opposing team got to know that early on. There were injuries, but I was fortunate enough to have an insurance plan to cover her. (I actually increased coverage and decreased my deductible during her soccer-playing years, she was that committed. Don’t tell her that, she would feel guilt.)

Having access to good health insurance on the individual market allowed me to give a quality soccer experience to my two kids when they were growing up. While every parent dreads the time when their kid will get injured playing a sport they love, there was some anxiety in the stands over how much out-of-pocket that love and commitment to the sport would cost their parents. My guess is we all kept that quiet from our kids. We did not want our anxiety to be the reason they did not “win the ball.”

Here is a letter we at TourneyCentral sent to our Ohio lawmakers. (We are an Ohio corporation) We urge everyone in the soccer community to become more aware of how a repeal of the ACA WITHOUT A REPLACEMENT will affect and endanger the soccer community and actively lobby their lawmakers for a specific plan that replaces it and ensures we will not lose players based solely on their access to health insurance, affordable care.

Write, call, blog, tweet. This affects us all. Health care is not a political issue; it is a human issue and also a business issue. Repeal without a replacement plan would affect us all who strive to bring the sport to those with the most talent, instead of the most insured.

. . .

The Honorable Rob Portman, (R-OH)
The Honorable Sherrod Brown, (D-OH)
The Honorable Mike Turner, (R-OH 10)

When a kid does not have health insurance, they cannot play soccer in a club, league or high school. When they cannot play on a team, they cannot play in a soccer tournament. Without health insurance, their athletic skills and abilities—as well as any potential college scholarships—will never be realized by themselves, their parents or fans. Sponsors of the tournaments and the businesses surrounding the event suffer economically.

Since 1999, TourneyCentral has been the front door for over half a million soccer players, their families and fans each year. Furthermore, since we are based in a military town with WPAFB as an integral member of our community, our websites have afforded parents who found themselves stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, to engage actively with their kids as they played in soccer tournaments. We have stories we could share; they are heartwarming.

Our business depends on a steady stream of talented kids who have access to affordable health insurance and health care.

As a small business incorporated in Ohio, one that provides jobs, tax revenue and increases the economic impact of other small businesses, I am concerned about the cost of employer-based health care. But more importantly, I am concerned that my potential customers will be limited in purchasing our services simply because they can’t field teams of players who have access to health insurance or health care.

As a company and as an active member of the soccer community, we do not support the repeal of the ACA without a solid, specific and accessible replacement in place. The ACA is not a perfect law, but anything less than the protections and access it currently affords the youth population and their parents is untenable.

Coaches, too, must be frustrated to see a kid in a pick-up game who has remarkable potential but can’t be included on a team because his or her parents do not have health insurance. Or, more frequently, the deductible is high and the fear of a costly injury during a game or training is the single issue that holds them back.

It is our official position that our elected representatives craft a plan that goes beyond the current ACA to UniversalCare, SinglePayer, MedicareFor All. The ideal is that every kid should have the right to reach to his or her potential, not limited by whether or not they have affordable health insurance.

While health care is foremost a human issue for us, it is also a business issue. The lack of universal, affordable health insurance endangers not only the soccer tournament business and the soccer community, it stands to limit all organized youth sports, including football, basketball and the most American sport, baseball. It also endangers the small businesses that rely on their support.

Soccer is a welcoming, benevolent community. Help us continue this fine tradition of supporting and engaging in our communities through sport by keeping this in mind as you take up votes regarding the repeal of a health care law many in our community now rely on for access to their team, which gives them strong character and community skills. For many, their soccer team is their purpose.

Don’t rob them of their ability to participate by limiting access to health insurance and health care. I urge you to vote with this in mind, to think of the wider arc of not only the health of sport, but the health of the businesses that support it, including your own Ohio-based, TourneyCentral.

TourneyCentral will be at the 2017 NSCAA Convention, in booth 1011. Stop by and say hi!

Our booth is being run by the folks at Premier Athletic Advertising so while you are looking for hosting software to power your tournament, take a look at their services for tournaments as well as their calendar of events for your teams.

See everyone in LA.

Instagram has added a feature to their platform that has the potential of getting bigger, so we’ll cover it as a separate topic — Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories is a short (10 sec) video clip that you can add to your account that disappears after a day, much like stories in Snapchat. You can decide to do just Instagram or just Snapchat… or both, but whatever you decide to do, make sure you feed your audience on both channels. If you do both, it may be tempting to record on Snapchat, save and then republish on Instagram, but you really should resist and create content unique to each channel for the widest audience engagement.

Regardless of what you do, save the video before you post it. You will want to create a reel of your social media efforts for your committee, board, sponsors or yourself and it always helps to save before posting.

Getting started
To get started using Instagram Stories, just log into your Instagram account.

1. At the very top of the home screen, you will see a camera icon (or a +) Press that and it turns into a standard recording screen.

2. Hold down the white record button at the bottom of the screen while you are recording your video. Release it when you are done.

3. Add text at the top and doodles as you’d like using the marker and/or text at the upper right (not necessary, but you can experiment as you get more comfortable with Instagram Stories)

4. Save your story to your phone now just in case things go wrong, like you get disconnected or Instagram fails to upload, by clicking on the download icon in the lower right.

5. Send your video to Instagram Stories by clicking on the Record button that now contains a check mark. If you change your mind or wish to re-record, you can always cancel.

6. You can also add photos to your Instagram Stories by just tapping on the Record button once, like you would take a regular Instagram or Snapchat. However, Instagram Stories is turning into more of a short video story tool and the photos are less effective in holding attention. Viewers can see your standard feed for photos.

7. Be sure to also add to your Instagram feed in addition to Instagram Stories. Because Stories go away after a day, you want to have something a bit more permanent. By swiping up on the record screen, you can include any photo or video you recorded on your phone during the past 24 hours. However, people really like seeing original, in-the- moment video so you may want to avoid doing that too much.

What to storify
The key to a good Instagram Story line is to tell a story, not just post up random or sequential videos because you can. That is what you may want to use your regular Instagram feed for.

Have a beginning, middle and an end, even as you may want to tell the story acrosss multiple 10-second clips. Many users string together several recordings to tell a complete story. Always be aware, however, that your videos will drop off at the end of a 24-hour period, so make sure your story still makes sense if the first or second video in a series is no longer available.

If you want to create a multi-video story, it is best to script and set up as much as possible beforehand, so that when you shoot the videos, they are so close in time that they drop off pretty much on the 24-hour expiration.

Have fun and experiment.

And shoot vertical, even though you can shoot horizontal.

The most-asked question we get about our software is “where is your one-button scheduling?”

I’m aware this expectation is out there and that others may be marketing it in their sales pitch, but we’re never going to lie to you. Scheduling a soccer tournament is a human skill that is only aided by software. While we have grids, automated pairings, conflict alerts — all the standard stuff you would expect from a soccer tournament scheduling program — we here at TourneyCentral don’t assume to know more about your event that you do.

You know your fields. You know the people who tend them, water them and make sure they are in peak condition for your tournament. You know what is important to them. You know the teams you have invited to and accepted into your tournament. You understand the hundreds — maybe thousands — of nuanced variables of each of these coaches and DOCs. You know who your volunteers are and what is important to them to get them and keep them volunteering. You know your vendors. You know your sponsors’ needs.

It may look smart, but a computer is pretty dumb about all this. A computer program just fakes knowing all this. A computer program needs to be told all of this stuff that you intuitively “know.” Sure, a program can help make things easier, but a one-button schedule-maker won’t care. It will just spit out the pairings, locations and times.

Fast, but not good.

In short, you know, understand and respect the thousands of human needs, feelings and relationships that make a soccer tournament possible. Never assume a successful soccer tournament is the result of a “superior, efficient” schedule. It’s not. Success will ultimately be judged by the vibe the coaches, players, fans and sponsors feel at your event.

If this is your first time scheduling a soccer tournament, we’ll help you if you need us to. We can do the mechanics of who, when and where, but the why is all you. Learn the why. Learning what is important to the people playing and tending to your games is the most effective way to build your scheduling skills. It’s much, much more than just an app.

You should never want to cede that power and responsibility entirely to a computer program. Your software should help with the scheduling, not take over the human bits that make your soccer tournament different, human and pleasant to attend.

Your guest teams come to play soccer because that is why they attend your soccer tournament. Higher quality teams who play good soccer with lots of points is what attracts soccer teams to your soccer tournament.

Soccer. Soccer. Soccer.

What if all of that is not true?

What? That is the way it’s always been. We play soccer. Our soccer people play soccer. Our DOCs play, live and sleep soccer. We are a soccer tournament, so we must focus on the soccer.

I’ve seen soccer purists rip good soccer tournaments apart, mostly because they believe a soccer tournament is all about soccer, that the other stuff is just fluff.

They are wrong.

• Soccer tournaments are a mini-family vacation.
• Soccer tournaments are a diversion from the everyday.
• Soccer tournaments are social gatherings.
• Soccer tournaments are fun, festival-style entertainment.
• Soccer tournaments are fashion brands.

But what soccer tournaments are not is a soccer event.

It surprises a lot of people when I tell them I’m not all that passionate about soccer or technology. What?? TourneyCentral is a soccer technology company? How could you not live and breathe the nuance of pairings and soccer stats, how this team should be seeded higher because they play in this league or they are state cup champions or….. How could you not live and breathe the tech and app development and Apple vs Android and specs and ….

Don’t get me wrong, I care about soccer and tech; I understand soccer through and through. I also understand technology because we use both to bring about the best soccer tournament production software anywhere. But if TourneyCentral was a soccer technology company, we would be doing a disservice to the people who need us the most; those who need a diversion from the everyday.

Our advice: Start looking at your soccer tournament as a fashion brand. Why do your guest teams want to be a part of who you are? Why do they “wear” your event? Consider they can get soccer anywhere — all day, every day — so what about your event makes it special?

Your soccer tournament should be a New York Fashion Week, not just another trip to Walmart for a pack of white undershirts. Figure this out and start producing an event that breaks out of the mould. Both on the field and in the digital space.

TourneyCentral is a media and event management company. Your soccer tournament is a fashion brand.

It’s time for soccer tournaments to get serious about a Soccer Tournament Media Officer to manage media, from newspaper and TV to social media channels.

This photo was posted by the Solar Impulse team. Sure, the photo itself is pretty impressive but once you get beyond that, there is a spectacular epiphany that was easy to overlook at first:

The Solar Impulse has a selfie window built into its design.

Marketing the Solar Impulse using social media was not a thought bolted-on after the fact. Marketing using social media wasn’t going to be one of those things an intern or a community manager would handle. From the very beginning, marketing on social media was planned.

It’s time for soccer tournaments to design their own selfie window into their events. It’s time for a Soccer Tournament Media Officer to plan, coordinate and execute the event using all media channels, including social. Start here.

Our advice:

• Get serious about social media, especially the top four; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. While it is still important as an anchor to reach your teams during the event, your website as a destination is becoming less and less so. Your sponsors and advertisers want to reach your participants. If they are all off on social media channels, a “link from the website” will continue to have less and less value.
• Start developing a Snapchat presence through hosted “stories” from the touchline, the HQ tent, the t-shirt tent. Invite the teams behind the scenes.
• Do not dismiss social media (especially Snapchat) as something the kids do. Look around during your soccer tournament; there are thousands of kids! That is your audience, whether or not they “buy” directly from you. The kids are the influencers for their parents and coaches.

Build a “selfie-window” into your soccer tournament event by design. Start now and make sure it is up and running for your next “flight.” Also, follow the Solar Impulse on Instagram. The photos are amazing!

Every weekend a soccer tournament (or several) is scheduled is special, but Memorial Day weekend soccer is nearest to our heart at TourneyCentral. While we started writing the software for this whole tournament revolution in the Spring of 1999, our first live run was the adidas Warrior Soccer Classic in 2000. It was scary, it was chaotic and it was a blast!

We have learned a lot of stuff along the way about soccer tournaments after that first Memorial Day weekend soccer tournament and lots of technology has changed since, but the dedication, drive and passion of the people behind the soccer events that appear so effortlessly to pull together has not. We are grateful to each and every tournament director and the vast volunteer staff who has included us in their event.

A special thank you to Carol Maas of the adidas Warrior Soccer Classic in Dayton, Ohio for seeing the potential in moving from paper onto the very unfamiliar web. Her trust in our ability to pull that off is beyond words.

Here’s wishing everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend. Good luck to all the teams competing in the three soccer tournaments we are hosting in 2016; the adidas Warrior Soccer Classic, the Pacesetter Soccer Invitational and the Westlake Invitational.

Please support them and their sponsors for a successful tournament.

The eight things you should have in your soccer tournament marketing plan.

1. Always market your event like it is your first year. This keeps you fresh! With the exception of the NATD (which held a lot of promise but was apparently a front for a popular travel agency…) visit the links at the bottom.
2. Social. Instagram search is a top hit right now. Mine Instagram accounts for leads and conversions. Posts quick hot stories of behind the scenes; folks love that.
3. You have a tough nut because you are early in the season which means your tryouts to team application window is really short. You have a tough nut because you are late in the spring season and there is so much competition. You have a tough nut because you are early in the spring season and weather is challenging. Every soccer tournament has challenges. Learn how to position these challenges into advantages.
4. Not a fan of discounts, especially multi-team discounts. Teams either want to come because you have a fun event or they don’t. Discounts are quick hit, price-ony considerations that do not build a deep brand. They are like sugar before a game to short-cut a balanced diet.
5. You have something different. Work that message to the appropriate teams teams. There is a complementary market in the spring/fall. Build partnerships with these tournaments and you both market each’s event to your teams. We encourage TourneyCentral tournaments to help each other.
6. Go all in on social channels like the whole world is watching regardless of how many followers you have. You don’t need that many engagements to move to check you out and apply. (Gary Vaynerchuk just put this on Medium)
7. I really wish I had a magic formula, but there is nothing magic other than
   a) know who you are
   b) know what you want
   c) be tenacious
8. Get social, check out the listings linked in blog post, make sure everything is accurate and complete on your site and the links from the listing places are tight (accurate, one click) Don’t buy blast lists; your Mailchimp mailing list should only be organically-gathered contacts.

But mostly don’t give up, don’t get cynical.

When designing your soccer tournament logo, think square. Square is the only shape that matters for mobile, facebook, twitter, snapchat, instagram or even google plus.

Then make sure the most critical parts of your square logo fit inside a circle of the same dimensions.

Forget the wide banners and the long shields. If your logo does not fit into mobile and social media, it doesn’t fit.

Square. The only shape that matters.

If your soccer tournament logo isn’t square, you should probably get started making it square. Like now.