Taken at the Middletown Spring Blast by J Whittington
Cincinnati United-Sycamore (0) vs. THUNDER SC (3), Sat at 2:15PM on field SM03
See more as they come in from parents and fans at Middletown Spring Blast
A few trends we’re seeing at soccer tournaments
As we watch the questions that come in from guest teams and track trending patterns from team applications, we’re noticing a few trends forming that we think soccer tournament directors should be aware of. Some of the behaviors are based on the economy and some just based on cultural shifts overall. All will affect the way you manage and market your soccer tournament.
Late applications
With the expectation of online registration, many teams are waiting until the last week or so to apply to the tournament, especially those that require full payment up front with the application. While this affects planning and can create anxiety not knowing which teams are coming, quality soccer tournaments need not worry as your tournament has been on the team’s calendar.
Early bird discounts don’t work but perhaps scheduling preferences or coaching conflict resolution guarantees for teams that apply early might be more of an incentive.
Also, if you have a high percentage of teams that travel in, check your hotel reservations. Teams may not necessarily apply early, but many will book rooms early.
No early morning Saturdays
To save money, teams are trying not to stay at hotels on Friday night, instead opting to drive in that morning. Most wait until they have been accepted and send an email, saying “oh, by the way, we need a late Saturday start….” We have no resolution for this as most tournaments have to play two games per team on Saturday to fit in a third round and championship games on Sunday. State associations have rules against playing more than two games per day and the math just doesn’t work. You can’t create more fields and you can’t make more daylight. Moreover, the coach and parents should recognize the dangers of playing a team that is not well-rested. You may want to point that out to him/her or even deny them admission due to increased liability for the tournament.
Multiple team coaches, no conflicts
A few years back, it used to be that only a handful of coaches had multiple teams. Now, it seems every club is doing this. Many teams will wait until you have accepted them and THEN tell you their coach is coaching multiple teams. (Many of these coaches also are requesting all their games start later on Saturday, a double whammy.) Again, the math just doesn’t work.
Our advice: You need teams to hold a tournament, but you can’t have teams dictate the terms under which they will play. Spell out the terms of acceptance UP FRONT on your application form by telling the teams the tournament starts at 8:00am on Saturday and finishes after the last championship game is played on Sunday. If they can not commit to being available for the entire time, they need to apply elsewhere.
Also, coaches conflicts are theirs to resolve, not the tournament’s. While most tournaments will do what they can to avoid conflicts, the sheer number of coaches with multiple teams almost guarantees somebody will be unhappy.
You may also want to establish “convenience fees” for teams requesting special treatment. For example, no coaching conflicts; $300/team. Late Saturday start; $450/team. Publish these early, confirm on application with an email.
Remember, the teams are applying into YOUR soccer tournament because the tournament is a good fit for their team, not the other way around. If your product does not meet their expectations, there are enough soccer tournaments now that will — for a while until they can no longer accommodate the demands. Just make sure your tournament maintains its high standards you worked hard to achieve and all teams play by the same set of rules.
Where is my money going? Why controlling the money for your soccer tournament is key to success
Often, we have requests from soccer tournament directors to set up their Web site so that the team fees go to this mailing address, the credit cards go to another, the t-shirt orders go off to yet another address and the pre-orders for the college showcase books go to another. While delegating different functions to different people is key to running an effective soccer tournament, delegating control of the money is not.
You don’t have to go very far to find a story about the trusted soccer club volunteer who was caught siphoning off the top. A soccer tournament pulls in a lot of cash. A lot of cash also goes out to pay referees, field fees, vendors, etc. For many organizations, acts of embezzlement can be the death of their club or tournament. And the less likely you think it will happen to you, the more at risk you place yourself.
When teams need you to research a lost check or provide a refund, they like to know that their funds are in the hands of you, the tournament director. They NEED to know there is a system of control in place.
Our Advice: Use one mailing address for ALL funds, from the team fees to the shirt pre-order to everything that the soccer tournament takes in. If you can send the money to a lock box at your local bank, that is even better. A PO Box is good, but checks should never be sent to someone’s home, especially when that person has a day job and their mail could potentially sit in an unattended mail box for hours.
Be transparent. Always have at least two people knowing about each transaction at all times.
An honest person would never object to tight controls in place. In fact, a prudent person would never want to handle or transport checks or cash alone or even at all.
Take control of the money. Always.
March 18, 2010 Update: Soccer America’s YouthSoccerInsider just published an article that is a must-read for all soccer tournament directors.
Tell me which teams have applied and I will apply to your soccer tournament if I like them
We are seeing more and more requests from coaches for the soccer tournament to give them the list of teams that have already applied for them to “evaluate” whether or not the tournament would be a good fit for their team. This has us scratching our heads a bit.
Nobody likes to pay money to compete in a tournament only to get stuck in a division with top level teams or, in my opinion, stuck with teams that offer no competition. I get that. But I don’t get is why the guest team coach feels the need to evaluate the teams that have applied prior to applying to a tournament.
Perhaps it is an erosion of trust between soccer tournaments and soccer coaches. Perhaps it is an increased need for the coach to “control” every aspect of the game. Perhaps it is increased pressure from the parents on the coach to place their team in tournaments where they can be “competitive” (whatever that ultimately means.)
Chris Brogan, who is a bit of a guru in the Social Media space, wrote a book called Trust Agents. It deals primarily with trust in online social media spaces like Twitter, Facebook, etc. but it touches a bit on how trust is becoming a currency. As tournaments are becoming more sophisticated, they will need to learn also on how to deal in a trust economy. It’s a quick, easy read.
Our advice: Always be giving guest teams a reason to trust you. Post your schedule from last year and encourage them to take a look at the teams that applied and analyze the point spreads. Every TourneyCentral soccer tournament is a 365/24/7 event that has last year’s schedule available until the application deadline. Use that to your advantage.
Take a really hard, objective look at your seeding. Do your club teams seems to walk away with the trophies every year? Why? Do you have an opinion that your club teams should be able to win your own tournament? Why? Given the choice between bringing in competitive teams for your club teams to play and getting better versus winning a trophy by seeding your teams lower, which is more valuable for the long-term growth of your club? Your tournament? Do guest teams walk off grumbling about how “the fix is in” for the club teams to win? If so, change that.
Trust is everything and will only become more valuable. If teams don’t trust you to place them correctly in your tournament, they will eventually go elsewhere. When they trust you, they’ll quit asking and let your history and reputation speak for itself.
No scheduling conflicts and late Sat games
With the recession pulling into it’s second (or third) year, we’re seeing a lot of teams request a late Saturday morning start so they don’t have to book rooms into a hotel for Friday night. As you can imagine, accommodating this request puts a serious strain on the scheduling as most of the time, the start times are determined by the number of fields and the number of daylight hours available. While you can sometimes squeak out another field somewhere, tacking another hour of sunlight on the end of a day is impossible.
So what to do? You don’t want to turn away a team if you don’t have to, but re-writing the laws of nature to fit an economic reality is just not going to happen. When most teams are now asking for a late Saturday start, it become mathematically impossible to grant the request.
Our advice: Publish a cut off date for late Saturday start requests. Instead of trying an Early Bird discount or other pricing scheme to get teams to apply early, have a date or volume cut off. Perhaps only the first two teams for each age group can request a late Saturday start. Once those requests are used up, there are no more. And, while you are at it, do the same for multiple-team coaches. It rewards the teams with special requests to apply early without compromising the price and value of your tournament.
Be sure to promote visibly and keep track of the number of requests. Reward the requester handsomely and make it crystal clear that the reason you are honoring (or denying) the request is because they applied and paid early (or not.) Once you start doing this, competition for special considerations next year will be fierce.
Soccer Tournaments as a Cultural Concierge
Soccer tournament directors, coaches and parents have a lot to think about when it comes to organizing and playing in youth soccer tournaments. Finding fields, hiring referees, coordinating volunteers and finding sponsors are just a few of the things that directors deal with for a good chunk of the year, all in preparation for one weekend. It is no wonder that many default to a cookie cutter, ready-made template approach and depend on the games themselves to ultimately define their event. It’s not an easy request, but next time, look for opportunities to make your event a memorable human experience for all involved.
Soccer tournaments that enjoy a high success rate understand the importance of the experience to the players and families. That experience extends past the games themselves. One of the more challenging aspects for coaches and parents is the question of what to do between games. A really good soccer tournament recognizes that it an entertainment event and that ‘games’ off the pitch are just as important as games on the pitch.
Every soccer tournament director wants and needs teams and fans to stick around the tourney and concession stands as long as possible. But it’s not reasonable to expect that to happen for five or six hours. This is a great time to showcase and celebrate the unique aspects of the community in which you live, and on which your soccer tournament depends. Have information readily available of sites and activities that make sense for youth soccer players to do in between games. Maybe it’s an educational tour, museum or local landmark. If you try to monopolize their time, you’ll end up pushing them back to the hotel swimming pool, something they’ve already done ten times this year. In a month or two, they won’t remember the games, but the world’s largest ball of twine? That’s a memory!
Another important aspect to remember is that a youth soccer team, much like an army, travels on its stomach. As soccer tournament blogger Alex Klos says, “Don’t forget the importance of eating.”
Try to have a variety of items available that strike a balance between concession margin and the overall experience. Try to feature something unique to your city or state that drives people back to the event. Maybe it’s a local favorite that literally features an ethnic flavor or maybe it’s just the way you package the dish. One community with a Czechoslovakian heritage offers the “Kolacky”, a fruit stuffed pastry that is a hit with out-of-towners. Another tourney features their club nickname in common items i.e. the “Hawk-Go-Taco.”
Don’t lose site of the fact that people will also be dining away from the soccer tournament. You won’t be pushing customers away; you will be acting as a concierge to the team and family experience. That’s an image that leaves an indelible mark on the brain. This approach also opens a door for local eateries to become a supporter and even sponsor your event.
The key to a unique human experience is adding something different, valuable and memorable to the lives of the players, coaches and families. Welcome them into your tournament, community and culture and they will return year after year. Here are a few suggestions to enhance the human experience:
-Incorporate a giveaway of a prize or small trinket that is a logo, mascot or something unique to your soccer tournament. These things trigger powerful emotional responses and make the event memorable. The trinket, like the memory, will last forever. Think of the collection of trading pins that people hold on to, and value, for life versus the endless pile of trophies that always end up in the trash.
-Along those lines, cater to the younger siblings with things like face painting, a roaming mascot, magician, clown, play area or games. If the little ones aren’t whining, the day is better for everyone.
-Have a “Chamber of Commerce” packet readily available. Better yet, get the Chamber of Commerce involved.
-Why not add the position of concierge to your already huge list of volunteer needs. When looking for someone to fill this post, refer to Chamber of Commerce comment above or other community building clubs like Lion’s, Rotarians, Legion or VFW members. Make sure this kiosk has all the information it needs.
-Have some good suggestions in mind for various dining experiences in every price range. Keep in mind that these are soccer teams that may have to play again today. The parents will thank you to remember their pocketbook.
-Get local restaurants involved to possibly offer coupons and directions to their establishments. You may be able to work out an arrangement in which they can run a stand at your soccer tournament, turning over some of the proceeds, of course.
-Set up a commons area to resemble a picnic or park atmosphere. A good sound system with music for all ages establishes a “this is the place to be” vibe. Never think you have enough music in your playlist. Have a new playlist for everyday.
Measure for soccer tournament success. Then do it again, and again
Is your soccer tournament better off this year than it was last year? How do you know?
Unless you measure against goals and benchmarks, you really have no way of knowing. While you may have more money in the bank, was it because you sold more t-shirts or was it because the teams increased over last year? Or maybe your schedule was tighter. Or maybe your team numbers increased over last year, but you somehow found yourself with less money? How could that be?
Unless you are running your soccer tournament like a business with financial tools such as profit and loss (P&L) statements, budgets, cash flow projections, revenue and expense reports and other measurement tools like rankings and surveys, you really have no way of knowing. Because the goals of each soccer tournament vary from event to event, there are no right or wrong measurements, but here are a few things to measure as you move through the various phases of your soccer tournament.
1. Project and watch cash flow.
Starting with day one to day 365, you should have cash flow projections. Day one is defined as the day after this year’s tournament and the start of next year’s tournament cycle. (You didn’t take the day after your tournament off, did you?) You will probably wish to divide up the cash flow projections into months, but project out on the same income and expense cycle as the previous year so that you can compare cycles year to year. As an example, Labor Day may fall in the same month each year, but the number of days preceding it in September may be different year to year. Now, comparing your cash in and out for the previous year, are you operating a more positive cash flow each month? While a more positive cash flow is important, don’t give up asset purchases for short-term cash goals.
2. Track profit performance as a percentage.
Always measure profitability as a percentage rather than a dollar figure so you will have an accurate yardstick year to year. Keep in mind that the soccer tournament business has a cycle. You may have a run of three incredibly profitable years and then the next two may dip down a bit, then move up. Once you have a longer history, you will be able to predict profitability and plan inventories (like concessions, shirts, etc) accordingly.
3. Know your demographic metrics.
How many times have you had a tournament where one year you have far too many of one age group and then next year, you are struggling to get a division together for that same age group? Did you check the overall birth rates in your local area or from areas you pull from? Or maybe a league installed a new age-based requirement? If you are able to predict the flow of players year to year, you are better prepared to either market to them or prepare a smaller division and focus your attention on the more populous ages.
Age is just one metric you can use, but there are many others, including travel costs from certain regions, school schedules, league requirements, state association rules, etc. The point here is to know your target market; don’t just shotgun out your marketing and see what sticks.
4. Measure happiness.
Revenue is what happens when people buy things. Profitability is what happens when happy people are eager to buy your soccer tournament experience. MEASURE HAPPINESS. Most of the teams competing in your soccer tournament will not take home trophies, so only a fraction of happiness can be attributed to winning. The majority of teams will judge your soccer tournament on whether or not they had fun.
While measuring fun is a very elusive metric, the three big factors appear to be a) hotel quality, b) food quality and c) respect. Hotels and food are fairly straightforward to measure and control, but measuring and influencing respect is slippery. It all comes down to the attitude of the volunteers, the HQ tent, the flow at registration, the way the coaches were talked to, the way the referees controlled the game and how much of your “frugality” was exposed during the tournament.
Encourage teams to give you feedback, whether that is directly via email or gathered through ranking and feedback systems such as www.gotsoccer.com, www.ticoscore.com or bulletin boards like www.backofthenet.com. Then, when “unhappiness trends” appear, DO SOMETHING to fix it. Don’t ignore it.
If a few are willing to complain, many more are willing to just keep silent and simply not come back.
A soccer tournament is a business. While your goals may be to give the soccer community a fun experience, you need to be able to stay in business to accomplish that goal. These are just some of the measurements you should be using for your soccer tournament, but is by no means a complete list. Knowing more about what makes your event profitable within your niche or target market area is your competitive advantage that you should be honing with each season. But, you can only know how far you have come by knowing where you have already been.
Gerard McLean is President/CEO of Rivershark, Inc. the parent company of www.tourneycentral.com. TourneyCentral produces an end-to-end, web-based soccer tournament management system that handles everything from registration through scheduling and scoring. McLean is also the editor and host of the companion podcast and blog, The Touchline. His Fortune 500 experience with Target Stores and Huffy Corporation, along with various positions at private companies, has forever sealed his obsession with constantly measuring success performance.
Dynamo Round Robin Soccer Tournament
WHEN: March 19-21, 2010
WHERE: Indianapolis, IN
FEES: U9-U10 $375 U11-U12 $425 U13-U19 $475
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, Feb 5, 2010
PAY TO: Dynamo FC; PO Box 80261 Indianapolis, IN 46280
This is the twelfth annual Dynamo Round Robin.
The Round Robin is a great pre-season warm up tournament for the Spring. Last year’s tournament featured several defending state champions and state runners-up. Teams from Oklahoma, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and other states were represented.
As in the past, this year’s tournament welcomes all girls’ teams U9 through U19. U9 through U14 teams will play four games while U15 through U18 teams will play three games. The change to a 3 game format for older teams is based on extensive input from coaches who felt that four 80 minute games in a 2 day period was simply too much physically for their players.
U-9/U-10 will play 6 v 6, U-11/U-12 will play 8 v 8, U-13 and up will play 11 v 11. U12 teams from states that play 11 v 11 may opt to apply to play up in the U13 division.
Getting more out of your soccer tournament brand
When people start talking about “brand,” the talk immediately turns to logo design. While a good logo is part of your brand, it is not “THE BRAND.” The brand is how people feel about and view your soccer organization (league, club or tournament). Your brand is what you can leverage to sponsors, advertisers, guest teams, potential players, potential coaches and the media.
We intuitively know what a strong brand looks like within the soccer industry. A strong brand is a club every coach wants to be a part of or every kid wants to play for.
As soccer grows beyond the boundaries of soccer enthusiasts and evangelists, soccer parents and players, a strong brand becomes important to the community at large, including the media and business community. It can also mean the difference between securing a sponsorship or not, good press or bad press; or worse, no press at all.
I recently attended a soccer tournament that is now in its 22nd year, fills up almost 50 hotels and hosts more than 500 teams over a period of three days. The economic impact of the event is estimated to be about $5.2 million dollars due to its draw from out of state teams. It enjoys a reputation unrivaled in the soccer community.
The local newspaper — about 180,000 daily circulation, 290,000 on Sunday — published four stories on the event. The first story was on the front page and lead with “Soccer tournament cause traffic jams across city.” On the second day (Sunday), an article ran with a large color photo and the description of the parking lot as a “…gas-guzzler SUV convention.” In the same article, a manager at one of the local hotels was quoted as saying “… the parents party more than the kids” and followed the quote with a parent’s favorite beverage recipe. The third and fourth stories were more flattering, but they were buried deep in the sports section and ran with no photos.
The host soccer club gives back thousands of dollars in community services, donates jerseys and equipment to teams in South Africa and Nicaragua and its tournament director has been recognized as an ambassador by the local CVB for bringing teams into the area. So, which is the truth: the tournament as a traffic menace or economic asset? The frustrating truth is it is both, depending on how you see the tournament brand.
As soccer becomes more and more embedded into the culture of American sports, the folks who run the leagues, camps and tournaments will need to turn their branding efforts toward the community at large.
Had the tournament illustrated above better managed its brand outside the soccer market, the chances of the tournament being seen as an “economic boon for the local” economy rather than a “traffic-jam event” would have been far more likely. While there is always a chance the media will write an unfavorable article, it is less likely if you are a strong community brand as well as a strong soccer brand.
A strong community brand is also an asset that can be leveraged for sponsorship and advertising dollars. Reach out to the local newspapers and television stations by letting them know who you are and what non-soccer benefits you bring to the community. Invite them to fundraisers, meetings or other activities.
You may also want to open some board positions for members of local companies who are influential within the business community. As dedicated as you are to the SPORT of soccer, the BUSINESS of soccer is what will drive a positive brand image outside soccer.
Your soccer organization is already branded outside of the soccer market; good, bad or indifferent. Take control of your brand and guide it so your non-soccer community sees your soccer organization in the same light as the soccer market does. It is a job that requires vigilance 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, but the rewards in positive community support are worth the effort.
Gerard McLean is President/CEO of Rivershark, Inc. the parent company of TourneyCentral. TourneyCentral produces an end-to-end, web-based soccer tournament management system that handles everything from registration through scheduling and scoring.
How to run your soccer tournament like a pro
At some point, you may need to break your soccer tournament free from the “mom and pop” pack, ditch the volunteer economics and fundraiser-based budgets and start running it like a “real company.” You will most likely be looking to do business with other companies that are “real companies” with employees, voicemail systems, receptionists, conference rooms and offices. And, these offices won’t resemble anything like a dining room table piled high with soccer gear.
Here are some quick tips in dealing with “real companies.”
1. Soccer is most likely not their passion.
Chances are, soccer is not their passion. While it is always best to work with companies who understand soccer and know the game, that should not be enough of a criterion to do business with them. Nor should the lack of soccer smarts be a criterion to exclude them. You are seeking out professional services and you will be better served if they understand their business and you remain the soccer expert. Unless, of course, you are seeking soccer marketing services; then, soccer better be their passion.
2. Prepare to pay market rates.
True professionals know the value of their goods and services and are less inclined to bargain that value away. While you may attempt to persuade the company to support your local club, league or soccer tournament with a sponsorship, advertisement or discount, only a few will likely oblige. If you pay less than market rates, you will most likely only get the value of goods or services you pay for, which may not be enough to get what you really need.
3. Prepare to do business during business hours.
When dealing with a “real company,” chances are they will not be there to discuss the changes you need done to your web site, brochure or accounting program at 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning like your volunteer was. Also, lunch hour does not qualify as business hours, even though it is in the middle of the day. Be prepared to discuss your project, take phone calls and do meetings during business hours. And, if you can’t, make sure someone in your soccer tournament with authority can. There are a few things more annoying to professionals than constant project delays due to the client’s inability to meet or give approvals in a timely fashion.
4. Pay your invoices on time and in full.
Among the many things that keep “real companies” from doing business with volunteer-based management groups is the fear that getting invoices paid on time and in full will be an issue. Being a 501c(3) does not give you a pass on paying on time. Nor does the excuse that your treasurer is out of the country on vacation and can’t be reached qualify as a legitimate explanation. If you take no other advice from this article, take this point to heart.
5. It’s not personal.
A “real company” cares about providing the very best service that they can. After all, it is their reputation on the line as well. Sometimes, they will tell you things that you may not want to hear, but you need to know to bring your tournament to the next level. Value that, even if their comments sound like a stinging insult. It’s not personal.
So, get out there and do business with “real companies,” but expect to be treated like you are also a “real company.”
Gerard McLean is President/CEO of Rivershark Inc., a “real company” that develops database-driven web-based applications like jo bbank engines, membership databases, etc. for trade groups and the retail services industry. Rivershark also owns www.TourneyCentral.com, which provides soccer tournament services to soccer clubs. While most soccer tournaments are not yet “real businesses,” he claims it is a lot of fun. And since he is the boss, they keep doing it. McLean is convinced that soccer tournaments will eventually become “real business” and wants to be part of that when it happens.
Are you having a soccer tournament in 2010?
The number one question we are seeing right now is: “Are you having a soccer tournament in 2010?”
Many teams do their Spring season planning over the Holidays, so if your Web site is not updated with your 2010 information, you may risk losing some of these teams. If you haven’t already updated and you are having a tournament in 2010, now is the time to do it.
Hurry. We’re waiting.
Getting Your Soccer Tournament In The News: 8 Simple Rules For Success
Your soccer organization – whether a club, tournament or team – requires press exposure to help you build value for your sponsors and potential player or team base. However, it can be much more than getting a team photo in the local sports section. It can include a leap onto the newspaper city pages or the A block of the television news.
Here are eight simple rules for getting your soccer organization the press coverage you want. There are more, but these are the big ones.
Rule 1: Nobody cares about you.
What people do care about is what your organization does for your community, not just for kids who play soccer. They also care about the people behind the club or tournament. Think in terms of how your soccer organization contributes to your community, how it changes the world and write your story from a third person point of view. Think beyond soccer and frame the story from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know the sport or the players in the sport.
Rule 2: Know your journalists.
What do they care about? What kind of story bends their ear? Write your story as if you are telling your news only to them. Respect their time by putting the Who, What, Why, When and Where in the first paragraph. If they can’t tell what the story is about in the first few sentences, they won’t read further.
Rule 3: Advertising and editorial don’t mix. Ever.
The editorial staff at the newspaper, television station, magazine or web site does not care how much advertising you buy or if you buy any at all. The criteria for them are the newsworthiness of your story. And don’t ever “remind” the editorial staff that you buy advertising or suggest that the sale of their news product will increase if they tell your story. Doing so is disrespectful and unprofessional and almost guarantees your news won’t run.
Rule 4: Write your press releases in AP Style.
If you are not familiar with AP Style, buy the AP Stylebook (apstylebook.com) and live by it. Your story will stand a better chance of being published if editors don’t have to rewrite it. The stylebook is a yearly edition, so be sure to keep up-to-date.
Rule 5: Be tenacious, but not annoying.
Remember rule one. If your story doesn’t run, it probably means that it wasn’t newsworthy enough, even if it was near and dear to your heart. Keep refining the stories you tell and tell a lot of them. Editors are human beings and sometimes they just give people a break for sticking with it against all odds.
Rule 6: Never, never, never tell a news organization who else published your story.
While it may be great news to your soccer organization that you were featured on ESPN2, to an editorial department, you just told them your story is old news.
Rule 7: Think hyper-local.
Newspapers especially are focused on becoming the hyper-local voice of their community and your soccer organization has built-in hyper-localism. Keep your stories focused on the local community. The more personal, the better.
Rule 8: Keep making news.
Most soccer organizations will just send out a press release before their tournament or tryouts and wonder why they don’t get press. A soccer organization is a 365/24/7 operation that makes news all year long. Keep telling these stories.
I may have misled you a bit about the “simple” part in the headline. Getting your soccer organization in the news is as simple as saying you just need to find a bunch of kids to make a soccer club. Like your soccer organization, it takes discipline, a plan, dedication and hard work. The rules are simple, but it is work. The reward is a stronger, and more recognizable brand to potential sponsors, government organizations and your community at large, which helps you achieve your soccer organization goals a little more comfortably.
Advertising Module
One of the most time-consuming tasks a tournament director does is manage sponsors and advertisers! The advertising module is a centralized hub where ALL the advertising activities are managed easily. By pooling all the intellectual property (IP) of the tournament in one place, it ensures a continuity from year to year.
The advertising module allows you to generate invoices and statements, set up web-based advertising easily and keep track of an advertiser’s activity from year to year.
The advertising module is tied in tightly with the team advertising reports, so if your club or organization relies on teams and parents to sell advertising, everyone can easily see what each team is assigned and has sold.
College Coaches/Profiles Module
If you have college coaches attend your event, you need this module. It allows college coaches to register to attend. Once they have been verified, they can search the profiles that are tied in with the team application.
Because the detailed profile is integrated with the team application, the schedule is printed directly on the player profile, ensuring the coach can locate the player quickly.
Team Applications Module
The team applications module is the hub for managing everything about your guest teams, from application to recording payment, team lists, acceptance etc.
The team application module also includes a broadcaster where you can select to send an email as a plain text message or a fancy HTML message. You can also use the mailer to send a Text Message to their wireless device, useful for game delays, etc.
Everything for communications to the guest teams in one place.