Category Archives: Tournaments

Soccer tournaments looking forward to 2012

Tournaments

2012 will be our thirteenth year providing an end-to-end, comprehensive tournament system for soccer tournaments. With each year, we continue to add more features as the soccer market continues to evolve rapidly around the fastest-growing team sport worldwide. It’s an exciting time to be involved in the sport.

This year, our 2012 youth soccer tournament calendar is shaping up handsomely, with most of our top of the year events already taking applications. I opened the calendar this morning and already see a Jan 6 deadline for the Total Soccer College Showcase! That sure came fast

2012 will be the year mobile really starts taking off. For our part, we have outfitted all of our tournaments with QR Codes so parents with smartphones can take advantage of fast-loading scores, DEALS and news no matter where they are, on the field or off.

Next weekend, TourneyCentral will be at the NSCAA, THE SHOW to be at for anyone in the soccer industry. We are looking forward to meeting up with old friends and making new ones at the show. Stop on by and say hi!

Overall, 2012 is going to be a kicking year.

This blog post is part of a blog-off series with a group of bloggers from different professions and world views, each exploring a theme from his/her world view. This was about exploring the theme, what are you looking forward to in the new year? To explore how others handled the theme, check them out below. I will add links as they publish.

Trending and soccer tournaments

Tournaments, ,

I was going through the TourneyCentral traffic for the end of the year, making some recaps for the year and some predictions for the next. This is a typical cycle for the soccer tournament market.

Soccer Tournament Business Cycle

With some minor adjustments and some traffic increases, it looks remarkably like the 2010 cycle. And the 2009 cycle. And the 2008… you get the idea. The soccer tournament cycle for attention and activity has not changed in a very long time, even as soccer tournaments strive to be top of mind, 365/24/7 for the participants.

Here is a typical traffic pattern for a Labor Day soccer tournament. It looks like every other soccer tournament. Just plug your date in and you will typically see two traffic spikes — one when your schedule is published and the other the weekend of your event — with the rest of the traffic being flat or edging upwards slighting as your day approaches and then dropping precipitously when your event is over. It is what we’ve come to call the 90-Minute Attention Span.

Soccer Tournament Cycle

Again, we could go back years and see this has not changed vey much. There are only two major shifts we have seen in recent history. The first is a flattening of the traffic to include the day after, but when everyone got broadband, the day-after-traffic has gone away. It is likely we will see higher spikes during the event with smartphones and QR Codes, but the pattern will stay the same. The second is with online applications. We have seen more applications being submitted the last two weeks running up to the deadline. No amount of incentives have encouraged early registration.

Our Advice: Manage your soccer tournament with data you know, not the gut feel or common wisdom you think you know. Knowing the attention cycle of an event allows us to say things like “pricing incentives for early registration does not work” or “multiple-team incentives don’t work.” We’ve seen the traffic and registration patterns for tournaments with and without incentives. There is no variation.

But just because the cycle has not changed for a long time doesn’t mean it can’t. While the large trending cycle will probably stick around a long time, you may want to think about how you can engage your audience one more day longer or one more day sooner. Think about what you and your sponsors can do to grab just one more day of attention and what that would mean for your soccer tournament and your sponsor’s business.

The 90-Minute Attention Span is a very powerful force. Even grabbing one more minute of attention can move the needle for your soccer tournament. The trick, however, is to add real value to your participant’s lives, not gimmicks like Facebook likes or raffles.

And learn to use the different phases of your tournament wisely. Here are some publications that might help you get started.

Behind the scenes. Content for social media

Tournaments, , , , , , , ,

Jim Long @newmediajim

That is my social media buddy Jim Long in the photo above. As a cameraman for NBC news in Washington DC who covers the White House, he has got to have one of the coolest jobs in the world. He also goes on press junkets all over the world covering the First Lady, Hillary Clinton and others.

And he is very active on social media.

One of the things I love about Jim is all the “behind the scenes” photos he shares on Twitter and Google+. One of his recent photo galleries can be found here. Almost every morning, he “greets” me by posting a photo of the sunrise over the White House or a Foursquare check-in at his favorite coffee place or just a quip about life in general. It almost always makes me smile and makes me feel like I am standing right there with him.
Continue reading →

Simple is good

Tournaments, , ,

Screen shot 2009-12-06 at 7.44.25 AM

A couple weeks ago, my hi-tech coffee maker broke. All the electronic stuff on it worked just fine, but it failed in the most basic way; the mechanism to bring the hot water from the reservoir through the grounds and into the carafe no longer moved the water. So, I went out to the local Kroger and bought a Melitta coffee cone and carafe for 12.00. I heat my water and pour it through the grounds. My coffee-making experience is now simple and will never break.

What does coffee have to do with a soccer tournament?
Continue reading →

Autoreply

Tournaments

I sent an email to Ritch Miller, one of the tournament directors for the adidas Thunder United Classic held this past weekend in Lebonan, Ohio. I immediately got this message back:

I am at a soccer tourney all weekend. I will get back to you on Tues. The better question is why aren’t you at a tourney?

Talk about knowing your audience, setting expectations and always marketing! We loved it so much, we had to blog about it.

What do YOUR guest teams get back from you when they email you during the tournament?

Marketing your first-year soccer tournament

Tournaments, ,

Whenever we sign a soccer tournament that is just launching, we get asked a lot about how to get a lot of traffic to the web site that converts into team applications. While each soccer tournament event is slightly different, here is some of the collective advice we usually give out.

Offline marketing
First year tournaments are really difficult. There is usually a lot of offline hustle with the club coaches, within the league and at the state association level. Your club name will probably be the best thing to help you. Can you send out an email from the club list list? Also, make sure everyone in your club knows the website for your tournament. Every coach, every volunteer, every parent. Nothing says “dead lead” like someone from the club who does not know the web address.

Complete website
Make sure your TourneyCentral website is as complete as possible. That means your about page, rules, hotel policies, front page news, frequently asked questions are all full. It is a lot of work, but considering you only have about three seconds before a team will decide to click off your page or explore more, it is worth the investment.
Continue reading →

Our TourneyCentral video

Tournaments, , , , , , , , , , ,

Grandma and grandpa want to see their grandson Billy play in his first away soccer tournament. How will they find the right field and times Billy plays?

Fortunately, Billy's coach applied to a TourneyCentral soccer tournament so finding all this information was easy.
Billy's grandma went to the website, clicked on Schedules, found Billy's team name and got his schedule in seconds.

Our second video.. released July 30, 2012

Marcy has just been named her club's soccer tournament director. She searches for the best solution to help her manage all the tasks that go along with hosting a soccer tournament.

Warrior Classic soccer tournament celebrates 25th year

Tournaments, , , , , ,

HUBER HEIGHTS – What do the numbers 8 million, 500, 25, and five have in common? They are all milestone numbers for the 25th annual adidas Warrior Classic, and the Warrior Soccer Club.

When first conceptualized three decades ago, tournament co-director Carol Maas said that about 50-60 teams were expected and 162 participated in the event.

“They came from all over,” she said.

Maas, who is now in her 25th year helping to oversee what is arguably the Dayton region’s premier youth soccer tournament, if not its premier youth sporting event, sees her participation with the adidas Warrior Classic as a true “labor of love.”

Asked if she has issues dealing with the complexities of managing the event Maas responded, “Some days yes, most days not.”
Continue reading →

Speeding tickets and soccer tournaments

Tournaments, , , , , , , , , ,

Police stop at a soccer tournament

One Ohio soccer tournament made a bit of national news lately with a neighboring city setting up speed cameras and issuing over 900 tickets. The soccer tournament pled a good case, citing good will and economic impact for the city. The police from the neighboring city had not been in contact with them regarding this enforcement effort, even as the host city police were helping out directing traffic in and out of the park. That alone probably helped plead the case for “forgiving” the tickets.

Contrary to what most people think, the police don’t just ticket people for easy money. The first priority for the police is road safety and preventing accidents. When they see a car racing by at 40-50 mph on a road that is posted at 25 mph, they are going to do something about it. If they see many, many cars doing the same thing, they are going to sit there and pick you off, soccer tournament or not.
Continue reading →

Setting up a Twitter account for your soccer tournament

Tournaments, , , , , , , ,

twitter for soccer tournaments

Twitter is a service that you can use to fire out quick updates or messages to your followers. This makes it a great tool for youth soccer tournaments and tournament directors because they can immediately announce game scores, special promotions or upcoming events on their smart phones, computers or via text messaging.

Here’s how to set up your Twitter soccer tournament account:
Continue reading →

Setting up a Facebook page for your soccer tournament

Tournaments, , , , , , , , ,

Facebook Logo

Facebook is becoming the de facto place to organize event information and share content within a circle of friends. While it will never rival the specialization of a soccer tournament website like TourneyCentral for registration, scheduling and scores, it makes sense that your soccer tournament is available on Facebook for your teams and their fans to find and connect up with you there if that is more convenient for them. It is an additional marketing channel you should not ignore.

However, you should always make sure the hub of your event is your tournament website. You publish content to your Facebook page in order to draw fans to your tournament site to support your sponsors, advertisers and centralize your communications to the teams to avoid confusion.

This post will walk you step-by-step through setting up a Facebook Fan Page to reach soccer coaches and teams to get them interested and keep them engaged in your youth soccer tournament.

Here’s how to set up your Facebook Fan Page:
Continue reading →

Social media for soccer tournaments; why you should jump in

Tournaments, , , , , , , , ,

Social Media for Soccer Tournaments

Social media is a huge cloud of things like blogging, tweets, likes and status updates so it is easy to become overwhelmed and do nothing.

But you need to roll up your sleeves get in there. We’ll help you along the way with this “social media for soccer tournaments” series.*

Social media is becoming integrated into the online experience for most people, so if you have not learned to navigate these waters, you may be risking the reach of your tournament. Social media channels can help you reach coaches and teams where they live and help you keep them updated and interested in your event.

Do not assume Facebook and Twitter are for kids. The largest and fastest growing demographic for Facebook and Twitter is age 35-55. That means a player’s mom, dad or coach is more likely to “like” you on Facebook or “follow” you on Twitter. While most kids over 13 yrs old will have a Facebook account, they connect with their friends, not with brands. If they happen to take a cool photo at your tournament, they may or may not post it. But if they do post it, they will post on their profile, not your tournament page. It’s nothing personal; just how kids use Facebook. Their parents on the other hand, may be more likely to interact on your Facebook page.
Continue reading →

Make sure the “i” in your soccer tournament is in the right place

Tournaments, , , , , , , ,

water bottles as a trophy for a soccer tournament

Soccer tournament directors are aware of the ways that tournaments reward teams who place in their event. This is a story of one recent tournament where one small detail really damaged the reputation of an otherwise fine event.

A team of U13 boys played very well in a third-place game and beat a team they had lost to quite soundly the week before. The tournament was giving out water bottles as a third-place trophy.

It was not long after the presentation that one of the boys walked up to his coach and said, “Hey coach, look at this.” On the water bottle, the words, “BELIEVE, ACHEIVE,” appeared wrapped around the tournament logo.

Only the the word “ACHIEVE” is spelled incorrectly.

While the coach was proud that his players had paid attention to their spelling lessons in school, he was amazed and embarrassed for the tournament organizers. It was all anybody could talk about.

A few weeks later, the tournament sent t-shirts to the boys as a replacement.

Our Advice: Work with a trusted vendor. Somewhere along the line, a busy tournament volunteer rubber-stamped the artwork for the water bottle without taking a real look at it. Bad enough, but a true vendor partner would have questioned the artwork regardless of the approval signature. The mistake was more costly than just the price of the water bottle and the replacement t-shirts. It became the stamp of the tournament.

The vendor should have picked up the phone.

The vendor should have picked up the phone.