DAYTON – This past Saturday, almost fifty soccer tournament directors from the Ohio South Youth Soccer Association (OSYSA) gathered for their annual meeting at the Dayton Marriott. Carol Maas, the OSYSA tournament registrar, led a feature-packed meeting that included presentations by Ray Marcano with Cox Ohio Publishing, Zachary Blaine with Athletes in Action and Dante Washington and Mark Santel with Major League Soccer.
“We have quality tournaments by design,” claims Jim Martella, executive director for the OSYSA. “Meetings like this where we get the tournament directors together to share ideas is one of the segments of that goal.” Martella is also the Chairman of the US Youth Soccer National Champion Committee.
The OSYSA hosts soccer tournaments in the Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus areas, servicing over an estimated 200,000 soccer players and their families each year, according to statistics provided by TourneyCentral. About thirty percent of all players in the tournaments travel in from other states.
“This is a great way for the directors to get together and start off the soccer season on a positive note,” says Maas. Maas is no stranger to the soccer tournament market as she is also the co-director of the adidas Warrior Soccer Classic, held over Memorial Day weekend.
For more information on OSYSA, visit the web site at www.osysa.com.
PHOTO: Jim Martella addresses the OSYSA tournament directors at the annual soccer tournament directors’ meeting held at the Dayton Marriott, Sat., Jan 5, 2008.