FAIRFIELD – With talk of the economy on the skids and gas prices through the roof, conventional wisdom says that travel soccer tournaments should also be affected negatively with lower than average applications. But don’t tell that to Ann Yungbluth, tournament director for the Mid-American Soccer Classic (MASC) in Fairfield, Oh.
“We have increased the number of teams in the tournament every year for the past 3 years and still have to turn away teams,” claims Yungbluth. “To me, that is the toughest part. I agonize, check and recheck brackets, and try to find space to take a few more teams.” This year, the MASC has attracted over 600 applications from soccer teams throughout the Midwest.
With over thirty soccer tournaments each spring in southern Ohio and well over 250 nationwide, according to TICOScore.com, the MASC has some serious competition. When asked how the MASC remains successful, Yungbluth replies, “MASC committee members spend hundreds of hours making things easy and comfortable for our guests and it seems to work. Maybe that is one of the keys to success; having the right people in the right place to make things happen.”
This year is Yungbluth’s first year without her right-hand man and soccer expert, Ron Smith. Smith suffered a fatal heart attack just weeks before last year’s tournament. Yungbluth says that Smith was her inspiration and support for trying new things.
This year’s MASC will be held over two weekends, April 5-6 and April 12-13. It is the twenty-third year for the annual MASC soccer tournament. For full information on the MASC, including all the competing teams, scores and contributed photos from fans, visit the web site at www.masctournament.com.
BALTIMORE – Pass by the TourneyCentral booth at the 2008 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) convention and you would most likely do a double take at the huge soccer ball cake on display.
DAYTON – Two local tournaments are a hit at this year’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Conference in Baltimore this weekend. The adidas Warrior Soccer Classic and the Mead Cup soccer tournament were both represented at the exhibition.
DAYTON – For years, Laura Shields, 19, has watched her parents, Rick and Nancy Shields dash off to work the Mead Cup exhibit booth at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) while she sat at home. This year, because of some unplanned manpower shortage for the booth, she had a chance to volunteer for the booth, meeting and greeting fellow soccer colleagues. And she jumped at it.
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.