MIDDLETOWN – According to its Web site, the 2008 Middletown Spring Blast declared the following teams champions within their divisions.

BU09BLUE, Warren County B98 Black; BU09RED, BSA Celtic Premier 98; BU10BLUE, Team Challenger FC; BU10RED, Flash U10 Boys; BU11BLUE, CJ United Cyclones; BU13, PASA Flash Elite U13 Boys; BU14, North United Warriors; BU15, Warrior 92 Black; BU16, Hoosier FC Orange; BU16/17, Sycamore Arsenal; BU18/19, North United 90; G11BLUE, LUSC Courage White; GU08, Warren County United Blue; GU09BLUE, Middletown Mustangs; GU09RED, PASA U9 Girls Purple; GU10BLUE, Cardinals Gold B; GU10RED, PASA U10 Girls Purple; GU10WHITE, Lady Warrior 97 White; GU11RED, Lady Warriors 96 Black; GU12BLUE, FC Phoenix; GU12RED, Miami Valley Rangers 95; GU13BLUE, FC Phoenix; GU13RED, Lady Trojans ’94; GU14BLUE, NKSL Lightning Bolts; GU14RED, WC United White; GU15, North United Heat and GU16, North United Lightning.

For all the game scores, standings and fan-contributed photos, check out the Web site at www.middletownspringblast.com.

PHOTO: (Contributed by Michelle Alexander) GU16 Westfield Storm and Lady Wolfpack battle for possession during their first game Sat, Mar 29, 2008 4:45pm at Smith Park. The game ended 0-0.

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MIDDLETOWN – Whistles echoed sharply through the chilly air from all four corners of Smith Park at 8:00am this morning, signaling the start of the eleventh annual Middletown Spring Blast. Teams from across the Midwest converged at the Spring Blast to compete for a champion trophy. Among the hopeful teams is the girls U12 North United Blitz from Pittsburgh, Pa.

“Ohio is known for good soccer tournaments,” said Ryanne Palermo, head coach of the Blitz. This year is Palermo’s first time bringing her team to the Spring Blast, and she has high expectations. “The Spring Blast came highly recommended by other teams in our club that have played here in previous years.”

The North United Blitz is one of eleven teams from the North United Classic Soccer Club. In all, 199 teams from six states are competing for thirty champion and finalist trophies in age-based divisions, ranging from U8 through U19. Fourteen teams are from Pennsylvania.

“We’re the first tournament that a lot of teams attend to kick off their spring season,” says Kathy Stites, tournament director for the Spring Blast. “We make sure they all have a good time, go home and tell all their club teams about our tournament.”

The 2008 Middletown Spring Blast is held Sat-Sun, March 29-30, with games from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Championship games are held on Sunday starting at 1:00pm. To follow the North United Blitz and all the teams with real-time scores and photos contributed by fans, tune into www.middletownspringblast.com.

PHOTO: Members of the North United Blitz rally before their first game on Sat. The Blitz plays at 9:15am and 2:15pm on Sat and again at 8:00am on Sun.

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DAYTON – Despite the credit crunch, foreclosure rate and unemployment news, soccer tournaments appear to be doing just fine. According to TourneyCentral, applications for spring tournaments are up an average of thirty-seven percent over this time last year.

“We’re seeing an increase in most of our spring soccer tournaments across the board,” says Gerard McLean, president of Rivershark, Inc., parent company of TourneyCentral. TourneyCentral provides management software and solutions to soccer tournaments throughout the United States and Canada, including twenty events in the Greater Dayton Area.

“With the increasing price of gas, we were expecting a down year,” says McLean. “We are still cautiously optimistic about concessions sales at the actual event per capita, however,” adds McLean.

According to Carol Maas, tournament director for the Warrior Classic held during Memorial Day weekend in Dayton, people are looking for a quality entertainment and competition value. The Warrior Classic is in its twenty-second year and is up about forty-two percent in applications over this time last year.

“I know I’ll have to turn away teams because we simply don’t have enough fields,” Maas added. “That is the hardest part of being successful.” Maas typically attracts close to 500 teams into the Miami Valley, with an economic impact of over $5 million.

The official kick-off of league soccer season in the Miami Valley is Sat, March 15. The tournament season follows soon after the next weekend with the Middletown Spring Blast. For more information on soccer tournaments in the Miami Valley, visit www.tourneycentral.com/events.html.

PHOTO: From the 2007 MeadCup tournament B118v8Gold CUSA Courage 96 Premier (0) vs. Hilliard FC Raptors (5) at Sun, Sep 02, 2007 5:30 PM on field NCR06.

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MIDDLETOWN – After almost a foot of snow, rain, cold and what seems to be a very long winter, Middletown is ready for a spring blast; the Middletown Spring Blast soccer tournament. The Spring Blast has become the traditional sign of spring for the soccer community in the Miami Valley and this year’s weather news is causing some anxiety among the guest teams.

“We’re wet, but not flooded,” Kathy Stites, tournament director, writes back to one of her guest teams who is concerned about the effects of the recent rapid melting of snow, followed by rain.

The Middletown Spring Blast will be held at Smith Park and Franklin Park this year. An estimated 7,200 attendees from 199 teams will all be in town over the weekend of March 29-30, generating an estimated $1.8million economic impact for the City of Middletown and southern Dayton.

“Easter and spring break came at us this year,” Stites added. “We’re a little down in numbers from last year, but not by much.” Stites added that the Spring Blast has become an annual tradition for a lot of teams.

The Spring Blast attracted teams from six states this year – Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia – to fill its roster of 330 games. Teams from under 8 through under 9 in both boys and girls will be competing for trophies in thirty divisions.

For more information about the Middletown Spring Blast, including real-time scores, standings and fan-contributed photos as the game progress thoughout the weekend, visit the web site at www.middletownspringblast.com.

PHOTO: (contributed) Players from the Lady Skyhawks 97 and Hurricanes compete for possession of the ball during last year’s Blast.

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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.

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