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.”

She went further to explain that from the very first tournament she knew she had “fallen in love” with the event as it was “very clear in my mind from the very first tournament we had.”

She has also been very pleased watching and observing a dedicated volunteer base grow in experience and dedication with the “progression of the tournament.”

This year the Warrior Soccer Club will add a fall event in October for the first time.

“We have had some people comment that they can see how what they have done for this event will work for the fall event,” Maas said.

Now about those numbers.
The event is expected to have an eight million dollar impact on the Dayton region, over 500 teams (about 512) are expected to participate in age division running from 6-years-old to adult, this is of course the 25th anniversary event, and five sites in two counties will host games. New to the event this year is the debut of the Warrior Soccer Complex off Fishburg Road in Huber Heights.

Maas said that the adidas Warrior Classic receives tremendous support from the city of Huber Heights, Montgomery County, and two primary sponsors, adidas and Kettering Medical Center’s Sports Medicine Center. Athletic apparel giant adidas came on board almost 20 years ago, and Kettering Medical has been on board from the outset, a fact drawing praise from Maas, “I think it is huge what Kettering Sports Medicine has done.”

As for her role, Maas does see a day in the not so distant future where she will be in a reduced role.

“I’m gradually trying to turn the jobs over,” she said. “When you get into an event with 500 teams there is a lot of work to do.”

Yet she said a personal motto has helped sustain her over the years when it comes to dealing with all of the work.
“You only eat an elephant one bite at a time,” she said.

Maas credits the support she has received from her family, including her husband Hank, who has worked as a scheduler and in field maintenance, as a blessing.

“My family is quite heavily involved,” she said, noting that her grandchildren are participating in the 2011 event. “It has been a family event.”

Though she has many memories from the past 24 events, two stand out, if not because of their significance but for their reminding her that without the dedicated support of adidas Warrior Classic volunteers there would be no event.

“We played over at fields at Wright-Patterson AFB until 9/11 (2001), and it was about 10th or 12th event,” she said, reminiscing. “At the Friday night registration event we had at the Dayton Marriot (a tradition that carries on to this day) we heard and saw the thunder and lightning moving into the area.

“The next day when we went to the fields at WPAFB (near the National Museum of the USAF) all of our tents had fallen down,” she said due to the storm the previous night. “Our volunteers took what they could find, using what was not damaged and we had what were lean-to’s to work out of.”

A storm at another event caused fields to be quite soggy, and back in the day when goal posts were made of steel, they were quite heavy. Tractors used to place the goals on the fields left the fields rutted, and unusable.

Thus Maas said, “25-30 people helped carry the goals to where they needed to go.”

She said she has a photograph of that event to remind her of the dedication of the volunteer spirit that permeates the event.

The adidas Warrior Soccer Classic runs May 27-30, 2011.

Mark Peebles checks the smoker in his Englewood restaurant.

The adidas Warrior Soccer Classic soccer tournament, one of the largest youth soccer tournaments in the United States, will see a new food vendor in 2010.

Oink-A-Doodle-Moo, a bar-b-que restaurant in Englewood is testing the waters so to speak, and will be at Thomas Cloud Park in Huber Heights, near Dayton, Ohio, for the event on Memorial Day Weekend.

“This is another avenue to get exposure,” said Mark Peebles, Oink-A-Doodle-Moo’s president and founder. “We like being part of the community and supporting youth sports teams.”

This is the second youth soccer tournament that Oink-A-Doodle-Moo will be at tempting tourney attendees with items from is savory menu. And if Peebles has his way, the passion emanating from Carol Maas, Director of the adidas Warrior Soccer Classic, and Gerard McLean of TourneyCentral will lead to other forays at youth soccer tournaments in the Dayton, Ohio area.

“I didn’t grow up playing soccer, but when I see Gerard and Carol and see their passion, it gets you excited to be associated with something like this,” Peebles said.

Plus, being at an event where participants and attendees come from literally all over the USA is beneficial for business.

“We are gaining exposure in the local area, but because we have a franchise plan set up we are able to possibly recruit people from other cities as well,” Peebles said.

Oink-A-Doodle-Moo conservatively estimates it will sell in excess of 200 pounds of meat, and go through a dozen or more gallons of sauce.

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.