We are all set up and ready to go at the 2012 NCSAA Convention in Kansas City, MO. Last night was a great meet and greet opener.

Stop by today (booth 1342) and get your free QR Code sticker and check out why 2012 will be a great year for mobile in soccer tournaments.

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.

I think he enjoys his job even more because he knows how much his fans out here appreciate him sharing the unique behind-the-scenes view he has. I think he even spends a good part of his day dreaming up new ways he can entertain us out here, which makes his job even more fun. Like putting on a tournament year after year, tedium can creep into any job. Looking for ways to make the work interesting keeps it fresh and new every day.

Our advice: People love to see how things work! If you are wondering how you can use your Facebook page, twitter account or Google+ account to enhance your tournament, look no further than what you are doing day-to-day. Show your guest teams, sponsors and coaches what you do each day to pull the tournament together.

Carry a smart phone and Flip camera with you wherever you go. When you visit a local restaurant or shop that sponsors your soccer tournament, check in on Foursquare and give them a shout out. Mention their sponsorship and your tournament name. The photos and tweets you share could be as banal as saying you are getting coffee or as serious as showing you on the phone with a soccer coach working out a complex scheduling problem.

Showing the process behind the scenes invites your guest teams in, but it also shows them how much work goes into putting on a great event. Your sponsors and advertisers will appreciate their contributions more, especially the additional subtle exposure you are giving them.

PHOTO: Jim Long, used by permission. He blogs at Verge New Media.

Something pretty exciting happened on Monday this week. The National Association of Tournament Directors (NATD) launched. We’re pretty excited about this venture as it is beginning to validate what we here at TourneyCentral have been saying since we set up shop.

Soccer tournaments mean business.

When you run your soccer tournament event like a business, sponsors take notice. You are no longer “just the local club” but a serious marketing channel that drives traffic to their door. The tournament is not just a bunch of soccer people getting together for the weekend, but a serious community effort that fills hotel rooms and drives an impressive economic impact. Professionalizing the soccer tournament industry makes sense on all fronts; from more marketing reach for your host club to increased sponsorship fees for your event.

The rule is simple: business people like doing business with business people. Serious people people invest in their industries. The first sign of that investment is membership in a trade association.

According to their press release, “The NATD will become the premier professional association within the United States by bringing together all elements within the Tournament Planning Industry for the purpose of networking, commerce and sharing information and experiences. The Association will set the standard for providing tangible resources to Tournament Directors designed to raise their events to new heights of success and profitability.”

And they have some pretty influential soccer people behind this venture like Louise Waxler (NSCAA) and Lynn Berling-Manuel (Soccer America, now AYSO) which is always cool to see soccer leading a venture.

TourneyCentral will become a member of NATD shortly. We expect that the quality tournaments will also join and contribute to making the soccer tournament industry more professionalized as it grows. We will be offering to display the NATD logo on the websites of the soccer tournament events who are members.

Our advice: Become a member of NATD. And when you do, send over your membership number and dates, inclusive, and we will make sure your membership is proudly displayed in your sidebar.

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.

Last night, Charlie decided he was going to take his message directly to the people with a live show streamed onto the Internet. You can watch it if you have an hour to kill. I’ve included a screen shot below to illustrate everything that was wrong with the show.

The lighting was bad. The sound bounced hard all over the room. Nobody was mic-ed. The cameras were positioned too low, Charlie did not get proper cues on which camera was live so he was frequently looking into the wrong one. The background was busy. The titles at the bottom covered the action. There were too many “branding” phrases thrown out. I could go on and on. There were a lot of things wrong with the show technically as well as contextually.

There is a reason there is a long list of people who get credit at the end of TV shows. I’m not taking anything away from Charlie Sheen’s talent and he brings a lot to shows like Two and a Half Men and Spin City. But when celebrities begin to think that they alone are responsible for their own fame and attempt to produce their own content, the public quickly finds out how very wrong they are.

Our Advice: Your tournament is run by a team, not just the tournament director. Your event may very well have a talented, dedicated leader and a team that is willing to give them all the credit. That is a good thing. But once the tournament director starts believing his/her own press, your event is headed for trouble.

You could argue that Charlie’s show was “real” and “genuine” or that your tournament is “fun” and “like family.” You would be wrong. What you see as fun, loose and ‘like being with family,’ your paying teams see as messy, unorganized and apathetic. It takes a lot of work (and acting skill) to appear nonchalant. The character of Charlie Harper (Two and a Half Men) can pull it off. Charlie Sheen? Not so much.

Recognize and appreciate your team and their skills in their specialized area, from your sales team to your scheduling team to your website crew. Never think yourself bigger than the sum of them.

They made you great. Never underestimate their power to unmake you. Or — just like Charlie Sheen is doing before our eyes — you unmaking yourself.

There is no getting around it, running a youth soccer tournament is a lot of work. Even the most organized tournament directors with the best clubs and best software tools take on a huge responsibility. In the end, the hard work is balanced out by the rewards of seeing kids enjoying the game and putting a nice amount of money in the club’s accounts and the local economy. Everybody wants to be considered successful. When it comes to success, an old saying comes to mind, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” A well thought out and executed communication plan, starting at the time of registration and acceptance, can help save headaches later, when you should be concentrating on something else.

Never assume that coaches who are accepted into your soccer tournament automatically know what the next step is. It is as simple as this: tell them what to do and when to do it. Starting with your acceptance letter, include a timeline or checklist of any items that need to be completed prior to the tourney. Be clear about the dates and if there is any further information or payment needed. Make sure that you also comply by sticking to stated dates.

Anticipate questions and make sure that your tournament website includes the answers. Push as much of the information and communication needs onto your website as possible. It is helpful if your soccer tournament website is more than just a static recruiting tool. A complete, end-to-end soccer tournament management system, like those offered by TourneyCentral, is well worth the investment. Cheap and free systems always have limitations which are more costly in the end.

This may seem like a lot of upfront work, but you’ll be thankful as your tournament dates get closer. It brings to mind another old saying, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.”

The Grand Rapids Crew Juniors 2nd Annual Crew Spring Classic soccer tournament will be held on April 15-17th, 2011 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The tournament is open to U08-U10, U11-U12, and U13 youth teams. Based on the success of last year’s first annual Crew Spring Classic, interest from youth soccer teams around the region is high and space is limited. Registration for the event closes on March 28, 2011.

The main site for the Crew Classic is the state-of-the-art MVP Fieldhouse. There is an additional site in Kentwood, only a ten-minute drive from the main site. Because weather is always a concern in April, all games will be played on turf to maintain field conditions and limit delays. Staying on the turf limits the number of openings so make sure to register soon and be as detailed as possible on your team application. Fees run between $475 and $525 per team.

Use Travelling Teams, the exclusive hotel partner for the Crew Spring Classic, to book your hotel rooms. Travelling Teams offers great rates at a variety of hotels all located near MVP. MVP is located on 28th Street in Grand Rapids, which offers many attractions, restaurants, and two malls to keep you entertained between games.

The Grand Rapids Crew Juniors are looking forward to hosting your team in 2011. Information on registration, travel, lodging, scheduling, scores and things to do when you are in town are included on the tournament website.

Most people would say that bringing hundreds of youth soccer teams and their families to your town for a weekend youth soccer tournament would be good for the local economy.

But how good is it?

Knowing the answer to that question could really make things easier for tournament directors who are trying to schedule fields, get sponsors and generally drum up support from the local business community.

Using an integrated, online solution for marketing, scheduling and managing your soccer tournament could provide some of the answers. One example is the Tournament PulsePoint™ tool standard with every TourneyCentral site.

The tool is available to TourneyCentral tournament directors as one of several administrative modules that take the mystery out of running a tournament. Tournament PulsePoint™ uses numbers from the U.S. Soccer Foundation Economic Impact model, economic impact from the National Association of Sport Commissions and marketing data from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide overall economic impact and other marketing data based on the numbers of teams in your tournament and where they come from.

All of the information can be seen on a dashboard style screen including a map with pin marks on the locations of the teams in your tourney.

Youth soccer tournaments mean business; big business for your organization and for hotels, stores and restaurants in your town. The tools are now available to help you manage and market your soccer tournament like the serious business that it is.

The twelfth annual Dynamo Round Robin, on March 18-20, is a great pre-season warm up. Last year’s tournament featured several defending state champions and state runners-up. Teams from Oklahoma, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and other states were represented. This year’s tournament welcomes all girls’ teams U9 through U19. U9 through U14 teams will play four games while U15 through U18 teams will play three games. Entry fee for U9-U10 is set at $475, U11-U12 is $500, U13-U14 is $525, u15-U16 is $550 and U17-U19 is $575.

The Middletown Spring Blast, on March 19-20, will offer competition for boys and girls in the U-8 through U-19 brackets. The tournament will be held at Smith Park and AK Steel Soccer fields at Jacot Park in Middletown Ohio, and Franklin Community Park in Franklin. Smith Park has been home to many tournaments including the Franchise, State SAY and High School Tournaments. Both parks offer ample parking, playgrounds, walking trails around the park, refreshment areas and with a total 26 fields for your soccer enjoyment. Entry fee is $400.00 for U8-U10 with all others set at $425.00

Information on registration, travel, lodging, scheduling, scores and things to do when you are in town are included on both tournaments respective websites.