Tournament Selection

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Member

• Apr 12, 2009

• #1

Having ran a couple of tournaments, I have learned a lot.

the very first tournament i ran was 4 years ago. we had, i think 13 or 14 teams in it. I took a year off and ran another one last Summer. that one had 23 teams enter. This year I am trying to run 3.
one thing I have learned is a first year tournament is small. No name recognition. then the next year (if you did a good job last year) you get more teams and so on.

I know when I made the schedule for LunaChix, I was looking at distance to travel, cost of entry, games guaranteed, and name of tournament. (have i been there before)

TD's and coaches, how do you start your tournaments and select where your teams are going to play?

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #2

I know some of you out there have comments or sugestions. I really would like to hear them!

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #3

For the running a tournament side, I help with an established tournament. I am not the TD, just one of the "helpers". It takes a lot of dedicated work and helpers to keep a good reputation for a tournament. One "aw sh**" wipes out a whole lot of "at a boys".

As for the tournament selection, being a 15U team, our primary goal was exposure. So we went for the tournaments that would give the girls the most exposure to college coaches. Of course, this all starts in the late summer, early fall when you set your team budget and team fees.

At the younger ages, I think the most important thing to remember is don't get into a tournament that is above your team's ability. There is nothing like getting the snot kicked out of you every weekend to drain the moral of a team. Pick tournaments that will challange your girls to do their best each and every game. You might lose every game that weekend, but you won't be losing by a huge differential.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #4

wvanalmsick said:

At the younger ages, I think the most important thing to remember is don't get into a tournament that is above your team's ability. There is nothing like getting the snot kicked out of you every weekend to drain the moral of a team. Pick tournaments that will challenge your girls to do their best each and every game. You might lose every game that weekend, but you won't be losing by a huge differential.

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I want to plagiarize wvanalmsick's comments about at younger ages....I agree and follow this same philosophy.

Selection process:
Are we are going to be competitive there?
Are other teams in our organization going to be there?
Does this tourney align with year end goals (sanctioning mainly)
Is the TD's offering a good value: (value= fun, price point, games, historical tourney)
Location, cost, family involvement, and what does the team want to do all go into this BCS'esque calculation .

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #5

I also like to consider a tourney's reputation. A few years ago we took our team up to the Sunraze tournament based solely on the stellar recomendation we got from another Heat coach. Word of mouth really means alot! Same with past experience at a tournament with specific TD's. For our out of town schedule, we tried to consider tournaments where we would play new teams.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #6

15heat said:

For our out of town schedule, we tried to consider tournaments where we would play new teams.

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Good point. It doesn't matter what age you are, it ****s to go 2-4 hours away to play teams that you regularly see.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #7

Lester all great points,but as for me I like to travel,But it can get excesive at times.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #8

I go by distance, reputation, quality of teams, past experience.

My top 5 (well ran tournaments) not in any order
Mad River Classic (W Liberty OH)
Vandalia Windmill (Vandalia)
Lancaster Invitational (Lancaster)
Jamboree (Zanesville)
SummerSlam (Urbana)

Bottom 5 (I will never attend again)
I think it best not to post these. people already know the bad ones. Don't need to stir that pot. I might splash it on me and get injured.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #9

There is a lot of great tournaments and TD's out there. Ohio is blessed with many.

Just play the game like it is meant to be played... for the girls and not the clock... and things will get much better for the girls over time.

Good tournaments are tournaments where the competition is somewhat equal. They don't have to be big... just equal. This is why I like to hold two divisions "A" and "B".

It might take a couple years... but I think two division tournaments will fair better in the end. Nobody going to a tournament, spending $400 for entry fee and getting blowed out every weekend because the teams were a step above them. Good competitve teams play good competitive teams and the prospering teams play each other.

I can't think of anything better for the girls than that personally.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #10

ohioquakerman I generally agree with having two seperate divisions when possible but one negative that I see when doing it is that the "B" teams never get to play teams that are better then them and therefore they have no idea what they have to do to get better. Sometimes you have to take your lumps and see what the good teams are doing in order to get the players and parents motivated to step up to the next level.

 

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Member

• Apr 14, 2009

• #11

For older teams with girls that have college aspirations, I have to agree with wvanalmsick- it is about getting your girls exposed to coaches. Pick tournaments that will do that - and then pick tournaments that help your team get ready do compete at those exposure events for your other weekends.

A team that plays a competitive schedule - has well-developed skills, and plays .600 ball, is better for that environment than playing in smaller venues and bringing home lots of hardware.

If you are more of a "let's have fun" team - which is fine - then pick tournaments where you can have fun. Go to Cedar Point and Kings Island.