Hosting Tournaments

[dgorsuch]

Who puts on the best tournaments in our area? Why, What are teams looking for? How can we make the teams experience better? (concessions, fields, hospitality, umpires) We hosted a 14U and 16U tournament at our park last year and they went very well. We received quite a few compliments but need to know what the parents, players and coaches would like to see more of and less of. Service is very important to me. How can we service our participating teams better and improve their tournamnet experience so they will return and bring a few teams with them?
Doug
Lewisville Force/LBA Select

[HEADSUP]

In our area H-town there are always several tour.going on every weekend.So to make your tour.stand out you have to have plenty of man power for fields and concession stand.The fields are a big deal,make sure you keep draging and chalking,water them if they get to dusty.Try your best to stay on schedule,no reason to get behind on pool games.Make sure your UIC has a good group of blues,a bad group that keep the parents and coaches all worked up is going to hurt you later on.Concessions must not run out of food they have to be open early and stay open till the last game of the day is done.They must have a good varity of food to chose from.Good trophies help also,kids love trophies.Teams like the same things your team likes.Keep doing things right and your tournament will grow every time.Also timing is key,no what else is going on in your area. Last thing LOCATION,LOCATION,LOCATION......

[dgorsuch]

Who puts on the best tournaments in our area? Why, What are teams looking for? How can we make the teams experience better? (concessions, fields, hospitality, umpires) We hosted a 14U and 16U tournament at our park last year and they went very well. We received quite a few compliments but need to know what the parents, players and coaches would like to see more of and less of. Service is very important to me. How can we service our participating teams better and improve their tournamnet experience so they will return and bring a few teams with them?
Doug
Lewisville Force/LBA Select

We added third place trophies for our 16U tourney and that was very popular. We also host select leagues during the week. The leagues are run at cost (cost = price for umps and balls) to promote softbal in our area and give teams an opportunity to get some practice in at game speed. It has been very popular and the teams seem to really enjoy it. LBA is working hard to be a positive influence on the game in our area. Servicing the teams and providing a good enviroment for participation seems to be the key.

[bruisedshins]

#1)Totally agree on keeping concessions available until play is finished. People are more likely to have run out of their own water/sports drink by the end of a tourney; the last thing they want is to make a drink run during the championship game.
#2)I don't know that you have much control over the blue selection; if you are sanctioned by Sugar Land, you have to play at Sugar Land, therefore you are stuck with the calls some of them make. FYI: in baseball, the tie goes to the runner; in Tomball, the tie goes to the Pepper. Especially when the field blue grew up playing in the Pepper's organization.
#3)In 10U and 12U, the trophies were pretty important to my DD. Now at 14, she just wants the win. She is out of room for more trophies.
#4)Schedule games with a little wiggle room for extra innings; tournaments that are planned down to the minute so the TD could get a couple of extra entry fees get so screwed up when just one game goes into ITB. Scheduling in general really makes or breaks a tournament. Playing Friday night pool games and having an 8:00 AM bracket game sucks rocks. Making the winner's bracket play back to back all day on Saturday while the loser's bracket gets 3-4 hour breaks is just nuts.
#5)Just because a bunch of your girls slap from the left doesn't mean you should not line the front of the batter's boxes to make sure they don't get called out for hitting outside the box. Come on, now, keep it legal.
#6)Please paint the foul lines in the outfield. This will prevent a huge headache when the blue has to guess if a ball was fair or foul.
#7)If it has rained for three solid days and stops Friday night, be realistic!! Bite the bullet and offer up a one day Sunday tournament. There is NO WAY the clay in Sugar Land or the beaches in Missouri City will dry overnight when it is in the 50's and humid. Don't make the teams, especially the ones that may be driving several hours, wait until Saturday morning to change their plans.

[Lefty's Dad]

#1)Totally agree on keeping concessions available until play is finished. People are more likely to have run out of their own water/sports drink by the end of a tourney; the last thing they want is to make a drink run during the championship game.SL closes either before the last game or right after it starts, very aggrivating
#2)I don't know that you have much control over the blue selection; if you are sanctioned by Sugar Land, you have to play at Sugar Land, therefore you are stuck with the calls some of them makeNot sure what you mean by this statement, SL teams aren't required to play in SL when a tournament is happening there, if they did, they would never play anywhere else. FYI: in baseball, the tie goes to the runner; in Tomball, the tie goes to the Pepper. Especially when the field blue grew up playing in the Pepper's organization.Now that's too funny
#3)In 10U and 12U, the trophies were pretty important to my DD. Now at 14, she just wants the win. She is out of room for more trophies.So true, did a previous post state that 3rd place trophies for 16u were a big hit? Seriously?
#4)Schedule games with a little wiggle room for extra innings; tournaments that are planned down to the minute so the TD could get a couple of extra entry fees get so screwed up when just one game goes into ITB. Scheduling in general really makes or breaks a tournament. Playing Friday night pool games and having an 8:00 AM bracket game sucks rocks. Making the winner's bracket play back to back all day on Saturday while the loser's bracket gets 3-4 hour breaks is just nuts.Couldn't agree more with this
#5)Just because a bunch of your girls slap from the left doesn't mean you should not line the front of the batter's boxes to make sure they don't get called out for hitting outside the box. Come on, now, keep it legal.I've been guilty of this
#6)Please paint the foul lines in the outfield. This will prevent a huge headache when the blue has to guess if a ball was fair or foul.Of course
#7)If it has rained for three solid days and stops Friday night, be realistic!! Bite the bullet and offer up a one day Sunday tournament. There is NO WAY the clay in Sugar Land or the beaches in Missouri City will dry overnight when it is in the 50's and humid. Don't make the teams, especially the ones that may be driving several hours, wait until Saturday morning to change their plans.If it rains on SL on Thursday in the middle of the summer, the fields of SL won't be playable, MC has gotten better in the past couple of years, it all depends n the regular maintenance

[dgorsuch]

#3)In 10U and 12U, the trophies were pretty important to my DD. Now at 14, she just wants the win. She is out of room for more trophies.So true, did a previous post state that 3rd place trophies for 16u were a big hit? Seriously?
I understand your point. We have trophies all over the house and garage. But i do remember how happy it made those girls. They finished third out of 30 teams and had to fight through the losers bracket only to lose the 3rd place game on a very close play. Make no mistake, there was not a better team at the park that weekend and those girls left with their heads up high and a trophy in hand. Several of the coaches and parents thanked us for that and thought it was a nice touch.

[c'ya]

My daughter is 10 and she would rather have a championship t-shirt instead of a trophy. Go Figure.

[looking in]

The girls don't want a trophy!! Parents do!!! How many girls have ever carried them from the car on sunday night?? Not mine!! But she had that shirt on!!16U don't care at all about a trophey!! Give a shirt and some cell minutes, now you have happy!

[dgorsuch]

Who puts on the best tournaments in our area? Why, What are teams looking for? How can we make the teams experience better? (concessions, fields, hospitality, umpires) We hosted a 14U and 16U tournament at our park last year and they went very well. We received quite a few compliments but need to know what the parents, players and coaches would like to see more of and less of. Service is very important to me. How can we service our participating teams better and improve their tournamnet experience so they will return and bring a few teams with them?
Doug
Lewisville Force/LBA Select

[homerunnerfan]

I have definatly heard my daughter say she wants a trophy, but shes 12, I have also heard that they love Tshirts and backpacks of some type, think we will try this at our tournament

One important thing is definatly staying on time, its frustrating when championship games run into 10 pm Sunday night, and theres school the next day, especially Basketball practice in the morning!
Concession, it sucks when you order cheese sticks ( and you really dont want them but theres nothing else) and you take a bite and they are cold inside!!! Ewwww Bring in outside vendors if you can.
Nice clean bathrooms, no portapottys!!!!! Ewwwww

Good Luck this Spring Season!!!