Soccer Tournament Grid

As a soccer coach myself, I often get frustrated when researching tournaments that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the way tournament websites are structured.

Hosted by:	Anytown Soccer Club
Location:	Anytown USA
Dates:	June 1
Setting:	Outdoor/Grass Field
Youth/Adult:	Youth
Ages:	U10, U12, U14, U16
Level:	Travel/Premier
Gender:	Boys/Girls
Format:	U10 - 6v6 U12-U16 - 11v11
Cost:	U10 - $250 U12-U16 - $350
Application Deadline:	May 1
Contact:	Tournament Director
email:	tourney@anytownsoccer.com
Phone:	Optional
Website:	www.AnytownInvitational.com

Tournament sites are often designed by someone's nephew or brother-in-law and it's not unusual to find yourself searching for up to 10 minutes just to find the most basic information.

That may not seem like a lot of time, but if you're researching a dozen tournaments, that's two hours!

I was on one site a while back, where I was almost ready to register my U12 boys team before I was told, right at the bottom of the page, that it was an all-girls tournament.

There was another site I visited where the only way you could discover the registration fee was to go through the entire process of registering your team. Then, just before you hit submit, you were told that your credit card would be charged $800.

$800! Don't you think that little snippet of information should be posted front and center so as not to waste everyone's time?

So we came up with a grid that provides the most basic information in one, easy-to-read format. Coaches and team managers should be able to scan this information in a few seconds to determine whether they want to invest more time in deeper research.

You can, of course, include as much additional information as you like, but it's really important that you give us at least this basic information. We will not be able to list your event, if you don't.

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