Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126636
Youth sports still in good shape, as girls volleyball qualifiers show BYTH RE E SAMANAHAN STAFf WRITER When more than 10,000 teenage girls descended on Denver for two weeks this month at one of USA Volleyball's 10annual junior qualifiers, the event was significant for more thanjust the $13m illion economic impact that th e city credits to it. It was a sign of how the market for youth sports is holdin g up in a shaky econo my. When times get tough, paren ts are more likely to cu t back on th eir own expe nses and keep spending on their k ids, sa id Kay Rogness, founder and co-owne r of Tournamen t Ma gic, which ope r ates the Denver even t, Colorado Crossroads , and another event in Atlanta, th e Big South National Qu alifier. In deed, Colorado Crossroads, wh ich this yea r hosted 10,570girls ages 1218 on 1,056teams, saw attendance in crease fro m last year, when 9,500 girls attended on 950teams. Othe r events in th e youth volleyba ll indus try expect sim ilar results this year, an d th e numbers seem to be holding up in other youth sports.Pop War ner, for example, had 281,000 athletes in 2009, an in cre ase of 1,000 from the year before. Little League had 2.53 million players in 2009, a dip fro m 2.59million in 2008. It' s the contin uation of a trend that Rogness has see n developing for years. In 1994, Colorado Crossroads dre w just 1,280 players. The Big South Natio nal Qual ifier run by Tournament Magic , which Rogness ope rates with partner Lauri Dagost ino, had 8,400attendees las t year, up from 3,850 in 2000. That k ind of steady grow th has helped keep youth sports spon sors involved and host cities happy. Th e junior qual ifiers, wh ich determine which players advance to thejunior national championship,each have five to 10sponsors, ranging from title sponsors to exclus ive providers. Though financial commitme nts can vary, Tour nam en t Mag ic 's sp onsors pay anywh ere from the low five figures to th e low six figu res per year. Georgia- based Mizuno title sponso rs the Minneapolis junior qualifier,called Mizuno Northern Lights;the Mizuno Hoosiers Mideast Qual ifier, played over two weekends in St. Louis and Indianapolis ;and th e Mizuno A USAVolleyball junior qualifier brought more than 10,000 girls and 513millionto Denver this month. The number of players was up more than 10 percent from lastyear's event Lone Star Classic in Dallas. Mizu no is th e official footwear and apparel provider of USA Volleyball, a relati onship th at extends to being th e exclusive seller of apparel and footwear products at both th e girls and boys junior national championsh ips. "As far as sales, our deal er s will make between $30,000to $60,000 in product sales alone ," sai d Emily Knight, Mizuno's volleyball promotions coor dinator. 'A port ion of th at does come back to us, but for th e most part it does go to th e dealer. Th e branded val ue is hard to name as it is so im portant to have the brand in fro nt of th e girls." And th ere are plenty of young eyes at these events. Th e Big South National Quali- Str e et & Smith's SportsBuslnes ".JOURNAL I www.s portsbus inessjo ur nal.com fier in Atlanta br ought in 840 teams last year, each paying a $775entry fee. Admissio n to the event is $7 for a day or $15 for th e weekend. Last yea r, 48,000 spectators came to wa tch . Th e city of Atlan ta estima tes an economic impact of $30 million from hosting the tou rnament, but says the benefits of hostin g you th sports go beyond the dollars. "Th is type of amate ur ath let ic even t tends to come on wee ke nds," said Mark Vaughan, executive vice presiden t an d ch ief sa les and marketing officer for the Atlanta Conve ntion and Visitors Bureau , "when our conven tio n bu sin ess is not as act ive as it is durin g the week." 'Techno-oeek' develops tool for coaches, scouts Mark Swindle, a 42-year-old self-described teehno-geek, has built a technology business out of his knowledge of girls volleyball. Swindle had noticed during a tournament that coaches and scouts spent a lot of time lugging around heavy books containing player profiles and coded, often indecipherableschedules. So seven years ago Swindle, an assistant coach at the Air Force Academy,a club director of a 200-playernonprofit volleyball organization and a coachfor a New Mexicojuniors team, laun ch ed University Ath let e a nd in troduced UA Recruiter, a tool that pulls togetherall of that information. He launched his system on Palm Pilot, giving it a trial run with 50 coaches one morning at a Las Vegas tournament. By the end of the day, Palm Pilots were hard to find in Vegas,an d coaches were having them overnighted from other parts of the country Today, UA Recruiter boasts a database of more than 100,000 girls volleyball athletes ages 12-18. More than 1,500 clients pay $125to $500annually for the system, which is used at mo re than 25 girls volleyball tournaments a year, including all l Oaf USA Volleyball 's junior qualifiers. The Albuquerque company has become his full-timejob for eight months a year, and hasthree full-time programmers and about a half-dozen part-timers. UniversityAthlete hasmovedfrom the PDA for mat and is accessible on BlackBerrys, iPhones, Windows Mobile and, soon, Android. New this year is an iPho ne app that allows coaches to capture video of athletes and upload it to their notes. And what's next? Swindle plans to enter the bas ketball market next year. - Theresa Manahan MA RCH 29 -AP RIL 4 , 2010 I II