  |
|
|
 |
|
|
2008 Chinook CupTournament Overview
The 2008 Chinook Cup is scheduled for Aug 21-24, 2008, with most teams starting play on Thursday afternoon or evening, depending on the bracket configuration for their age group.
The tournament will offer both Gold and Silver Divisions for boys and girls teams U10 thorugh U14. We will use the 2008-2009 age groups in placing teams in brackets.
Research we have done shows that the Chinook Cup has become the largest tournament in the United States at these age groups, with 319 teams participating in 2007, and up to 400 expected in 2008. Given the expected size of the tournament, we are instituting a number of changes in this year’s event which we believe will enhance the experience of participating teams, while maintaining those things that have led to the growth of the tournament.
The preferred format for this tournament is 24 Gold and 24 Silver teams in the U11 to U14 age groups, and 16 Gold and 16 Silver at U10. With the 24 team format, teams are placed in eight 3 team brackets, and will play a two game round robin schedule. The top team in each bracket will then advance to one championship, the second place team to a second championship, and the third place team to a third championship. If we have 48 U14 Girls teams for example, (24 gold and 24 silver), we will play for 6 separate tournament championships and 6 Consolation championships. All 48 teams will advance to a championship quarterfinal playoff game, with the winners advancing to the championship semifinals, and the losers to the consolation semifinals. This format results in every team playing 2 preliminary round games, and 2-3 medal round games. Friendlies are eliminated from the schedule, every game matters, and it is impossible to play the same team twice. Having been involved with tournament scheduling for almost 20 years, I believe this format provides the best experience possible for every team that participates. In no case will we accept more than 24 teams for an age group bracket. In those cases where we have less than 24 teams, the same philosophy will be used in setting up the brackets, with teams advancing to multiple championship brackets, depending on the number of registered teams in the group. You can get a good feel for how this works by visiting last year’s schedules, which can be accessed from this website.
One of the changes for this year is that the Oregon Youth Soccer Association has finally implemented 8 v 8 play for U11 competitive teams for the 2008-2009 playing year. We will also implement that change effective this year. Roster size will still be limited to 18 players, and we will continue to play 30 minute halves, with three officials assigned to all games.
A major change for this year is that age groups will be assigned to one geographic area for all of their games. If you go to www.chinookcup.org, and click on the "age group" link, you will find details about where games will be played for that age group. We will also assign Tournament Hotels to each age group based on each location. Our goal here is to have a system in place where travel teams will be able to stay reasonably close to where their games will be played. In order to ensure that sufficient hotel rooms will be available for each age group, Southside is contracting directly with the Tournament Hotels, tying up the necessary blocks of rooms now so they will be available as teams register throughout the spring and summer. To give you some idea of the scope of the tournament, we anticipate blocking 2,000 hotel rooms for this year’s event. Given the financial commitment the club is making, all travel teams will be required to stay in the Tournament Hotel blocks obtained by the club for the tournament.
In most cases, U11-U14 teams will have games on Thursday afternoon/evening. Given expected team numbers, U13 and U14 boys and girls Silver brackets will start the playoffs on Friday afternoon, requiring that all those teams will play one game on Thursday. U13 and U14 Boys and Girls Gold brackets will have a little more flexibility, making it possible for some travel teams to not play until Friday morning. At U11-U12, total number of registered teams will determine how much flexibility we have in avoiding Thursday games. In every case, however, teams will need to arrive in town on Thursday night, and be ready to play as early as 8 am on Friday morning. For U10 teams, games will start on Friday, with no Thursday games scheduled for this age group. If you have special situations regarding game schedules that need to be accommodated, please contact Mike Morris, Tournament Director, to discuss what the options might be.
We will once again use the online scheduling/standings software we have used the past five years. Standings and results will be updated online within 45 minutes of games being completed. These updated standings will be available online immediately, and accessible via internet access from anywhere in the world. In addition, individual scores and/or schedule changes can be sent directly to your cell phone and/or email address throughout the tournament. We have added graphics displays for the medal round games that will make it much easier to track where/when your team plays as you advance in the playoffs. As we have done in the past, I will not write the Sunday schedule until Saturday afternoon, with travel teams then assigned to the earliest game times. If you are coming from out of the area, you can count on getting an early game on Sunday, and being able to arrive back home at a reasonable time.
All the usual goodies/awards/etc will be in place again this year. Individual medals and T-shirts for champions, individual medals for 2 nd place, individual medals for Consolation champions, participation pins for all rostered members of your team, etc. We will also have the usual vendors offering apparel, food, drinks, etc. and are working on some fun additions to the vendor list for this year.Complete information is available on this website. I highly recommend you spend a few minutes surfing the various links. You will find tournament rules and the sanctioning form under th e "details" tab. I would also recommend you spend some time on the "schedules-results" link. You can access schedules and results from previous years, tournament champions, pictures, etc. We have done our best to make accessing the information user friendly, so click around on the site, try the maps that are part of the schedules, look at the pictures from previous years, and I think you will start to get excited about participating in this year’s event.
Over the past 6 years, the Chinook Cup has grown into one of the largest youth soccer tournaments in the country. We are expecting close to 400 teams this year, and are confident that this year’s events will provide a challenging and fun tournament for your team, regardless of their level of play.
Please don’t hesitate to call or email me if you need additional information. We appreciate you considering this year’s Chinook Cup, and look forward to seeing you in late August.
Mike Morris Tournament Director Chinook Cup Tournament 503-317-7576
|
| ~ 2001-2008 Southside Soccer Club ~ |