Category: Resources

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Score Any Game

Our goal with Tourney.Life is to make keeping track of tournament scores easy. Now everybody can post a Game Score. If you know a Tournament Game Score, load Tourney.Life, find the tournament, and post the score. It takes only a minute. The more Game Scores we can post the better.

It will simplify youth basketball tournaments. And keep everyone in the loop.

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TourneyBuddy Competitors

It’s no surprise that there are a number of competitors to TourneyBuddy. And most of them are larger companies with more customers. But if you are like me trying to select an app or software to run your Tournament, Team, or League can be overwhelming. Every company claims their app will “solve all your problems!”

But spend 30 seconds at bluestarsports.com and you’ll see amazing tools, but I suspect be 100% overwhelmed with the options. You don’t have time to invest in learning something new. You just want it to work.

So here is an overview of your best options. And of course, where TourneyBuddy fits in.

BlueStarSports

“Can’t live without” Feature: The “Krossover” provides advanced film management.

“What bugs me”: So many options to choose from and appears to be enterprise level so not appropriate for my Team or Club.

ScorebookLive

“Can’t live without” Feature: Live scoring is so simple with this app.

“What bugs me”: It can be confusing to claim a team and get started.

TourneyMachine

“Can’t live without” Feature: App is excellent and tournament tracking very easy to use.

“What bugs me”: Not everybody is using it because of the costs involved.

SportsEngine

“Can’t live without” Feature: Integration of website, registration, and team management in one tool.

“What bugs me”: Request a Quote makes me automatically assume it will be expensive. And probably too big for my Team.

ExposureEvents

“Can’t live without” Feature: The individual event listings are well designed, easy to read, and full of the right information.

“What bugs me”: Pricing model results in wasted costs. And processing online payments gets complicated.

TourneyBuddy

“Can’t live without” Feature: Team Roster & Scheduling is EASY and FREE!

“What bugs me”: Since we are just rolling out most features, occasional actual app bugs happen.

I’d love your feedback if you are a current user of one of these products. What do you love and what bugs you?

 

 

 

 

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Basketball Tournament Packing List

What do you need for a youth basketball tournament? Simple question? Maybe. Here is a quick reminder of a few things you may forget.

Basketball Tournament Packing List

  • Extra dry shirts.
  • Fold-able outdoor chair. If you end up with long waits between games a comfortable chair can help you and your child relax.
  • Extra pairs of socks. (As many as 2 per game)
  • Sandals. After a game it is important to cool your feet.
  • Instant ice packs. Ice is often hard to find in a gym.
  • Tylenol and ibuprofen are helpful for in-between games.
  • Bananas. Protein snacks.
  • Extra water bottles.

Some of these are obvious, but helping your athlete perform to their potential is the goal. And sometimes being prepared can make a big difference.

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The Balance in being Highly Competitive in Youth Basketball – the “I GET TO” attitude.

We asked Aaron Dickson this question:

How do you balance being highly competitive in athletics (and wanting to succeed at the highest level) with values of teamwork, compassion, and humility?

We love his response. Continue reading “The Balance in being Highly Competitive in Youth Basketball – the “I GET TO” attitude.”

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How to Text or Email your Team

Texting & emailing schedule updates, practice times, and game times can be tedious. Get setup in TourneyBuddy and you can text or email your players & parents quickly and easily. Check it out.

Simplified Communications

  1. Login to Tourney.Life and click “My Teams” to add your Team.
  2. Enter each Player’s Name, Email, Cell-phone info.
  3. Click “Text Team”, Type your message, Click send.

It really is that simple. And once you’ve added your team you can easily Print your Team Roster also.

Give it a try and let us know what you think of the feature.

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Why Competitive Youth Basketball is Awesome

Competitive sports are often criticized and when balance is lost, it can be a bad experience for everyone. But Anne Josephson came up with 15 reasons competitive sports are worthwhile & helpful. I’ve summarize her list below.  You can read her full article here.

Focus on the Process & Less on the Results

Competition can:

  1. Drive us to learn faster.
  2. Teach us to bring our best effort.
  3. Teach us to manage our nerves.
  4. Help us conquer fears.
  5. Teaches us to take risks.
  6.  Teaches us to cope when things don’t go our way.
  7. Help us with goal setting.
  8. Teach us to play by the rules.
  9. Help us to learn to win and lose with grace.
  10. Be fun.
  11. Build self-esteem.
  12. Teaches us commitment.
  13. Give us a different community of friends.
  14. Provide opportunities for travel.
  15. Cause kids to perform better in school.

Josephson, in her article, provides back-story and additional information about each of the 15.

Bottom line, when keep in balance & with a focus on these 15 things, you can help your children thrive and develop in the context of competitive youth basketball. And if you have been involved in youth basketball for awhile you have tasted the thrill of victory and the pride in watching your children succeed. If success has not yet come, take pride in your child’s character to strive to succeed. It is preparing them for their future.

 

 

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The Race to Nowhere

The title of this movie – RacetoNowhere.com – caught my attention because in youth basketball sometimes we forget what we are “racing” towards. This movie focuses more on academics, but the parallels to athletics is important. So there so many redemptive reasons to participate in youth basketball.

3 Redemptive Reasons to do youth basketball: 

  1. Learn to make quick & correct decisions under pressure.
  2. Learn to work with teammates who often have different perspectives and attitudes.
  3. Develop physical skills.

Want to dig deeper?

The Race to Nowhere Trailer: 

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Taking the Joy out of Youth Sports

Thanks to over competitive and anxious parents, youth basketball often isn’t full of joy. Why not? So what are a few things we (as parents and coaches) do to suck the joy out of it:

  1. We try to coach from the sideline. (Kids have enough to concentrate on during the game, listening to your “excellent input” isn’t going to help them with their experience.)
  2. We yell at the refs. (The refs work hard – usually – to make the game even possible. Don’t waste your energy on trying to help them. 🙂 And we should require our kids to ‘ignore’ them.)
  3. As parents we question the coach. Our kids are trying to show respect to the coach. If we complain about them the entire drive home, the kids will learn to complain about the coach also.)
  4. Commenting and complaining about your child’s teammates. (See #3 … respecting teammates is essential also.)
  5. Making the ride-home miserable. (Enjoy the moment with your kids. Don’t try to make it a teachable moment.)

Most parents are guilty of one or more of these from time to time. As parents we can set the tone. Let’s do it.

Read a more detailed article here: http://changingthegameproject.com/how-adults-take-the-joy-out-of-sports

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Recruiting Myths

The NCSA identified these 6 myths about the college recruiting process.

At some point in your high school career you will need to become intentional with the process. Your decision to seek an athletic scholarship is evidenced in your early morning workouts, your unrelenting pursuit to be the best you can be. But there are a few strategic things to do to improve your chances of getting to the college you want to get to.

6 Myths of Recruiting:

Myth 1: My coach is handling my recruiting for me

Myth 2: I’ll just walk on to my top school. Why walking-on isn’t so easy.

Myth 3: I’ll focus on recruiting in the off season

Myth 4: I’m going to start recruiting my junior or senior year

Myth 5: If I’m good enough, coaches will find me

Myth 6: I just need to go to a college camp to get discovered

Ready to be more strategic? Read full article here.