The Reality of Late-Season Tournaments

    "Chase the Cup", "Road to ____", "For It All", "Earn Your Place". For many teams, these phrases signal the best competition, a road to glory, and the culmination of everything that they have worked towards in the past year. However, many other teams will enter late-season tournaments such as The Ohio State Cup, USYS National Championships, The President's Cup, and more with what feels like a sword of Damocles over their necks. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly    

    Here we will look to outline some of the Pros and Cons of participating in these late-season championship tournaments.

 Competition

    As most seasoned coaches will tell you, the championship tournaments foster some of the highest levels of competition. As many participants here in Ohio can attest to, it's uncommon to find a game in the Ohio State Cup or The President's Cup with a score that doesn't tell a compelling story of two well-matched opponents. With the opportunity to advance to a Regional or National competition on the line, the best teams in Ohio have been battling for supremacy at Darree Park, Warrior Soccer Complex, VOA, the OP Soccer Complex, and more for the past few weekends.

Schedule

    These "Cup Style" championship tournaments offer a unique format where the games are played over a series of weekends or self-schedule dates. Love it or hate it, this format can offer equal parts advantage and disadvantage to participants. 

PROS:

On a positive note, the ability to self-schedule for US Club sanctioned tournaments can allow players and coaches to breathe a sigh of relief. Returning the power to the impacted bodies makes the process more manageable.

The multi-week aspect of the tournaments grant teams the opportunity to reset and recalibrate between the tournament phases. This is an invaluable tool that many coaches indicate have allowed their players to perform at their best.

CONS: 

One particularly compelling con about the schedule would be the inopportune timing of the Ohio State Cup and President's Cup semi-finals traditionally occurring during the most common weekend for high school graduations and track district meets. With no guarantees for self-schedule games, many older teams find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having a shortage of players.

Another major detractor would be the high prevalence of injuries due to the late-season nature and the rigorous schedules required for these events.

Rules

    Soccer is a sport that is rules-oriented. From the IFAB Laws of the Game to simple tournament structures, the rules provide athletes clear directives on how they may and may not operate, what is required to win, and allows for a safe and standardized flow of the game.

"Cup-Style" championship tournaments have very stringent requirements as to what uniforms a team must have (down to the socks!), where games may be held, how many players can be rostered vs. on the bench, and even what qualifications a coach must have in order to be on the sidelines.

The writers at The Athlete's Lounge all agree that having clear-cut rules and regulations, no matter how strict, creates a professional environment where outcomes should be predictable and recourse is available for those who have been harmed by a breach in the rules. 

Is A Late-Season Tournament Right For Us?

    As a coach, we would recommend you evaluate a few non-exhaustive factors when deciding to apply for a late-season tournament, especially a "Cup" tournament:

1.) How deep is your roster? Would it be able to support multiple injuries as is common after a long season? Can it support multi-sport athletes being elsewhere or graduations overlapping with games?

2.) What level does your team play at? Choosing a level-appropriate tournament is a good way to prevent injury, create optimal levels of success vs. challenge, and meet the criteria set forth for admission.

3.) What is the level of commitment on your team? Assuming your team advances, these tournaments go well into the summer. Will your athletes commit to that many weeks of constant play beyond a normal season?

Best of luck to all of the Ohio teams competing over the next few weeks. We look forward to hearing your success stories!