Tips for Parents and Coaches Booking Travel for Sports Teams

Spring and summer are big seasons for sports team travel. I am not talking about the pro leagues here. I mean your children. Club teams and competitive league sports are as popular as ever. Many of you have children involved with baseball, fastpitch softball, soccer, tennis, and perhaps even summer league volleyball teams. If your son or daughter is involved in sports, there is a good chance that his or her team may travel to an away game or tournament this summer.

Any of you team moms or dads, and especially any coaches, understand how much time and effort it takes to book travel for a youth sports team. As a responsible team parent or coach, there are certain considerations you always have to keep in mind: budget, location, safety, convenience. You want your kids and your players to succeed and to compete as well as they possibly can, and big tournaments and away games involving travel can add to both the stress and the enjoyment of team sports. Here are a couple of tips to help you make your summer sports team travel as successful as possible.

It is All About the Location

One of the easiest things you can do to make your away game and tournament travel convenient is to choose a hotel that is located near the sports arena or ball park. This sounds simple, I know. However, if you want to make sure you can get a hotel close to your venue and at a fair price, it is really important to plan ahead. I am sure you know the scenario: big, competitive tournaments in small towns and cities with limited hotel space. You can guess the problem this creates. Many of you have probably experienced it first hand. Very large, popular tournaments can result in many sold out hotels, especially those nearest the tournament location. By planning well ahead of time (90 days or more), it is often possible to avoid the issue of sold out hotel space. I recommend you start planning and booking your hotels as soon as you know you are going to a tournament. Even if it means choosing your tournament schedule a little bit earlier than necessary, I highly recommend it.

Planning ahead can mean the difference between a hotel right across the street from a ball field or having to stay 30 miles or more from where you need to be at eight in the morning. Which team would you rather be? The one that can get up and walk across the street, or the one that has to drive an hour just to get to the game? 

Choose the Right Hotel for Your Team

Most youth sports teams have to work with a limited budget or need to consider the financial means of everybody on the team. A group of ten girls on a fastpitch team does not need a five star hotel, and most of your player’s parents would probably rather not pay the going rate for a five star hotel for a weekend softball tournament.

At Groople, we book hotels for a lot of sports teams, and more often than not our team parents and coaches request moderate hotels in the best location possible. If you choose a moderate hotel, you will typically get a very clean, comfortable hotel room without a lot of bells and whistles. You can usually secure a very fair nightly rate, and many of these hotels have two very important features:

1)     Free breakfast – this makes it extremely convenient to get up in the morning and have breakfast together as a team before you compete. This adds to the team experience, but it is also a convenient way to control your costs and to avoid one more unnecessary stop each morning.

2)     Interior Corridors – A simple detail, I agree, but if you have ever acted as a chaperone for a group of kids you will certainly appreciate the benefit of interior facing doors. The biggest difference between a motel and a hotel is the fact that hotels have interior corridors, whereas a motel’s doors face the parking lot or street. I know none of your children would ever sneak out of a hotel at night (chuckle), but I am sure you can appreciate the benefits of those interior corridors. Remember to request adjacent rooms, too. Just one more way to stack the odds in your favor.

Go out there and compete. We all love to watch our kids compete because it is a lot fun. Keep a few simple tips in mind when you plan your sports team travel this year, and I hope it helps make your trip successful and safe for everyone.

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