When most people list entertainment options, sports rarely make the list. At least not in the sense that non-professional adults could gather for a tournament to just have a good time. Yet, when such tournaments do happen, they tend to improve the emotional, physical, and mental wellness of everyone involved.
As such, it is a wonderful idea to plan a sports tournament for your friends, family, or colleagues if it is something they would enjoy. The only challenge, however, would be getting all the crucial details right.
Need some help with that? Perfect. Here are some of the things to prioritize as you plan your sporty event.
A Good Venue
A good venue should suit the kind of sports you plan to engage in. Sports like shooting, for instance, maybe best held at a shooting range where there are trained professionals and custom gun safes that contestants can use to stow away their guns. Click here for more information. Golf, on the other hand, would require a golf course while football can kick off on any level grass field.
In terms of access, the closer to all, the better. However, even an out-of-town venue can be ideal. The catch is that it would need to be so appealing that no one minds making the trip there.
Once you identify a viable venue, take time to inspect its facilities. Bathrooms and changing areas would be particularly important. Also, find out if there are any rules that you will be expected to adhere to. Some sports venues often impose penalties or additional fees if you happen to contravene their laws and so it would be nice to know beforehand.
You should also make sure the area is accessible. Make sure that the roads to the venue are well-paved and they are near the city. The venue should also have enough parking space for all your participants and visitors. Remember that the event could have a lot of people attending, so you should make sure they could park easily.
Seating Arrangements
If you luck out and manage to secure a stadium venue, then you will likely not require seating. On the other hand, if you will be using an empty field, make an effort to provide some seating for guests. Standing all day, even when having a good time, can get exhausting.
Look out for easy solutions such as rental chairs that you can use just for the day. However, if you are hosting a corporate sports tournament, run-of-the-mill rental seating would not suffice. Branded chairs would most likely be required.
Choose a chair design that suits the occasion and try to find a furniture manufacturer that can execute it and handle the branding too. If you have a hard time finding one, find a company that specializes in injection molding chair units instead. They will be better equipped to fulfill your requirements.
Security and First Aid
In some cases, the venue you hire may provide security but if they do not, you may have to contract a firm to ensure your event goes along smoothly. You may equally need them for crowd control as the event progresses and begins to generate interest.
Best practice recommends that you have trained paramedics at the venue to attend to injured tournament participants or fans. This also goes a long way in making people feel confident about participating. Be sure to consult your local facilities early enough so that they can plan to send out a team on the day.
Refreshments and Entertainment
As with all social events, most attendees will be looking to mingle in great company and enjoy tasty bites as they cheer the games. Endeavor to set aside a tent or designated area to cater for this. You could invite a few trusted vendors to provide the food and refreshments so that there is enough variety.
If you reckon that the tournament or its afterparty will linger into the night, invest in lighting. One or two floodlights would be sufficient for the play areas. For walkways and the refreshment tents, check out options like 2835 LED strips; they are safe for outdoor use and emit light that is bright enough to illuminate large areas.
If you are going to choose refreshments for your event, you should make sure that they are not only refreshing but healthy as well. You should avoid selling overly sweet drinks because they are not good for the athlete’s metabolism and could have them suffering a sugar crash. Reach out to well-established sports drink companies and have them sell their wares in the event. You should make sure that the drinks have the right vitamins and minerals. The drinks should be able to replenish your athletes after a hard day’s workout.
Gifts and Prizes
Gifts and prizes are the highlights of every tournament aside from the bragging, of course. Subsequently, make arrangements to offer different tokens for the participating teams and individuals.
Trophies are great but they can also be minimally rewarding. Try to pair them with other things. For example, in a corporate event, you could always award players with gift vouchers for your services or merchandise alongside their trophies. For social events, try and pick out a voucher or merchandise that can hone different talents or align with the players’ interests.
Remember to spare a small token for those that officiate the games as judges or referees too. It would be a shame for them to dedicate their time and get no appreciation.
Conclusion
The secret to planning any successful event is to envision how you would like it to unfold from one stage to the next. This will guide and enable you to make the necessary arrangements for everything that is required. Nevertheless, when the planning is all done and the games kick off, do not forget to let down your hair and have a good time.