Let's get organized Locally run TourneyCentral.com links families with soccer tournament information

The message is one Gerard McLean hopes is getting to the soccerworld.

"If you see the TourneyCentral.com van, you know it's a well-runtournament. That's the kind of brand identification we hope we'regetting," he said.

So far, so good.

Directors of large age-group soccer tournaments around the countryare contacting McLean to help manage their events after seeing howseamlessly big Dayton-area tournaments, such as the Mead CUSA(Centerville United Soccer Association) Cup held Sept. 3-5, and theWarrior Classic on Memorial Day weekend, were run.

McLean, 42, owns RiverShark.com, a 10-year-old company based inEnglewood, whose main business is developing and maintaining Websites for service organizations, retail outlets and tradeassociations.

But a fast-growing part of the business is TourneyCentral.com,which works with the Web sites of sponsoring soccer clubs to unifythe needs of all involved and make it a cohesive event.

This year, McLean will help run 27 tournaments -- mostly in theMidwest.

"We're trying to go slow with this to keep the quality very high,"he said. "But this may have taken on a life of its own.

"We try to build site content from the parent view on up," McLeansaid. "We're always tweaking sites to make the next one better. But Ithink we provide a pretty comprehensive service."

Information on the typical tournament Web site administered byMcLean will include:

- Smooth online team registration.

- Schedules for teams and officials.

- Scores updated on a live-action basis.

- Tournament rules.

- Detailed maps to playing fields.

- A lost and found section.

- An inclement weather policy.

- A frequently asked questions section.

- A restaurant and family fun section that has places to eat andentertainment options for children and adults, as well as locationsof ATM machines, grocery stores, places of worship, shopping, localattractions and hotels.

- Customized advertising for tournament sponsors.

- And most importantly, photos.

"We currently have over 13,000 images up on the Mead Cup/ CUSAsite," McLean said. "We'll get probably 25,000 hits from thattournament and more from bigger events.

"When teams register, they fill out a form if they want theirgames shot or not. I have two photographers that shoot games plus animager (his son, Christian McLean, a junior at Miami University)working in a van at the tournament," he said. "So we're thereshooting games in real time and getting them up on whatever Web siteis hosting the tournament.

"We had a military father who was stationed in Iraq get to seepictures of his son actually playing in a tournament when it as goingon."

Mike Blackwell of Englewood and C.J. Perrin-Carpenter ofCenterville, both Wright State University students, do most of thetournament photography, with the younger McLean in theTourneyCentral.com van doing the online work.

Providing a one-stop computerized solution to managing youthsporting events is not how McLean began his professional life.

"I was an English major at the University of Minnesota and beganworking for (St. Paul-based) Target in their corporate offices aftergraduation," he said. "I ended up in the Dayton area working forHuffy Manufacturing in their operations training division."

McLean eventually decided to start his own company and createdRiverShark Inc.

"Christian played soccer; my daughter, Melissa, plays; and mywife, Vanesea, plays in several adult indoor and outdoor leagues. SoI've been around a lot of tournaments over the years," McLean said.

While attending a tournament in 1999, he began to develop theconcept of getting photos of players in the tournament to relativesacross the world via the Internet in real time.

"Rather than having to wait for photos to be sent via e-mail orthe postal service, why not provide a service where someone'sgrandfather in Arizona can go to a Web site and see pictures of hisgrandkids in a tournament as it's happening," McLean said.

"From there, things just began to expand about not just providingphotos, but letting clubs use their Web site as a tool for managing atournament."

McLean pitched the idea to Carol Maas, director of the HuberHeights-based Warrior Classic tournament, in the winter of 2000.

"About 10 minutes into the presentation she told me to run withit, and we've been expanding each year," McLean said.

The concept has been so successful that the United States YouthSoccer Association has had McLean and Maas twice give presentationsat their national conventions.

Running soccer tournaments may be just the beginning.

"We do soccer tournaments because it's what we know," McLean said."But people who run youth basketball and baseball tournaments havecontacted me about helping do tournaments.

"So who knows where this is going."

Contact Dave Long at 225-2251.