Area Economy To Get Kick From Girls' Soccer Event

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

Some of the best young women soccer players in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina will gather in Salisbury Jan. 15-17 for a three-day competition.

Local organizers believe the regional state-select competition will show the dramatic impact a sports event can have on the Rowan County economy. The event will attract 432 players, not counting their coaches, families and friends.

In all, the competition could bring in close to 2,000 people, City Councilman Scott Maddox predicts.

The N.C. Youth Soccer Association estimates that the economic impact for Salisbury businesses will be at least $400,000. The round-robin format assures that teams will stay in Salisbury for the entire weekend.

Officials with the N.C. Youth Soccer Association chose Salisbury as host after receiving a written proposal from the Rowan County Sports Development Council, learning of possible sponsorships and making a visit here to see existing facilities.

The association has made a three-year commitment to Salisbury. In January, games will be played on four fields at Catawba College and three fields at the Gordon Hurley Complex on Majolica Road.

Local officials are counting on the new Salisbury Community Park and Athletic Complex on Hurley School Road to supply future fields for the competition, which will draw 24 teams altogether in four age groups, under 17, under 16, under 15 and under 14.

Two coaches and a manager usually accompany each team, not counting the parents, siblings and other relatives that also make the trip. Approximately 100 college coaches also have been invited for recruiting purposes, with at least 20 expected to attend.

The Region III "sub-regional" competition is part of the Women's State Select programs in each of the three states. In turn, the select teams are part of the Olympic Development Program.

The sub-regional competition tries to recognize the best players in the three states, and players attend hoping to win a place on more select Olympic Development teams later.

Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina are bringing two teams for each age category. The Rowan County Youth Soccer Association will work closely with state officials on the event, which had been held in recent years in Camden, S.C.

Rowan County Youth Soccer Association members will provide volunteer workers, sell concessions and event T-shirts. Profits from the sales will stay with the Rowan County group, which hopes to make approximately $4,000, weather permitting.

The Rowan County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Motel Company of Salisbury and Strictly Soccer have contributed financially to the event. Organizers are also getting oranges from Food Lion, drinks from Cheerwine and advertising from The Jordan Group.

Catawba College women's soccer coach Kevin Dempsey also played an important role in bringing the competition to Salisbury.

The competition outgrew Camden's soccer facilities and hotels, according to Judy Newman, head of the Rowan County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"This is growing," adds Maddox, who is a member of the Sports Development Council. "This isn't something that has peaked."

The Sports Development Council works as a new arm of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. For this event, it has coordinated efforts with tourism groups in Davidson and Cabarrus counties to assure the guests have a hotel room.

Salisbury benefited from its track record in hosting the annual Spring Sports Festival of the South Atlantic Conference, Newman says. For the women soccer players, organizers will sponsor a dinner at Catawba College as part of the weekend's activities.

Reebok also is expected to bring in a nationally recognized speaker for the event.

The Sports Development Council hopes to show that sports are a way to attract large numbers of visitors without a major convention center, Newman said. So far, the council has turned to youth soccer and track to attract overnight visitors.

A regional track meet is scheduled for Easter weekend at North Rowan High School. For several years, Salisbury also has hosted a regional AAU basketball event.

Tourism officials believe the Fisherman's Bass Circuit Hall of Fame Classic held on High Rock Lake Nov. 7 and 8 brought in $154,256 to Rowan County.

Newman focuses on events that require people to stay overnight. By themselves, local tourist attractions such as Historic Salisbury, Spencer Shops, High Rock Lake and Dan Nicholas Park are spots where visitors might stay the day but drive home.

Sports competitions that last an entire weekend - especially youth events - require families to stay in hotels, Newman noted. A side benefit: The tourism bureau receives its revenues from a local occupancy tax on motel rooms. Increased hotel stays translate to more revenues for the tourism group.

"This is an effort to fill those hotel rooms," Newman said. ".. The wonderful thing about tournaments is they bring people for a multi-day event."

Maddox and Newman believe the new Salisbury Community Park and Athletic Complex will make a major contribution in attracting more tournaments once its playing fields are in place. Three new baseball fields and two soccer fields are supposed to be ready by the year 2000.

Regional baseball and softball tournaments will soon follow, Maddox predicts.

The Sports Development Council doesn't aim to run the sports competitions that may come to Salisbury, but it wants to serve as a resource for groups such as the Rowan County Youth Soccer Association, AAU or Little League in making the proposals and contacts necessary.

"It's a learning process for the Sports Council," Newman says. But she and Maddox stress that successful competitions could show others the importance of building good sports facilities, such as fields and gyms.

"It's an investment," Newman said.

Sports Development Council members include Maddox, Jim Foltz, Gail Elder White, Todd Parnell, Dennis Davidson, Kermit Cruse, Tom McDaniel, Dixie Dalton, Victor Wallace, Robert Ruhlman, Cliff Ritchie, Boyd Morgan, Renita Ritchie, Charles Johnson, Clifton Huff, Robert Steele and Bo Bowden.