Tournaments are a big deal for the local economy. Not only do they help pay for facilities, but they also bring hotel, restaurant, and retail guests to the area.
Parks and Rec Executive Director Chuck Eddington said, “This past summer, we brought in $5.2 million with registration fees, hotel, and restaurant visits from our guests.”
Todd Curry, the Director of Be Elite Sports, said the basketball tournament, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 11-12, will feature third through sixth-grade travel teams and a seventh and eighth-grade division (which will be school teams) of boys and girls. “We will have more than 50 teams here,” Curry said. “Teams will come from three states: South Haven, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas. This is our building block group for the summer tournaments. The South Haven team loved it here and wanted to come back.”
“These overnight tournaments will give each team at least four games with the winners playing again,” Curry said.
Eddington said they will use five courts for the January 10-11 tournament. “This is our first major event with Creekside. All three courts will be used at Creekside and two at the Brandon Burlsworth Youth Center.”
Curry said the Be Elite teams wanted to return to Harrison because of the ease of working with Chuck, Mayor Jerry Jackson, and Matt Bell. Be Elite will host eight events this year, and four will be held in Harrison. Two volleyball tournaments will be held in February, and travel basketball teams in April. The Fall/Winter Jamboree tournaments mix school and travel teams.”
“This is why we value partnerships with organizations who can help us bring tournaments to Harrison. We’ve broken every record of the City Advertising Tourist Promotion Commission (CATPC) and look forward to helping the downtown businesses with new families to shop and spend money in our community,” Eddington said.
Eddington said the Parks Department is offering a day pass to tournament team members if they want to use the Creekside facility while in town.
Curry said, “And they are excited about spending time in the Community Center.”
Locally, there are 25 Be Elite basketball travel teams and 10 volleyball teams. Visit BeEliteSports.org for additional information.
Additional settings for Safari Browser.
