Skillmasters Brings New Energy For Traditional Youth Soccer Tournaments

Written By Can Gokcen

The biggest single core value we collectively strive to bring to youth soccer is introducing services that evolves the discussion around the players’ development and eventual success to be more data driven. That was on display this past weekend when we introduced an array of new features to youth soccer tournaments.

For the past year, Skillmasters has been taking on the management of kids soccer tournaments throughout the US to primarily help with tournament registrations, generating digital parking passes and to offer our core player evaluation services (like our Universal Soccer Rating testing) to tournament participants.

Amongst the 35 tournaments we supported in the past 12 months, we noticed a pattern where tournaments, normally designed to assess the level of local youth soccer talent, were not offering the clubs, players, parents and scouts attending these tournaments any meaningful individual results to drive discussion and increase engagement. As Skillmasters CEO Jacob Henderson notes,

“Scouts arrive at youth soccer tournaments with the intent on discovering talent, but they are left to themselves to uncover that talent from the hundreds, if not thousands of players participating in these events. A lot of players miss out on the opportunity to be recognized at these competitions because those managing the tournaments are primarily focused on maximizing their revenue and not taking the necessary steps to highlight successful players at the events. ”
— Jacob Henderson, Skillmasters CEO

After assessing the tournament landscape, we saw an opportunity where we could use our technological background to help the very players these tournaments are designed to support. Starting with the South Rush Cup this past weekend, we introduced 5 new features that we expect will change how youth soccer tournaments in the US will be experienced moving forward:

  1. Player of the Match award after every game played in the tournament;

  2. Player of the Tournament award for the top performing player in each age and gender group;

  3. A digital leaderboard that showcases the top goal-scorers, top assist-makers, top saves made, and total defense*;

  4. Generating the top starting 11 after the tournament for each age and gender group;

  5. The top goal recognition after the tournament.

    *Total defense is determined by tallying up the total number of successful defensive duels, tackles and shot-blocks

  1. Player of the Match

Skillmasters introduces player of the match recognition to players at US youth soccer tournaments they are managing. The player of the match awards are awarded to the players that have the most impact on the match based on Skillmasters' match data

In one of the more impactful moves made by the Skillmasters team this past year, we introduced AI-driven match analyses to the tournaments. With any video recording of a match, the Skillmasters AI tool is able to breakdown each match into team and player reports. With the data collected, we saw an opportunity to highlight the top performing soccer player from each match on social media to give those players a well-deserved accolade and to also get the attention of scouts at these tournaments looking for guidance.

2. Player of the Tournament

Skillmasters announce player of the tournament as a new service to increase awareness for the highest performing players at youth soccer tournaments they manage.

Similar to the Player of the Match awards, we added the Player of the Tournament awards to highlight the best overall performing player in each age and gender group. The biggest justification we have received for handing out these awards is the drastic increase in engagement we have seen on social media. Coaches, players, parents and scouts alike want to see players recognized for their efforts, and the number of engagements on social media back that up.

3. Digital Tournament Leaderboards

Because of our ability to record every match in the tournament, we open the window to all the participants in the tournament to see how they performed relative to their peers. Not just focusing on “goals”, we made it a point of emphasis to highlight the top assist-makers, top goalies based on number of saves and top defensive players to show how critical every aspect of the game is for overall team success.

4. Top Starting 11 of the Tournament

Skillmasters has begun introducing an all-tournament team youth soccer tournaments they manage to increase awareness of top players

With the data we collect from every match in the tournament, we get to see which player statistically provides the most for their team. Presenting who the top players are at every position per age and gender group provides fair awareness to every position. This way, we aren’t just recognizing the “flashy” scorers, but the mid-fielders, defenders and goalies who put it all on the line to earn their team success.

5. Top Goals of the Tournament

By making the effort to give recognition to all positional players in our tournaments, we open the opportunity to provide some “fun” content for the tournament through our social media channels as well. While every position on the field is critical for the overall team success, presenting the most impressive goals in a tournament is something still very much worth admiring.

Is there any other addition you would ideally like to see made at youth soccer tournaments? If so, we would love to hear from you. Make sure to follow us and message us on Instagram @skillmasters.io and email us at support@skillmasters.io!

Can Gokcen
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