Cal South Announces Strategic Partnership with TeamRunner for Youth Soccer Travel
Youth Soccer Travel for Cal South Soccer families just got better with today’s new strategic partnership announcement
Tired of constant travel hassles when going to a youth soccer tournament? Cal South understands team travel could be significantly improved and set out to find a partner to streamline the process and reduce costs whenever possible.
Cal South has announced a strategic partnership with TeamRunner, a leader in sports travel. This partnership will provide added value to Cal South’s more than 204,000 members by providing one-stop-shop travel.
Cal South is looking to provide real value for its coaches, players, referees and soccer families and this landmark partnership will redefine the way youth soccer travel is arranged by streamlining the process and reducing costs whenever possible.
“We are excited about today’s announcement to partner with TeamRunner as we focus our combined energies to broaden Cal South’s range of services,” said Johnnie Garza, who will become the Chief Operating Officer for Cal South on January 1st. “This is another step in our journey to build on our foundation of strong partnerships and enhance our programs and portfolio of services to our members. This relationship will help us fully deliver improved travel services in support of our key programs, now and into the future.”
“TeamRunner is thrilled to be the national travel provider for Cal South, one of the most prestigious soccer organizations in the United States. We are committed to eliminating many of the hassles involved in traveling and making life better for Cal South families,” said Ziad Tleimat, Founder and CEO.
Rick Velasco, Chair of the Cal South Technology Committee said, “TeamRunner delivers a state of the art web-based cloud solution that can help member organizations with all their travel needs while guaranteeing the best values and support for our members.”
“Our goal is to create a positive experience for all participants from teams and sports organizations to businesses,” said Tleimat. “Teams receive the best rates on hotels, restaurants and services and TeamRunner saves the most valuable resource of all – time.”
“TeamRunner was founded due to the trials and tribulations we experienced when arranging sports team travel for our own kids and teams. We wanted to create a one stop shop where all hotels and dining reservations could be made for all sports,” said Colette Kuhnsman, Founder – VP Marketing.
Cal South recognizes the importance of giving back to the game and its members. “Our goal is to provide our members with more valued services,” said Velasco. “In an effort to make the travel process simpler, more efficient and economical for all of our teams and sanctioned events, the Cal South Technology Committee was tasked with the evaluation of numerous travel services providers. We completed an extensive two-month competitive analysis and evaluation process. TeamRunner delivers a state of the art web-based cloud solution that can help member organizations with all their travel needs while guaranteeing the best values and support for our members.”
“The selection of TeamRunner was based on their commitment to cloud and mobile technology and local support of Cal South events,” said Velasco. “Following our evaluation, the Committee recommended to the Board and the Board approved TeamRunner as the strategic partner for Travel Services. TeamRunner will provide travel services which members can take advantage of for all Cal South’s events including our State Tournaments, Olympic Development Program (ODP) and California Regional League (CRL).”
Youth sports is a multi-billion dollar industry and one of the fastest growing segments of the travel industry with many families trading vacations for youth sports travel. The continued explosion of youth soccer, Cal South’s growing membership and the organization’s commitment to provide excellent member benefits, were the driving forces behind this strategic partnership. Ever since it was established in the mid-1970s, Cal South has been recognized across America as forward thinking and as a pioneer providing high-quality programs to its members.
How does this Cal South and TeamRunner partnership work?
TeamRunner will streamline the process of making hotel and restaurant bookings for the 2015 Cal South State Cup. Participating youth soccer team’s managers will no longer need to make countless calls trying to find the best prices for hotels and can now take advantage of TeamRunners’ easy to use online website which provides in-depth hotel profiles complete with pictures and breakfast options making reserving room blocks a snap. Once the team manager has selected the hotel block, Cal South youth soccer families will be able to make their reservations directly on the TeamRunner website. TeamRunner even makes tracking the hotel reservations simple.
Extra perk: All the experts agree that team bonding is a critical part of youth soccer and can help a team become more successful – and TeamRunner now makes booking a team dinner while away at a tournament simple. TeamRunner’s dashboard will be pre-loaded with restaurants within a 15-mile vicinity of a team’s State Cup venue.
