Nike Mt. Hood Challenge


The 2nd Annual Nike Mt. Hood Challenge is scheduled for August 20-22, 2010, with games being played throughout the Portland Metropolitan area.  Sponsored by the Willamette United Soccer Club, a community based club located in West Linn/Wilsonville, Oregon, the Mt. Hood Challenge will offer Gold, Silver and Bronze Divisions for boys and girls teams in the U11 through U14 age groups, and Gold and Silver Divisions for U9, U10 & U15-U19 age groups.  We will use the 2010-2011 age groups for division placement.

Our goal for 2010 is simple:  Besides making the Mt Hood Challenge one of the largest youth soccer tournaments for boys and girls teams in the country, we are striving to create a destination experience for your team/family that will not only be the highlight of your soccer year, but create long-lasting memories of a great weekend spent with family and friends in a beautiful environment.  You can count on us to do everything required to make the Mt Hood Challenge a first-class experience for everyone who attends.

The preferred format for the Mt. Hood Challenge is sixteen teams per division at the U9 to U14 age groups.  In the sixteen team format, teams will be placed in four 4-team brackets and will play a two game round-robin schedule.  The top two teams in each bracket will then advance to one championship, the bottom two teams to a second championship.  All sixteen teams would advance to a quarterfinal in one of the two championships.  Winners of the quarterfinals would advance to the championship semifinals, losers to the consolation semifinals.  With sixteen teams, every team is guaranteed two preliminary round games and two-three playoff games and there are no friendly games.

The preferred format for the U15-U19 Mt. Hood Challenge teams is twelve teams per division.  In this format, teams will be placed in four 3-team brackets and play a two game preliminary round-robin schedule.  The top team will advance to one championship semifinal, the second place team to a second championship semifinal, and the third place team to a third championship semifinal.  All twelve teams advance to a semifinal game, winners play for a bracket championship.  There are no friendly games.

The Mt. Hood Challenge will not accept more than twelve U15–U19 teams or sixteen teams for any U9-U14 age group/division.  If there are less than twelve to sixteen teams registered, the same philosophy will be used in creating the brackets, with teams advancing to multiple championship brackets.  Regardless of the number of teams that enter a particular age group/division, every team that enters the tournament will advance to the playoffs.

Age groups will be assigned to a geographic area in the Portland, Oregon, metro area for all of their games.  While on the website, you can click on your specific age group for details about where each age group will be playing.  Partner Hotels will be assigned to each age group based on field locations to help minimize the time spent in your vehicles, but you are welcome to stay at any Partner Hotel.  In order to ensure that sufficient hotel rooms will be available for teams participating in the Mt. Hood Challenge, we have contracted directly with Tournament Partner Hotels in advance to reserve blocks of rooms so they will be available as teams register.  Given the financial commitment needed to host this tournament, all travel teams will be required to stay in Tournament Partner Hotels that are working with the Mt. Hood Challenge. 

All teams will have games on Friday.  If possible, teams traveling three to four hours can have noon or later start times on Friday.  Teams traveling further than three to four hours will need to stay in the area on Thursday night and plan for early Friday games.  If you have special situations regarding game schedules, please contact Mike Morris, Tournament Director, to discuss possible solutions. 

Standings and results will be updated online within 45 minutes of games being completed.  These updated standings will be available online immediately and accessible via internet access from anywhere in the world.  Individual scores and/or schedule changes can be sent directly to your cell phone and/or email address throughout the tournament.  We have added graphic displays for the medal round games that will make it much easier to track where/when your team plays as you advance in the playoffs.  We will make every effort to schedule games early on Sunday for teams that are traveling by plane or more than five hours by vehicle.

The Mt. Hood Challenge will feature high quality awards, gifts and goodies.  Champions, second place teams and Consolation Champions will receive individual medals.  Every person listed on the roster will receive a collectable participation pin.

We encourage team reps and families to visit the tournament website often, in advance of arrival as well as during the tournament.  Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, will be available on the Mt. Hood Challenge website.

Please do not hesitate to contact Mike Morris if you have questions or need additional information about any part of the tournament.  Generally, we can work around traveling concerns and scheduling issues, so do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your needs so that you are not prevented from attending the truly amazing Nike Mt Hood Challenge Tournament.

We appreciate your consideration of the Nike Mt. Hood Challenge and we look forward to seeing you in August.


Mike Morris
Tournament Director
mjmorris50@comcast.net
503-317-7576

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