SAN BERNARDINO, CA. – Matt Maeda sat in the hospitality room at his home school, San Gorgonio-San Bernardino, munching down a sandwich just four days after Christmas.
It was a holiday time of year, but Maeda was about as busy if school had been in session.
Maeda’s been athletic director at San G since campus Hall of Famer John Powell’s retirement back in 2002. He’s been sorely at work trying to build fundraising events in what’s considered a low-ebd financial area for high schools, particularly in sports.
Tournaments are a nice way to earn a buck.
San G may well be among the leaders in such categories – fundraising and hosting tournaments.
In the boys’ gymnasium, the consolation bracket of the San Bernardino Kiwanis boys’ basketball tournament was taking place.
Across the street, at San Bernardino Soccer Park, the finals of a pair of varsity tournaments – one for boys, another for the girls – while two sets of boys-girls JV tournaments were finishing up. All that had started the day after Christmas.
Claremont High School had two teams in the varsity soccer tournament finals – the boys were beating Los Osos-Rancho Cucamonga – 4-3 in a shootout after a 0-0 draw in regulation and the Lady Wolfpack beat Serrano-Phelan, 2-0, for their fourth San G title.
When Maeda became AD, which meant he had to give up coaching soccer (as required by the San Bernardino school district, he added a boys’ tournament to the girls. It’s been 17 years on the girls’ side, 13 for the boys.
“The work is well worth the reward, as should be the case,” Maeda said. “The decision comes down to head coach and AD in my book. I don’t mind putting in my part as long as I have a solid coach willing to help.”
It’s simple, he said.
“If you’re running your own tournaments, you have no entry fees. Your school plays for free,” he said.
Throw in no bus travel costs. “That one is big, as an AD trying to balance a tight budget," he said.
There is a little bit of profit along the way.
“Our soccer and our polo teams run these as their primary fundraisers," Maeda said.
In tight times like these, it’s a way to fund teams.
“A big part of what we do is trying to run quality tournaments that teams want to come back to year after year,” he said.
A nice example may well be Claremont, a school that rests about an hour’s bus ride from San G. Claremont’s girls won the San G Shootout for the fourth time.
It’s not like San G’s stacking the deck with easy marks, either.
Two ranked teams showed up at the girls’ soccer showdown, Southern Section Div. 4 Serrano-Phelan (No. 8) and Div. 5 Alta Loma (No. 2).
Redlands East Valley, unbeaten heading into the tournament, was ranked third in Div. 3, but was nowhere near the finals won by the fifth-ranked Wolfpack. Host San G was ranked No. 6 in Div. 5.
As for the Kiwanis, the only two ranked teams in the field – No. 5-ranked Beaumont (Div. 1A) and No. 3 Redlands East Valley (Div. 2A) -- met in a semifinal showdown. Beaumont prevailed and was set to play unranked Redlands in the tournament championship on Wednesday night, Dec. 30.
Money’s a bigger issue – budgets have been slashed, programs have been cut – in public high schools than ever before. During football season, where Centennial-Corona and neighboring Redlands East Valley rake in solid gate revenue, other schools aren’t quite so fortunate. San G might occasionally pull in a $2,000 or $3,000 gate.
“A few years when we played REV here, we had a $10,000 gate,” he said.
Those are few and far between, though, raising the need for additional fundraisers. Tournaments seem to fit, especially since San G has access to all necessary facilities.
As for San G’s tournament host responsibilities, Maeda does the initial leg work by setting up contracts and organizing officials, among other necessities.
“But my coaches step up to help run the events when they occur. It starts with soliciting the teams and then seeding the brackets.”
San G coaches have all done their share of the work.
“My coaches play a big role in acquiring results and setting up true seeds with me that we hope will hold, making for a good level of competition as the tournament progresses.”
Yes, there are expenses (officials, workers, etc.), but there’s also snack bar and gate revenue. Some tournaments, he said, make profits off shirt or hoodie sales.
“In this day, running a tournament has fiscal advantages as well,” he said.
San G doesn’t sit on running tournaments only at holiday time. Here's a list of its non-league, multi-team events:
• Boys’ water polo.
• Girls’ water polo.
• Varsity and JV baseball.
• The Sparta Track Relays.
• Girls soccer – Varsity and JV.
• Boys soccer – Varsity and JV.
• Co-hosting Kiwanis (boys basketball).
“We used to be the main San Bernardino Kiwanis boys' varsity basketball host, but now we are a co-host on a rotating basis," Maeda said.
Cross-city campus Arroyo Valley is the main host.
Some area schools will never miss playing the Kiwanis, namely Redlands – which dates back to the tournament’s original days in 1958 – and Redlands East Valley. Bill Berich, who opened the school’s hoops program when the campus started in 1997, has never missed a year.
As for the soccer tournaments, Maeda takes some pride since “this was my original baby when I was a coach.
“I guess we must be doing something right. Schools keep coming back.”
