Saturday, February 21, 2015

Weekend Update


Tulsa
I count only 5 reservations for our team in Tulsa, and the guaranteed block has run out. There are still rooms available, but now it's first come first serve. See the prior post for the link to make a reservation.

If you are unable to make it to the Tulsa game let me know ASAP. If your daughter needs to stay with someone please let me know that too. I booked an extra room under my name that can accommodate a couple girls if need be.

Practice this week
Mark is out, and we are going to skip this Sunday practice. Tuesday we are on L4 with Coach Mac. Wednesday we have Roz, and then Futsal. Thursday our fearless leader, Mark will return, and back to usual programming.

State Cup
The State Cup schedule has been posted. You can view it here or from the link on the homepage. There are 5 games. They start April 12, and are every Sunday. Burroughs park for the first four games and Lindsay Lyons for the last one.


Questions? Comments? Concerns? Call or email me!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Updates on this season

First off, I was remiss in my job as manager. I want to formally welcome Jessica and Erika to the team. We have gotten to know them for a while now, and loved having them at the Disney tournament. You all know this by now, but they are officially on the roster now. 

We are signed up for State Cup. Play should begin on the weekend of April 11-12. We will have five games from that weekend on, and if we place first or second, we will play in the State Finals in San Marcos on May 23-25. If we win there, we advance to the Region III tournament in Little Rock. As you may know, Mark used to live in Little Rock, and I spend a fair amount of time there (for work). So, suffice it to say that we have connections there and know the town. A trip to Little Rock would be a lot of fun! This is our goal!

Don't forget about NPL games. We have our Tulsa trip coming up. It's March 21-22. Our games are at 9:30 am both days. If you need to send your daughter up by herself, let me know. If you can host another girl or two, let me know about that too. I don't have any information about what flights people are taking. Southwest and United both fly there direct. I know many of you will be coming back from Spring Break or perhaps flying straight there from some fabulous vacation. There are reserved hotel rooms, but we only have a couple of weeks to make that reservation. See the info below. 

Also, we have NPL games in Dallas on May 30-31. Stay tuned for more on that one. 

I have the confirmation of our group booking at the Embassy Suites Tulsa I-44 for March 20-22nd for the NPL weekend.

Hotel details:
Embassy Suites Tulsa I-44
3332 South 79th East Avenue
Telephone: 918-622-4000

I have 6 teams that said they wanted to be part of the group:
U13/U14/U15 boys
U13/U15/U17 girls
 
I have reserved 90 rooms for the group (about 15 per team), all of which are $124 a night, not including tax, (which is far lower than the standard rate). The rooms booked are:
2 Double Beds suites + sleeper sofa (sleeps 6) - 65 rooms
Accessible 2 Double Beds suites  + sleeper sofa (sleeps 6) - 5 rooms
King bed suites + sleeper sofa (sleeps 4) - 20 rooms

The room rate includes a complimentary breakfast buffet, complimentary high speed internet, evening reception with complimentary cocktails and free parking. There is also a free airport shuttle for those flying.

The accessible rooms are handicapped rooms. They were the only remaining doubles they had. Please note you have to click the special "show accessible rooms" click-box on the website to show those rooms. This will really only matter once all of the other doubles are reserved and if people really want / need a double room.

To book the rooms, you can call in to 1-800-EMBASSY and using the booking code HOU or by asking for the “Houston Express NPL” group rate. You can also book (much easier in my opinion) by going to our personalize booking page:
 
All rooms must be booked before February 20th to secure the group rate. However, in order to guarantee the type of room you want, I'd recommend doing it as soon as possible. There is no cancellation fee as long as you cancel before 4pm the day before check-in.

I doubt we'll need more rooms than this, but I can add more rooms to the group if needed, but they will be more king rooms, as we took all of the doubles. If you think your group needs less rooms, or especially if your team ends up not going, let me know so that I can cancel part of the block.
 
Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Gary Doughty