Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 26, 1994                   TAG: 9405260204
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THERE'S NO ROOM AT THE INN FOR FLOOD OF SOCCER TEAMS

SRO. Sleeping Room Overrun.

That's right, most of the hotels and motels in the area are booked, as more than 150 teams, 2,500 players, and many more parents and friends come into town for the biggest regional soccer tournament of the year.

But it could be bigger. In fact, it has been bigger. Nearly 200 teams competed in 1991 and 1992. But, lack of hotel space - and available playing fields, have curtailed the crowds.

"We've placed people for this event in rooms as far away as Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Lynchburg [in past years]," said Martha Mackey, executive director of the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"People in Roanoke don't realize that we fill up the whole city for this," said Clinton Morse, Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club board member and coach.

"We've sold out," said Sharon King, director of sales and marketing at the Holiday-Inn Tangelwood, host hotel for the tournament. Three fourths of the 196 rooms have been reserved by soccer teams.

"With a tournament of this magnitude tied in with Festival in the Park, it's hard to find a hotel room this weekend in the Roanoke Valley, King said.

Becky Walker, director of sales at the Roanoke Airport Marriott, concurred. "[The soccer teams] have picked up all 156 rooms we were holding for them," Walker said. The Marriott has 320 rooms but is booked this weekend. The renovated Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center may be finished by next spring's tournament. With 330 rooms, the Hotel Roanoke could accommodate many visitors who previously have lodged out of town.

"Hotel Roanoke coming on stream will be a big plus," Morse said. "We'll fill that up three times a year."

The Roanoke Star, a 23-team, 375-player organization, is host two other soccer tournaments during the year - one in the fall and one in the winter. Star officials estimate that the tournaments combined pump more than $3 million into the Roanoke Valley economy. Some players live in the Roanoke Valley, of course, and the estimate takes that fact into consideration.

But the lack of sufficient hotel rooms is not the only reason the number of teams participating in the tournament peaked two years ago. There is a limited number of playing fields in the valley, and some of those are unavailable this year.

"We need more fields," said Danny Beamer, Star executive director. In past tournaments, some fields have had more than 20 games during the weekend, and excessive wear has taken its toll.

"The fields take a beating," Beamer said. "For example, we can't use Hollins College this year. I don't blame them; they need to take care of their facilities."

Roanoke and Roanoke County also have been judicious with their field availability.

"We can't say enough about the county and the city's assistance, but they have other demands for their fields as well," Star president Tim Berry said. "You've got to rest the fields some time."

Jim Jones, assistant director of parks and recreation for Roanoke County, said weather and vandalism also are factors. "Some of our fields didn't recover as well as they do from a normal season, because of last year's drought," Jones said.

One solution will be the construction of a five-field complex in the Vinyard area of Roanoke County. The Star board has received all necessary clearances from city and county officials, and Morse, who is spearheading the project, has begun meeting with the contractor.

Fund raising for the $300,000 project will soon be going full steam. "Roanoke is a pretty tough sell in terms of raising money," Morse said. "This is a very valuable project, but we'll have to compete with a lot of others."

"I think we have to go to the governments," Beamer said. "If the valley feels the economic impact of these tournaments, the government needs to filter the money down [in terms of parks and recreation funding] so that we can put on the events."

"[The new complex] will be a good arrangement between the county and the Star," Jones said. "But I think the timetable is more in their hands than ours."