The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

The Bahamas Judo Federation took a 27-person team to the US Junior Open in Fort Lauderdale for a week. The team consisted of athletes, coaches, administrators and even a chef. The trip cost in excess of $1,000 per person. We were given a partial grant from the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) for development. While there we had a number of parents come up to watch the action. At the last moment, one of our national coaches decided to join us. She was quite amazed when she was unable to secure a hotel in the area. They were all sold out.

The marketing story behind this event has several dimensions. First of all, at the Fort Lauderdale convention centre we were not the only game in town. An international woman’s volleyball competition was going on at exactly the same time. When I arrived at the convention centre I noticed that there was a nice buffet spread outside of the hall. I thought to myself: ‘Judo has gone big time’. Then I noticed these Amazonian-sized teenage girls eating there in volleyball outfits, and I knew that I would be paying for my own food.

Food costs for the Bahamas team were managed because I knew the trip would be unaffordable otherwise. So, as I said, we took our own chef. But, of course, we had to go shopping. Imagine feeding 17 teenagers for a week. I am not sure how people like my Aunt Thelma, who had 11 children of their own, made it. For those teams that did not manage their costs, they had to eat at the restaurants. Buying a 20 ounce bottle of Gatorade at the convention centre was $4. You can just imagine the costs of the basic meal. The restaurant workers and owners were very happy. So were the taxi drivers.

The convention centre folks obviously understand that sports fills hotels. The Judo tournament had over 600 athletes from 20 countries, and clubs from all over the US. There were thousands of spectators. The volleyball tournament was of a similar size. The marketing story of the Judo tournament begins with the tournament promoter acquiring the rights to the name of the tournament 25 years ago, and making it an official event within the US. Then he was given a donation of $10,000 to use towards airfare for bringing in countries from Latin America.

This investment generated interest for the tournament nationally and internationally, and it became a much-anticipated event. There was much prestige to winning this tournament. Eventually, people came on their own without the financial assistance. Now it is the largest international junior open tournament in the region. By the way, the Bahamas team won 10 medals there, with 2010 Youth Olympian, Cynthia Rahming, winning Gold. The moral of this story is invest in sports; it’s not just children running up and down in the hot sun. Sports fills hotels.

NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas (COB), Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://darcyrahming.com