Bordt Planning Holiday Youth Tourney in Kauai
KAUAI, Hawaii (10-23-09) – Is Kauai becoming synonymous with "Futsal Paradise"? Maybe not quite yet, but Jorge Bordt is working on it with his active promotion of the sport here. Bordt has constructed Futsal courts at the Kiahuna Swim and Tennis Club in Kauai, held youth Futsal camps during the summer, laid the groundwork for an international tourney in 2010 featuring Brazil and Argentina and is now planning a Hawaii Holiday Youth Tournament for this coming Dec. 25-Jan. 1.
As he plans his Futsal calendar, Bordt keeps a
close eye on the Hawaii travel market and has calculated that Dec. 25 and Jan.1 will be
bargain airline travel days, and he anticipates that the timing will help bring in 32
teams for the tournament from the continental U.S., Europe and Asia.
(Photo: Jorge Bordt.)
The fee will be $975 per team, and "they can either arrange their own travel and accommodations or contact us and we'll arrange it for them," Bordt said.
The 32 participants will include boys and girls teams in age brackets ranging from 18-and-under to 12-and-under. The teams will arrive on the 25th, play a practice game on the 26th, play four tournament games during the week and then a fifth if they reach the championship final. Jan. 1 will be the departure day.
"That will bring in about 750 people," Bordt said. "That makes it fun. People will enjoy being here."
Teams from Sacramento, Calif., and Reno and Las Vegas, Nev., have already said they plan to attend, and Bordt said he has received notes of interest from as far away as Sweden and Australia.
"There's been good interest from Scandinavia. They have flights from Stockholm via Seattle, and Australia has direct flights from Sydney."
Bordt, a tennis professional and former member of Argentina's junior national tennis team, served as the U.S. Minisoccer Federation’s vice president for marketing in the 1980s under president Osvaldo Garcia. He is teaming with fellow tennis pro Tom Edlefsen to own and operate the Kiahuna Club located on an idyllic, palm-strewn 10 acres just 100 yards from the ocean beach.
"We have 3,000 soccer players on the island of Kauai," he said. "It's not as hard a sell as it used to be."
The club is located at 2290 Poipu Rd. Koala, Kauai, Hawaii 96756. Telephone 808-742-9533 or 415-847-5571. Email Jorge.Bordt@gmail.com or info@kiahunatennisclub.com.