The information below has been detailed to improve families understanding of how SA Country operates.

Tournament costs

It is a reality of our sport that we are funded by our participants - we do not have large scale sponsorships or media deals that ease the burden on our families. We make all attempts to keep costs down whilst trying to maintain the quality of our program and the experience the participants have.

SA Country is responsible for our own travel, accommodation and other arrangements for all development tournaments;

• We book our accommodation for the following year as we depart from an event, where possible. This assists in keeping the costs down through established relationships
• We book our bus transport in much the same way. This also provides the benefit of our supplier having a working knowledge of our expectations, policies and procedures
• Also included are the coach, assistant coach and team manager travel costs
• Any SA Country staff costs are not included in the tournament costs

We try to cover all costs related to the tournament and preparation in the budget for the event in addition to the travel costs, including;

• Transport for players, coaches and managers (to, from and during the tournament)
• Coach & manager travel & uniform subsidies. Our volunteers are allocated a small travel allowance for training weekends and uniform allowance for the tournament to offset a portion of their expenses
• Court hire for training weekends if applicable
• Breakfasts – a small allowance per player is allocated to purchase cereals, breads, milk etc.
• Tournament accommodation – including that for coaches and managers. SA Country staff accommodation is not included in the tournament costs
• Motor vehicle and bus hire if applicable. SA Country staff vehicle and fuel costs are not included in the tournament costs
• Team photos
• First aid and ice – an allowance per player is allocated to stock first aid kits and purchase ice (from the first training session to the end of the tournament)

The balance of the total budgeted costs are equalised among all players attending the tournament.

Added to this will be;

• Meal allowance ($35 per day)
• Uniform costs. We continually monitor our uniform pricing to ensure our supplier is competitive. Compulsory uniform items don’t carry any mark up and discretionary items are rounded to the nearest $5 or $10 amount – we do not seek to make these items an income stream for SA Country

We strive for a balance between seeking the very best and being thrifty – we understand that this will not meet everyone's ideal, but we ask for your understanding of the above information.

Training and trial venues

Accessing suitable courts in Adelaide is an increasing frustration for everyone – not just SA Country. Throughout our preparation we continually face difficulties securing venues that are suitable, often resulting in delays advising families of where we were training – in some cases we contact 20 or more venues before locating one that is available.

As a result we may make a decision to book all training sessions at a SA Country friendly venue such as Murray Bridge; this allows us to advertise early what the training plan will be.

Uniform

SA Country use local uniform supplier and manufactuer, SportsCentre. This arrangement has been in place for many years and has served us well. The quality and price meet our requirements and we take great pride in supporting local manufacturing and supply.

Certain items of the uniform are compulsory;

• Playing uniform
• Warm up top
• Playing socks
• Drink bottle
• Towel
• Polo
• Jams
• Hat

If you have compulsory items from previous years - or can borrow/purchase identical items from a past player - then it is not compulsory to purchase every item. The only exceptions to this are the playing uniform and warm up top which must be ordered each year; for our development teams, the uniform changes annually.

Other items are made available that are optional to purchase. The 2014 uniform order sheet and flyer is at the bottom of this page, for your information (note that prices are likely to be different for the 2015 tournaments)

As our uniforms are high quality, we have a strict policy on how it is worn whilst we are away. Players are not to mix uniform items with casual clothing, including hats and socks, when away from the team accommodation. This is to ensure SA Country maintains our reputation as one of the best presented organisations at development tournaments.

Transport

Country Cup - we will provide bus transport to and from the tournament in Albury. We depart Adelaide on the Saturday morning before the event with several stops along the way (Mount Barker, Murray Bridge, Penola and Ouyen). We retain the buses for use during the tournament.

Team managers will be present on the buses at all times.

Parents may collect their child, by prior arrangement with the team manager, immediately following the closing ceremony.

Southern Cross Challenge - we will provide bus transport to and from the team accommodation and stadium. It will be the responsibility of the family to have the player at the designated meeting spot for the tournament (Melbourne) and to collect their child at the conclusion of the tournament.

U13 Development tournament - we will provide bus transport to and from the team accommodation and stadium. It will be the responsibility of the family to have the player at the designated meeting spot for the tournament (Adelaide) and to collect their child at the conclusion of the tournament.

Accommodation

We spend considerable time locating team accommodation with the following in mind (in no particular order);

• Price
• Locality to training and playing venue
• Locality to supermarkets, restaurants
• Player comfort
• Ability to manage the team environment
• Other facilities (pool, televisions capable of operating our scouting equipment, meeting areas, bus parking etc.)
• What other teams are in the facility

Parents are also reminded that we have a strict policy on parent attendance at team accommodation. Any parent attendance must be approved by the Executive Officer - other than to drop something off to a team manager, it is unlikely that approval would be given.

If anything above is unclear, or if you have any further questions, please contact the office on 8268 8157.