Those of you who are sports parents know how important it is to plan for how to use your time effectively during off-season as well as maximize on that time when it comes to the young athlete in your life. Since my son plays on his school’s basketball team during the Fall, his coaches always stress the value of making sure to get as much practice in as possible when the team’s regular season is over. This is not very hard because, if it was up to my son, he would eat, breathe, and sleep anything that is related to basketball.
One of the things that we try to also do during the off-season, aside from practicing, is making sure that we plan to save as much money as possible for the expenses associated with my son being on his school’s team as well as the traveling team that he is on the rest of the year. Since we finally get a break from the chaos of busy season, we can focus on creating a reasonable budget for the rest of the year. Travel is one of our major expenses when it comes to my son’s traveling team, planning ahead to be able to save money on hotel costs is very important. While I’m getting a jump-start on the travel season, my son wastes no time relaxing and spending the majority of his free time on social media. Teenagers!
Booking as early as possible, to secure the closest most affordable hotel rooms is a great way for me to plan ahead during off-season. Hotels4Teams makes the hotel search and booking process for my son’s team and other travelers as smooth and effortless as possible. They have created a database of sports complexes, venues and tournaments that allow us to search for and find the best choices of hotels closest to where we are traveling to, and at the lowest rates available. Their website offers user-friendly booking features that allow us to reserve rooms as an individual or a group, with the hotels displayed by distance and driving time to our destination.
Believe me, I would much rather be sleeping in and enjoying not having to drive my son to all his games during the off-season but the upcoming season requires a lot of preparation. Hotels4Teams provides me with the ease and flexibility that I want in order to make all the hotel arrangements for my son’s games while saving money at the same time. That allows me a little bit of extra time during the off-season to get a little extra sleep knowing that I will actually be able to stay on budget while we travel with my son’s team. In my Working Mom world, that makes me the MVP!
Let’s Discuss: How do you use your time effectively during the off-season to prepare for the travel season?
Disclosure: This sponsored post is part of a blogging campaign in collaboration with Hotels4Teams. All opinions are 100% my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
© 2018, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
I always assumed the coach handled things like this manually! Nice to know there is an organization that takes care of it all for the team!
That’s a great idea to get organized during the off season. Yes, booking ahead for travel is much cheaper!
That’s a great idea to get organized during off season. Yes, booking in advance is a lot cheaper!
Our kids to karate and for our tournaments there is no off season. I wish there were! We have a big one in Orlando in 2 weeks even.
Planning ahead is always the best way to go. Booking hotel accommodations in advance always gives us the best rates! I love how you show your support to your child’s chosen sport. You are a true sports mom!
We don’t have kids in sports just yet but we’ve still got a lot going on with clubs during the year! Summer was supposed to be our ” time off” yet this year not so much. These are some great tips!
So great that this exists. I love when kids can just be kids!
I love that you can keep the kids ready for sports all year round. I think it’s important to make sure that you’re doing what you can to keep your athlete at their best level of the sport. This is really a great way to do that!
I am going to let my sister know about this. Her son is actively involved in sports and is currently enjoying a full academic scholarship for being a member of his school’s basketball team. Hotels4Teams sure looks like a good way to have that peace of mind and save money at the same time.
We never handled this type of stuff. If there was travel, the coach or team moms handled it. It seems as if you have a good plan though.
Planning ahead is a great way to save money and have your spots secured. I didn’t know about this hotels4teams, what a great option. Thanks for sharing!
Travel sports teams are so expensive. I remember how much it was having two kids in travel sports and the costs associated with not only playing the sport but hotels and travel expenses.
It’s always been the coach or school management team that take charge for any logistic matters at the school I went to (and many other schools here); I believe getting corporate deals and preventing corruption are few of the reasons. But I agree that planning ahead is one of the good ways to get a better deal and save money.
Oh, I know nothing about this either, my eldest does a lot of sport but his coach deals with it all thankfully! It sounds like you are doing a great job making plans!!
This is such helpful advice. I always assumed that the team handled all this stuff out. As a mum with young boys, this will serve me well in future. Thanks so much for sharing!
We don’t get this type of organization level here. Not in sports anyway. I am kinda jealous!
What a great idea for the kids during the off-season. It is good that an organization is handling it.
If you know the expenses ahead of time, it is a perfect time to start paying for a saving for these expenditures.
You are a great mom for supporting your son on all these. And yeah, good that Hotels 4 Teams is there to help you make things easier as you unwind during off-season.
Great plan! It’s always great to get organized in advance. That’s wonderful advice.
More proof I’d be a terrible parent! I really cannot fathom a season of traveling around with kids for these events. Hats off to you! Glad you found something to make your life easier too!
I need to share this with some of my friends whose kids do travel teams. What a great program!
I will have to tell my sister in law about this. her kiddo is in a ton of sports! She will love this. they are always on the road for a game or event!
Looks like a great way to manage your time and bookings better! I can’t imagine this type of life, I grew up in NYC and never had to get driven to practice or book hotel rooms. What a world we live in!
Yes! Anything to make the off-season more about relaxing. I really love the sounds of the database that helps you find something close to the game. Sounds very handy!
I can only imagine how much preparation you would need every year for the traveling. It’s great that you are getting ready so much in advance and these are great tips.
That’s a brilliant idea! Everyone is running a million miles a minute so to be able to efficiently book a hotel at a reasonable price for your son’s sports events is a wonderful thing. I wish this had been around when I was on a travel team as a kid. 🙂
Sometimes it is indeed annoying to spend time and nothing to do. It makes time more dull and longer. Glad you are awesome to find was to keep you guys busy.