Roger R.
Yelp
I was disappointed given all the hype about the opportunity for our girls attending the AAU Junior National Tournament to play at the ESPN WWOS Complex. In fairness, I'm not sure this is all a reflection of the Complex; part of the responsibility rests with the AAU decision to have the girls play there in the first place.
There issues were thus:
When kids (and I'm sure most adults) think ESPN, they immediately think they might be on TV. The facility we played in was essentially a large sport complex with no out of the ordinary accoutrements - and no TV cameras.
More importantly, someone decided that the courts should be arranged 3 across with bleacher seating only available on either side of the space. That meant that, for many parents paying handsomely and sacrificing greatly to attend this tournament, we had to watch our girls play, and try to cheer for them, OVER an ongoing game right in front of us!
It was difficult, especially for parents with less that 20/20 vision, to see the scores of any games, particularly those in the center courts, as the scores were kept on the old-fashion flip score cards with a font so small it could barely be seen from the sidelines.
I would think a company with the resources that ESPN has could surely have had some sort of lighted score boards or even a jumbotron on which to post the scores - perhaps giving players and spectators the sense that they were playing in a place more special than the one they had been playing in during the last few days (which, by the way, was also much more convenient to their hotels). The score cards were the same low-tech used at the beginning of the tournament at the Orange County Convention center where, at least, parents and other spectators could see the action and the score from court-side seats.