Tropical 7s Expanding With Close to 180 Teams

02.08.2023Elite 7s

The Tropical 7s is almost full and will have close to 180 teams this year as it has found room to expand.

The move to Tampa has managed to retain the Florida-ness of the tournament despite not being in Orlando anymore, and in addition has the larger venue with enough fields to handle the massive turnout.

Tournament Director John Siner says the expansion of the event “keeps us hustling,” and certainly it has become a full-time endeavor for him.

“It is full-on,” he said.

With over 50 volunteers helping and a massive referee budget (flying in and putting up as many as 50 officials), and 14 fields, this is a huge undertaking.

Some highlights regarding the brackets:

The U18 Girls Open bracket has expanded to 24 teams and is now accepting wait list registrations.
U16 Boys split into two brackets, Elite and Open. That has been enormously successful.
The U12 Co-ed has also been very successful and is close to being full.
The interest in U18 Boys and Girls Elite has been very strong.
The University/U23 bracket was popular last year among compilation teams, but this year, said Siner, regular college teams are embracing the concept.

Canadian teams are coming back as that country’s rather draconian COVID rules have started to ease. That has been a very positive development for the tournament and certainly it’s an important part of the calendar for the Canadian teams.

The Tropical 7s is held April 7-8, with an athlete combine following. Details can be found at Tropical7s.com.

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