The Ultimate Youth Sports Tournament Travel Guide

As summer kicks off, so does youth sports tournament season — bringing with it long drives, chaotic hotels, early flights and hot days on the field. Whether it’s your first tournament or your 10th, this guide outlines the best tips to help you stay organized, save money and keep your sanity all weekend long.

What and How to Pack

For outdoor tournaments, it’s important to prepare for long days and all weather on the field.

• Pack extra clothes for you and your kids — sweat, rain and dirt are guaranteed.
• Bring an umbrella for rain or sun.
• In case of rain, trash bags are perfect to cover backpacks. A dry, smelly backpack is bad, but a wet one is even worse.
• Don’t forget sunscreen, sunglasses and hats for everyone.

On the other hand, be sure to layer up for indoor tournaments, air conditioning in gyms can be freezing. A hoodie or light jacket is a must.

Tournament days can be really long and having a place to sit is crucial. Bring folding chairs, bleacher seats, beach chairs, or picnic blankets — anything beats the ground or hard bleachers for all-day events.

We love this portable stadium seat or

This folding chair for the sidelines

What should you keep in your bag? Be prepared on the sidelines with these things on hand:

• Basic First Aid: Bandaids, Neosporin/Cortisone cream
• Mini Pharmacy: Ibuprofen, allergy meds, Tums, cough drops
• Hair ties, a brush, and deodorant
• A portable phone charger. Between taking photos, checking schedules, and texting team chats, your battery will disappear fast
• Paper towels, wipes, and reusable utensils

Other tips for what to pack:

• Bring a cooler backpack to keep snacks cold and easy to carry. These are especially useful for travel that involves flying.
• • This cooler backpack is a great option
• Pack reusable travel cups for coffee and hydration.
• • We love this one
• Pack extra gear! Someone is bound to forget something (socks, shin guards, gloves, knee pads, pants, etc.). Come prepared to save the day with backup gear.
• Ziplock bags or extra trash bags are great for dirty gear or wet clothes.

Tournament Day

Tips for game day fuel:

• Whether you’re packing for a long drive or stopping at the grocery store in a new spot, fruits and veggies like apples, grapes and carrots make for a great snack.
• Other snacks like Goldfish, rice crispy treats, trail mix, granola bars, cheese sticks and meat sticks are also tasty, reliable choices.
• Freeze water bottles overnight — that way they double as ice packs and you’ll have cold water to drink later in the day when they melt.
• Coordinate a halftime snack with the other parents. A cooler of orange slices or watermelon will go a long way for athletes in the middle of a hot day.

Other tournament day tips:

• Screenshot key info: Game times, field/court numbers, opponent names, brackets and maps — cell service is often unreliable at venues.
• If your athlete has an expensive water bottle or backpack, attach an AirTag to it. It might save you from a panicked post-game search through a massive venue.

Travel Tips

• Leave extra early on Day 1. Parking, check-in and finding the field always takes longer than expected.
• If you are flying, be sure to book your departure flight later than you think. Oftentimes, kids have to miss games to catch early flights due to weather delays or championship game times.
• Carpooling isn’t just for kids! Parents, siblings, and gear can all ride together — it makes logistics easier and parking less chaotic.

Bonus tip: Carpool with the coach! The coach already needs to be early, know all of the information and choose a meetup spot. If you arrive with them, you save yourself from any stress.

Hotel Hacks

First and foremost, be sure to coordinate with the whole team when booking a hotel. That way, athletes can spend time with each other and eat meals together. Not only is it fun, but is helps with planning logistics and team activities.

Food tips:

• If you plan to have group meals, collect money in advance — it avoids awkward splits and saves time.
• Look into hosting a team dinner in a hotel conference room. Catered food and BYOB is easier, cheaper and more fun.
• Be sure to book a hotel with free breakfast for easy coffee, fruit and bagel access before games.
• When you check-in, make sure to ask where the ice machines are located!
• Pack a plug-in cooler to keep your own groceries and snacks cold in the room.

Surviving stinky gear: When your kid’s cleats have been through back-to-back games in 100-degree heat and they smell like a science experiment gone wrong and you're stuck in a hotel room with no balcony or ventilation options, desperate times call for desperate measures.

• Try this legendary hack: The hotel safe. Not exactly what it was designed for, but in a pinch, locking the stink inside can provide a temporary (and much-needed) break. Not the most considerate for the next guest, but sometimes survival outweighs etiquette.

• Another option is to bring a drawstring bag with dryer sheets to store gear more discreetly and keep smells at bay.

Washing uniforms and gear is, of course, the best way to fight odors. If this is your plan, be sure to choose a hotel with washer and dryer access.

• Pack Tide Pods. It is much cheaper than having to buy a whole bottle of detergent at the store.
• Bring your own quarters as many hotels don’t have change.
• If you plan to do a group wash, mesh laundry bags for each kid’s laundry help avoid lost or mixed-up uniforms.

Bonus Tips:

• Ask for a room on the 2nd or 3rd floor — it avoids long waits for elevators and is still easy to get to via stairs.
• Bring a sound machine or white noise app to help kids wind down and sleep through hotel noise.

Tournament weekends are packed, but with a little planning and a few creative hacks, they can be way less stressful and way more fun. Whether you're heading to a sun-scorched field or an over-air-conditioned gym, these tips will help you travel like a seasoned team parent.