Poteau gets state tournament

Some congratulations are in order today as Poteau was awarded the 2011 Midget State Tournament for July 12-16.

Dr. Steve Smith did the legwork and secured the bid for Poteau with the help of local OK Kids president Jerry Pitchford and other supporters.

The tournament has been held at Weatherford the last few years and getting the tournament is a big coup.

Eight teams along with families, friends and supporters were descend on Poteau that week and as Pitchford said in his statement, stay in our hotels, visit our restaurants and see what the area has to offer.

This should provide a big economic boost to the county. There are no solid numbers on how many visitors will come to the area, but if you consider there are eight teams with at least 10 players on each team, along with coaches, parents and family, and they will need to eat, get refreshments, gas, and need a place to stay, our area should benefit.

This is the first time in recent memory, if not the first time ever, an OK Kids state tournament will be held in the county. Usually, the tournaments are held in more central locations as towns from throughout the state participate in OK Kids.

The Midget group is for youth aged 11-12. Games will be held at the PARC that week.

To get the state tournament, organizers have to bid on the event. Naturally, Poteau is not centrally located and there had to be some reluctance to send teams from clear across the state to southeastern Oklahoma.

But Smith and Pitchford showed Poteau had the facilities and abilities to host the tournament.

In addition, the week before the state tournament, regional tournaments for Coach Pitch will be held at Heavener, a PeeWee regional is scheduled for Spiro and a Prep regional will come to Panama.

So congratulations to all those who worked so hard to bring the state and regional tournaments to our area. We need to roll out the red carpet and welcome our visitors and show them how good this part of the state is and hopefully they will come back again…and again.