Airo Nation is Reestablishing the Importance of High School Team 7v7 Tournaments
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
If one spends enough time on life’s merry-go-round, you will often find that what was once old becomes new again. An old format in football that proved to be important for a time had got lost in the shuffle – scholastic 7v7 tournaments.
The craze for all-star 7v7 teams pairing top regional talents against other regional talents took hold helping players up their overall game against other highly regarded players but took the high school team bonding and team building portion out of the original event. The tide is turning once again leading teams back into the fold with their padded fall brethren recapturing the intent of the event. The group leading the way is Airo.
Airo was co-founded by David Menard with founder of the U.S. Army All-American Game, Richard McGuiness. In a couple of short years, Airo is now the nation’s leading 7v7 scholastic tournament organizers estimating 500 junior high and high school teams from across the country will display their skill sets in one of their many tournaments involving some 11,00 players in 2016.
The group just wrapped, with great success, a 7v7 tournament at Redondo Union High School in the Los Angeles area. Nearly 60 high school teams from southern and central California took part along with over 20 junior high teams. Jack Alexander, Class of 2018 starting quarterback for Redondo Union High School, was one of the many to compete. Alexander summed up his thoughts on the event stating, “The Airo 7v7 Tourney provided a great opportunity for schools to compete against each other with a good level of competition and intensity. Even though we weren’t in pads, the tournament allowed the schools to build chemistry and prepare early for the upcoming season.”
The excitement generated by the tournament went beyond the players. Bert Esposito, a coach (Paloma Valley High School) and president of the Southern California Interscholastic Football Coaches Association added his thoughts as well, “My kids had a blast and we are all so thankful for being a part of the first state tournament and especially for winning it. Esposito went on to state, “(Airo) did a great job and I hope that this starts a great future of offseason football.”
The tournament even had some celebrity swag to it with rapper Snoop Dog’s producer and head coach, Coach Fly, talking about his Rising Stars championship win with Slaughterhouse, “The 7v7 Adidas Tournament this past weekend that my Slaughterhouse 7v7 team was honored to be invited to, was and is viewed as a huge success by my entire program. The fact that we brought home the first place prize was definitely our highlight but not the determining factor in my appreciation of the event. Everything was first rate from top to bottom.”
Menard was impressed by the level of talent California had on display, “I think California and the reputation they have for great talent is confirmed by us. We have seen 7v7 throughout the country. California is known for good coaching and good quarterback play, we saw both on display. The coaching was remarkable and the QB play was amazing. Even the 7th and 8th graders were very talented. That speaks volumes to what they are doing to prepare for the future in California.”
Airo has tournaments planned in 10 states this summer with an eye to expand to even more states in 2017, “California is the lone tournament in the west. We are in the process of working with other groups for regional play throughout California and on the west coast. We have plans to put an office on the west coast with a full operation that includes marketing and sales, all that we do on the east coast.”
Plans for expansion go beyond regional tournaments. Menard added more to Airo’s growing vision of the future with, “We want a regular 7v7 tournament that will be a statewide tournament.”
The thought and motivation behind Airo’s tournaments are simple while filling an important gap missing by the lack of focus on scholastic 7v7 events. Menard summed up the overall mission of Airo stating, “We phrase everything as the second season. The first season is tackle football in the fall, and the second season is everything else outside of it. There is no offseason in football anymore. We are the largest 7v7 platform in the country right now. We are creating that second season. With our tournaments, teams are getting more training work with coaches and teammates. We are really excited about the future of our tournaments.”
Airo’s other 2016 tournament sites includes Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Registration for upcoming Airo 7v7 tournaments
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