Watching Thanksgiving From the Sidelines

Families Forgo Turkeys To Get Kids to Tourneys

Thousands of groggy parents will drag themselves out of bed tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning, pack their children and coolers into minivans and hit the road.

But it's not to grandmother's house they'll go. For many families, Thanksgiving has come to embody a new tradition: a ritual that speaks volumes about an increasingly busy and competitive world. Turkey and gravy are losing out as parents race to get their kids to the countless sports tournaments during the holiday.

There are hockey tournaments, national youth football championships and baseball fall nationals.

The numbers involved are often astounding. Each year, as many as 13,000 players, coaches and parents from across the country flock to Daytona Beach, Fla., and Las Vegas for what is billed as "The Largest Single Weekend Football Tournament in the World." More than a dozen multi-rink hockey tournaments dot the mid-Atlantic, drawing hordes of teams from Reston to Great Neck, N.Y. The premiere event in U.S. field hockey also coincides with Thanksgiving, bringing thousands to Palm Springs, Calif., for the National Hockey Festival.

"It's crazy this time of the year," said Chip Taylor of Annapolis, who runs a travel agency Web site for amateur teams. For this weekend alone, he has booked 1,500 hotel rooms, mostly for families heading to hockey tournaments.

Some of the games are crucial to maintain players' rankings. Many are well attended by college recruiters. And most offer a level of play difficult to find elsewhere.

And so, over the years, families have modernized the celebration of the holiday. They make turkey sandwiches for the road. They book hotel rooms with kitchenettes that can produce modest-size feasts. Some set out as early as 3 a.m. Thanksgiving day and give thanks along the way for the deserted roads.

"The roads are mostly empty except for other families as crazy as you," said D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), who spent last Thanksgiving in South Carolina and last Christmas in California so that his son could play for an elite national-level baseball team. "It's easy to recognize another sports family. It's like a culture of its own."

For those planning such trips, one popular strategy is to hold Thanksgiving feasts Wednesday to clear Thursday for travel.

"That's the way we did it for years, because you don't want to eat and run. Think about all the leftovers; you can't just leave all that behind," said Kathleen Otto, an Alexandria mother and veteran of Thanksgiving tournaments.

Hockey has been her family's blessing and burden ever since her son Kevin got hooked by a Mighty Ducks movie in first grade. Now, Kevin is 17, and the family's holiday calendar revolves around his practices and games. Otto often does her Black Friday shopping with other team mothers at outlet malls they pass on the way to games in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Her husband, Ed, plots strategy for avoiding traffic on the return. And when relatives visit, they take them to whatever tournament they're headed to.

"It's a family affair," Ed said.