From the Wickliffe Italian American Club on 6/18/18:
Good Afternoon!
We hope this post finds you well. Please read all the way through, important information below.
We would like to announce this years registration for the 35th annual Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce is now open! The link below will take you to our new online registration form, which is the only way you can register your team until July 10. We are still guaranteeing your entry until July 1, if you are a team from 2017.
A few things different this year include:
ONLINE REGISTRATION: This year, unlike prior years, we will offer an online registration form. This move is meant to be more convenient to team captains, upgrade our communications, populate our online bracket and phone APP that will allow players, friends, and family a more interactive experience. We acknowledge that there is a $7.50 convenience fee attached to online applications (Charged by PAYPAL), and to help mitigate that cost and as a promotion for online applications, the Club we will be giving each team that registers online, $10 in drink tickets.
The only access is through a link (posted to our website (www.wickliffeianda.com), social media sites, and this email). http://wickliffeianda.com/…/bocce-cleveland-challenge-cup-…/
GIFT UPGRADE: Our committee and Club members believe 35 Years is something special, we have upgraded our team gift to dry-fit, newly designed shirts.
RECORD PAYOUT: To address some suggestions from prior years, we are limiting the number of places we are paying to 12, and increasing the payouts across the places, paying a record $7,500 for first place.
Lastly, the past several years we have heard from players, captains and read on social media, that our payout is not 100%. We are not looking to get into a long, drawn-out discussion on the finer points of running our tournament or our club. We will point out a couple of facts that make a 100% payout something that does now allow for a 100% payout for this year or years past:
The Wickliffe Italian-American Club is a non-profit organization, and has been such for over 80 years,
We have given >$20,000 in scholarships to local high school seniors annually, this tournament is officially our largest fundraiser for that cause,
We operate a 10-acre facility and there is a cost to upkeep and operate,
The experience we offer the weekend of the tournament (entertainment, shuttle service, give-aways, facilities, etc…) is one that entails a culmination of cost and hard work by our volunteers, including our members, ladies auxiliary, and students from the local schools, and we do not intend to operate at a loss.
We appreciate your understanding, and while we don’t field a large volume of criticism, we did want to address those that have taken to social media and want to put out facts regarding this topic. If you still have questions about the payout or tournament in general, please limit the dialogue to a phone call to Paul DiCicco (440-552-1865) or Tony Continenza (440-477-3255). (you may also reply to this email)
We truly appreciate your patronage and support over the years and look forward to seeing ALL of you in late August for another great tournament. It is not the same tournament without you…
Please see attached form for information, payouts, and contact info if you have questions. Forward this email to anyone we might have missed…
Thanks,
Tournament Committee
Cleveland Challenge Cup of Bocce
