MZD Generates Some PR ‘Hits’

2010 Mizuno Hoosier volleyball tournament - More The Indianapolis Star Galleries

View this gallery at The Indianapolis Star: 2010 Mizuno Hoosier volleyball tournament

In what is fast becoming an annual tradition, a journalist covering the annual Mizuno Mid-East Qualifier, an MZD client, took a header from an errant ball that hit him during one of the matches.
 
A FOX news cameraman got hit filming the 2010 Mizuno Mid-East Qualifier in St. Louis. The ball hit him in the face, knocking off his glasses, but he took it in stride and proved to be alright.
 
Last year, WTHR reporter Cat Andersen was hit in the back of the head with a flying volleyball while she was off camera waiting for her next remote. She was also okay.
 
The good news is that, in both cities, MZD was able to get the news, sports and business media to take a strong interest in the tournament. In St. Louis, the local FOX channel covered the event and so did a sports reporter from The St. Louis Business Journal.
 
In Indy, MZD was able to garner a great deal of online coverage in the form of an Indystar.com “photo gallery” which featured 24 images from the tournament taken by a Star photographer. On TV, three stations – WISH-TV, FOX 59 and WTHR Channel 13 – featured the event on its newscasts. Channel 8 anchor/reporter David Barras said he was “blown away” by the scope of the event.
 
The tournament featured some 520 teams and 6,000 girls in Indianapolis. The tournament, according to organizers, was also expected to attract more than 250 college coaches, who were on hand to witness many of the country’s top volleyball players in action. Players from more than 40 states participated in the event.
 
The tournament, which was organized by Capital Sports Center Inc. of Plainfield, Ind., literally unfolded on 63 courts inside the Indiana Convention Center and 60 courts in St. Louis.  
 
“I couldn’t believe how huge this is,” Barras said. “I had no idea there were this many people here.”
 
Tournament director Lance Keating said the tournament provided an economic impact estimate of $18 million in Indy and between $14-15 million in St. Louis.
 
Hopefully, next year the PR hits will be limited to the action on the courts and not send any reporters to the sidelines.