We spoke to chief organizer, Vladimír Babic, about how the Europe Select tournament grew from nothing to the biggest selection tournament in Europe in the last three years.

Where did the idea for the Europe Select Tournament come from?

During the COVID period, I thought a lot about how to improve the events we have organized so far and what new things could be done and launched. There was already a select trend in Europe at that time, and the market was expanding – between 2019 and 2023, the number of selects in Europe tripled.

I had a lot of experience in organizing such big events, so I organized the first Europe Select Tournament. At that time we only had initial plans: in the first year we started with only three age groups, with the motto "Let's see how it goes".

How did it go?

The numbers show that in three years it has become one of the biggest (if not the biggest) selection tournament in Europe. In the last 25 years I have been to every major tournament in Europe: Zell am See, Riga, World Talent Tournament, CCM Tournament, Bled, Sweden, Switzerland and also the biggest world junior tournament Pee Wee Cup in Quebec. I must add here that our next event, the Santa Claus Cup, is another major event in the tournament calendar.

All of these major tournaments have a serious organizing team and a lot of behind the scenes work and I have had excellent learning opportunities at these events over the years. I tried to learn tricks and best practices from everyone, which we then use in our tournaments to improve year after year and take our events to the next level.

But the first thought for the Europe Select Tournament was that I wanted it to be the biggest select tournament in Europe - and we are continuing with that aim, apparently effectively. EST is also unique ina a way - that nowhere else are there such large tournaments specialized only for the selection teams, so-called selects.

How did the first tournament go?

At the time we were playing a tournament behind closed doors due to the virus; we kept all participants in a bubble. Everyone had to be tested initially, which had to be repeated every 48 hours. We organized three such tournaments without parents at the Altis Resort in Námestovo, where teams from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Poland participated. Overall, the organization was excellent. We managed to put together a quality tournament with 20 teams. I would also like to thank my friend Mario Melicharek for his help; without him I wouldn't have been able to organize the first tournament and the Europe Select Tournament wouldn't be at the level it is today.

In your sophomore year, you had to move ..

Yes, we started to organize the same thing in Námestovo, but in December we received a message that the Resort was closing and we could no longer organize the tournament there. Although we loved the place and were unhappy about having to move, I didn't despair, but took it as a new challenge. Only a month later, in January, we already agreed on a new venue, which was the newly opened Mátyásföld hall with modern facilities and open-minded owners who supported us from the beginning. Fortunately, this is still the case today, we have developed a very good cooperation and in the meantime our organizational staff has also expanded. Thanks to this, we doubled the number of participants in the new venue in the second year – in 2022, 42 teams from 8 countries competed.

The arrival of the third year brought numerous challenges and the energy crisis came along.

After the problems of the first two years, we were not surprised that the third year also had its obstacles. Scary stories about drastic energy price peaks spread across Europe, which forced us to negotiate and agree on new conditions several times. Practice has shown that when things are worst, you have to plan and dream, that's why we started organizing the third Europe Select tournament in October. After many meetings and negotiations, 60 teams from 13 countries are coming to Budapest this year.

What are your plans for the future? What are your goals for the next four years?

There are many open questions here, but one thing is certain, we don't want to stop; this is not the final plan and, of course, there is still room for improvement and pushing the boundaries. I want to have a much bigger selection tournament in Europe within a few years. We have several options to consider and think about. Of course, there is also the question of whether to expand the event to more rinks within Budapest or to move the series of tournaments to another country. For now, however, we are focused on making the 2023 tournament the best possible experience for all participants.