This summer will be the sixth for the Concordia Recreation District No. 3 complex, and it should be filled with a surplus of youth baseball and softball tournaments.

The two main tournaments that should fill the stands, Concordia Dixie Youth President Mike Bowlin said, will come in back-to-back weekends in late July.

The first will be a South State Regionals Dixie Youth Baseball Tournament for ages 10 to 12. It will be from July 13-17 and will host 16 teams.

The next will be an Ozone State Championship for the 12-year-old division on July 20 to 24. The tournament will host eight teams.

“Travel ball has really become popular over the last five or six years,” Bowlin said. “These are the two big ones for us. They should fill up the hotels and restaurants, too.”

Bowlin said while the Concordia complex has had success since its been built, it is still competing with complexes across the state.

“It’s affected everything we have done in the past few years, but there are new complexes popping up all the time,” he said. “We just do our best to focus on the local teams because some of the relatives don’t get to travel to every tournament.”

With the evolving nature of youth sports, Bowlin also said he has seen some interesting changes, including the best way to host a tournament.

“The new thing the kids want is rings,” he said. “They like to hold it up to the camera. Some of them won’t even come to your tournament if you don’t have rings. It’s amazing; they absolutely love them.”

Throughout the summer, Bowlin said locals should also expect district and sub-district all-star tournaments to be sprinkled in the schedule.