You can get here from there; an expert itinerary for team travel.

You don't win more than 150 consecutive football games dating back to 1991 without a sound, successful, and proven game plan.

So it's no surprise that De La Salle High School of Concord, CA, incorporates the same kind of decision-making when it comes to going on the road. The program's travel itinerary is meticulous, methodical, precise, and complete. Pretty much the same things you would hear from one of its foes following a loss.

"We try to make it seem like a regular school day so that the kids adhere to their daily routines up until they leave the school grounds around the same time the normal school day begins," says Terry Eidson, athletic director and defensive coordinator for the No. 1 ranked prep football team in the country.

Eidson and head coach Bob Ladouceur have a litany of tried and true travel customs.

Depending on where the team travels, the first priority is to minimize loss of classes. Since most of De La Salle's games are in state and within driving distance of its Northern California campus, the preference is to depart the day before a game. The team tries to avoid driving long distances and playing that same day.

For short hops, De La Salle uses a regular school bus. Next year, when the Spartans travel to Salinas to play Palma High--about a two-hour trip--they'll do so in a chartered coach-style bus.

If the team flies, as it did to Hawaii last season, the staff begins planning seven or eight months in advance. The team uses a travel agent whose sons went to De La Salle, and whom Eidson has known for years. Getting a travel agent you can trust is very important.

"We allow ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport so there are no problems with ticketing, etc.," Eidson says. "We assemble the kids in one big line at the airport, then give them their tickets so they can get their boarding passes and immediately have the tickets returned. Those are some of the little small things that can go haywire."

In keeping with its penchant for routine, the coaches try to set up an away practice at the same time it would at home. That means it secures a field near the hotel where it is staying. Other routines include sleeping two to a room and eliminating any outside distractions by turning off the telephones and pay-per-view movies.

"We also hand out an itinerary to the kids ahead of time so they know exactly what is going to be happening, where they are going, what the practice plan is," says Eidson. "We tell the parents that they are more than welcome to treat a road trip as a vacation, but we discourage them from staying at the same hotel as their kids. We don't tell anyone where we will be staying."

Even details like arranging for the transportation of equipment are addressed.

"When we travel in California, we do not travel with our equipment," Eidson says. "We get a U-Haul and have one our player's parents drive it to the game. This way we don't have to deal with it, especially at the airport. When we went to Hawaii, we actually drove the equipment to the airport the night before and had it loaded up ahead of time. We constantly take precautions like that."

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

High school programs are not immune to extensive travel. Take prep football power Evangel Christian Academy, a small private school in Shreveport, LA, that traveled from coast to coast this season.

The Eagles' travels are done out of necessity as opposed to preference. Winners of three of the previous four State 5A titles, Evangel Christian has had trouble finding in-state opponents and have to scramble to fill the void.

Evangel Christian made bus trips and overnight stays to play Suwannee of Live Oak, Fla., and Hoover, the defending Alabama Class 6A state champion. The Eagles then made an historic journey Oct. 24 to play De La Salle. It was the first high school football game ever televised nationally.

"An overnight stay is not something that I recommend," says Dennis Dunn, head coach and AD at Evangel. "We've had to do it but it's just not good for the kids. No. 1, they're away from home and normally the night before a game they don't sleep well because of the change of scenery. They're excited so they don't really rest well, which can have side effects on their game day performance. Their eating habits also change."

To offset expenses, teams that travel typically split the gate with the home team. If you're a high profile program like De La Salle or Evangel Christian, the travel costs are complimentary. Paragon Marketing Group of Chicago, which arranged the De La Salle-Evangel game, picked up the Eagles travel expenses to California.

The Evangel Football Booster Club helped raise funds to defer football expenses to Florida and Alabama by holding a concert featuring Christian rock bands and traditional gospel groups.

"From a logistical standpoint, the greatest thing is to have good help," says Dunn. "It's essential for all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into the making of a smooth trip. Fortunately, we have great secretarial help and a terrific booster club who put in the tough hours that the coaches need out on the field."

Another way to allay problems is by having the host schools help visiting schools with the little details like recommending restaurants or suggesting accommodations near the stadium.

"We try to be very good hosts, let the visitors know where to go, the good hotels, the good places," says Eidson. "When I call a coach, one thing I like to do, depending on where they stay, is help combat the cost of hotels that have expensive in-service food. I tell the coach to do what we do and that is, find all-you-can-eat places, a Denny's for breakfast, or a buffet-style place.

"Then we kind of set things up with area restaurants by haggling with them. We say, 'We're bringing a football team with 60 guys. We would like a room set up. Can you accommodate us?' And they're usually very good at doing that."

According to Eidson, negotiating deals is a must. And as he has discovered, most places will be receptive: "When you go to Denny's, you don't order the Grand Slam breakfast. The last time we went to a Denny's, we ordered off the menu. It was like $8.50 per kid, including tip. We could order whatever we wanted and as much as we wanted. They put us in our own little spot. We had our own waitresses."

As for hotel deals, it depends on a variety of factors such as location, time of year, how business is for a particular hotel for that week, and the state of the economy.

"Some hotels are going to fill up regardless and aren't going to negotiate anything," Eidson adds. "We always tell them that we're not IBM. We're a high school. You should always ask for a group rate and negotiate price."

Eidson is adamant about coaches being extremely vigilant when it comes to team travel. He stresses responsibility in regards to bed checks, keeping close tabs on players at all times, and limiting free time so the players don't get into trouble. They are, after all, just kids.

Instead, he encourages his players to stay in their rooms, play with their video games, and consort with one another to build team unity.

"It depends on the coach's philosophy," says Eidson. "The more business like he makes it, the easier it is to handle."

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Imagine if you will, taking a one-day vacation with an entourage of 110 people. That's the daunting task that confronts Jim Elsasser, Assistant Athletic Director for Internal Affairs at Bowling Green State University, for every away football game.

Bowling Green is a member of the 14-school Mid-American Conference, that, although it has members in Buffalo, NY and Orlando, FL, is mainly comprised of schools in close proximity of one another-Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois--that enables teams to travel to away games via bus.

Bowling Green typically brings between 100-110 people to away games and dresses 60 players for MAC contests. The Falcons travel from their Ohio campus via Lakefront Lines of Toledo, a company they have used for a decade.

"Bowling Green is pretty much centrally located in the MAC," says Elsasser, who's been handling all football-related travel for the last eight years. "We can bus everywhere. For the most part, we use three, 55- passenger busses that we charter for the entire season. Our longest trip is six hours to Northern Illinois and our shortest is 20 minutes up the road to Toledo. It makes our travel pretty good. The only time we would be chartering a flight would be to non-conference road games.

"The only time you have logistical nightmares is when you start dealing with charter flights. Because you're now dealing with a charter company that is piggy-backing one team on top of another, you also have to deal with weather delays, plane delays, and mechanical delays. We have our share of war stories where planes are three and four hours late. When you are going by ground and by bus, you're pretty much in good shape in terms of controlling your itinerary."

Elsasser begins scheduling those standard 55-passenger coaches, replete with TV's, VCR's, and a bathroom, in early April. It costs $4,500 to charter three busses per trip. Hotel reservations are booked eight to 10 months in advance or as soon as the upcoming schedule is released.

He works closely with the hotel catering and sales people to arrange for all the meals and meeting space. As the trip draws closer, he gets rooming lists, finalizes meal information, secures guarantee numbers, and develops an itinerary.

Bowling Green leaves on a Friday for a Saturday game. A 24 to 28-foot Ryder rental truck is sent ahead to transport the team equipment. Whether the Falcons decide to practice upon arrival or go straight to the hotel will be contingent upon what time the team leaves.

"The key to establishing a solid itinerary is to do it early," Elsasser says. "Look at all the details and make sure all your needs are met. When dealing with hotels, you will often want to make sure they have handled a team before and are thus familiar with the nuances of football travel."

RELATED ARTICLE: The Ultimate Road Trip By Kevin Newell

No matter what sport you play, no matter where you want to go, there are many companies who specialize in sports team-related travel both domestic and international.

The Kissimmee-St. Cloud Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.floridakiss.com) is the perfect place to book travel to the Orlando, FL area. Its sports marketing department focuses on bringing sporting events to its facilities and competitors, coaches, families and fans to its hotels, restaurants, and attractions.

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"We have a wide variety of sports that we can host," says K.P. Clements, Kissimmee's sports marketing manager. "That includes the traditional sports like soccer, softball, and baseball, as well as events such as fishing tournaments and BMX races.

"With the addition with our newest facility, Osceola Heritage Park, we can host such events as cheer-leading, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, and all on a grander scale with the Silver Spurs Arena, which has a capacity of 8,300."

Excel Sports of Laurel, MD arranges soccer tours from the U.S. to Europe for 12-year-old youth teams up through the professional ranks.

"Every team travels for different reasons and they have different goals to achieve," says president Eric McAleer. "Some want to go for preseason training, some want to go for team building, some want to go for an end-of-the-season award trip, some want gung-ho tournaments. There are different variables for different groups."

McAleer says the high school market has been great for his company, mostly because the rules on the prep level can be bent. For example, in Maryland, a high school soccer team can't start practice until Aug. 15., and coaches cannot coach out of season. To counteract that, McAleer says teams can get a sizeable jump on the competition by going to Europe on Aug. 1. Collegiate teams can only travel every fourth year as per NCAA regulations.

Excel (www.excelsports.net) provides certified and licensed coaches, many accredited with at the European "A" level. The coach, who travels free, comes along as if he's on vacation and watches the games and practice.

David Eby of World Sport (www.worldsport-tours.com), a former Division III baseball player, prefers to focus on the student-athlete travel experience, mixing sports with historical and cultural activities abroad.

A full-service tour company that focuses only on amateur athletic teams, World Sport specializes in international sports tours. Eby says that 65% of his clientele are high school and college teams. He concentrates the bulk of his efforts on baseball and softball because, having been a collegiate baseball player, he knows it best. Football has too much liability, he says.

The company also brokers trips for other sports such as golf, soccer, wrestling, volleyball, and hockey to countries such as Australia, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, People's Republic of China, and Russia. Eby sent the U. of Notre Dame softball team to Australia.

So what do schools need to know before they go?

"They have to decide why they want to go - as a preseason tune-up or for hardcore games," says Eby. "What is the philosophy behind it? Also, whomever they decide to work with, they've got to know that they can trust that company. There are companies that will shine very bright, and then be gone after a year, either because they don't know what they are doing, or because they don't know how to handle the business.

Holland and Australia are hot destinations for baseball teams, hosting big-time tournaments like the Apeldoorn Baseball Series in Holland and Australia's Gold Coast Classic in Surfer's Paradise and the Pan Pacific Challenge, Southern Cross Challenge, and Holloway Memorial all in Brisbane.

World Sports Travel Ltd. (www.worldsportstravel.com), based in Vancouver, British Columbia, focuses on Western Canada. It is part of a network of sports travel agencies that arranges matches, provides training facilities, and organizes tournaments.

"Can coaches' by-pass the middleman and go right to the ground agency?," asks Mike MacMillan, the company' owner. "Sure, but I don't recommend it. Those who have organized their own tours abroad know what I'm talking about. Personally, I don't think it's worth the aggravation. I can't speak for all sports agencies, but most let the coaches travel for free. So why bother?"