- Jun 12, 2015
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- 83
This year I've noticed more than before how different tournament directors are. We've been playing a wide variety of organizations and I thought it might be interesting to talk about some of our best and worst experiences.
Best:
A couple of weeks ago we played an ASA tournament. Around here ASA has fallen away a good bit but they had a decent number of teams so we signed up. I finished the weekend baffled as to why more teams don't play in this director's tournaments. The scheduled was out several days in advance. They had the score boards manned the whole day. They dragged and relined the fields between every game. Overall the umpires were good on all the fields we played on and I heard few complaints from anyone else. The championship was scheduled for 8 pm and started at 8:15. It was probably the best run tournament we've ever played in with any team.
Worst:
We played a USFA last month. The director emailed the coaches to say he wasn't going to be staying around for the tournament. He refuses to send out a schedule or bracket; you have to harass him to get a team list. He will send the coach the first game time and that's all. You have to harass him more to get who you're playing and any other information. Every person who asks, he says, "You're the first person who's ever asked me that." He said that to me and I know of at least 3 other people he's said that to. When you get there, the pool schedule and bracket are hand drawn on a sheet of paper. You have no way to plan or strategize in advance since you have no idea who you'll play against until you get there.
He had way too many teams for the number of fields and umpires he got. There was a point where teams had VERY long breaks (I'm talking 5 hours) with fields sitting there empty. The umpires (what umpires there were) were pretty bad on every field. They got way, way behind schedule. They had a gold and silver bracket, and we had to wait for the silver bracket championship to finish before we could play because they sent the umpires home, which took over an hour. I think we finished around 2am, IIRC something like 3 hours behind schedule.
Against our better judgment we played another of his yesterday. It was the only one we could find with good competition in a reasonable driving distance. Once again, they had long, long breaks with fields sitting empty. Once again, too many teams on too few fields. Once again the director didn't stay. All the same issues as the first one, only this one they also had a handwritten note under the bracket that due to weather, they were unable to get trophies. It rained a little bit Friday night; otherwise I have no idea what weather they were referring to. It's May in GA, not much extreme weather going on (no tornadoes recently that I know of, the main weather threat here this time of year). It was very strange to play in the championship then just shake hands and go home. DD really doesn't care much about the trophies but still, it's pretty bad to not have any for a tournament that's been scheduled for months.
What do you think makes a good tournament director or a bad one?
Best:
A couple of weeks ago we played an ASA tournament. Around here ASA has fallen away a good bit but they had a decent number of teams so we signed up. I finished the weekend baffled as to why more teams don't play in this director's tournaments. The scheduled was out several days in advance. They had the score boards manned the whole day. They dragged and relined the fields between every game. Overall the umpires were good on all the fields we played on and I heard few complaints from anyone else. The championship was scheduled for 8 pm and started at 8:15. It was probably the best run tournament we've ever played in with any team.
Worst:
We played a USFA last month. The director emailed the coaches to say he wasn't going to be staying around for the tournament. He refuses to send out a schedule or bracket; you have to harass him to get a team list. He will send the coach the first game time and that's all. You have to harass him more to get who you're playing and any other information. Every person who asks, he says, "You're the first person who's ever asked me that." He said that to me and I know of at least 3 other people he's said that to. When you get there, the pool schedule and bracket are hand drawn on a sheet of paper. You have no way to plan or strategize in advance since you have no idea who you'll play against until you get there.
He had way too many teams for the number of fields and umpires he got. There was a point where teams had VERY long breaks (I'm talking 5 hours) with fields sitting there empty. The umpires (what umpires there were) were pretty bad on every field. They got way, way behind schedule. They had a gold and silver bracket, and we had to wait for the silver bracket championship to finish before we could play because they sent the umpires home, which took over an hour. I think we finished around 2am, IIRC something like 3 hours behind schedule.
Against our better judgment we played another of his yesterday. It was the only one we could find with good competition in a reasonable driving distance. Once again, they had long, long breaks with fields sitting empty. Once again, too many teams on too few fields. Once again the director didn't stay. All the same issues as the first one, only this one they also had a handwritten note under the bracket that due to weather, they were unable to get trophies. It rained a little bit Friday night; otherwise I have no idea what weather they were referring to. It's May in GA, not much extreme weather going on (no tornadoes recently that I know of, the main weather threat here this time of year). It was very strange to play in the championship then just shake hands and go home. DD really doesn't care much about the trophies but still, it's pretty bad to not have any for a tournament that's been scheduled for months.
What do you think makes a good tournament director or a bad one?