INPUT WANTED re: running tournaments

Having had a summer full of events, here are my good, bad and ugly lists...

Good:
Tying the event to the community - make it more than just a bunch of games. We went to Omaha for an event during the college world series - and as part of the fees got general admission tickets to a CWS game. Next week we will be at an event in LA - where we get discounted Disneyland Tickets as well as a movie on the field night and a clinic with the cal state fullerton baseball coaches and players.

Shade for the dugouts - if the benches are not covered, a tarp or awning to provide a little shade can make a huge difference.

Per field tournment hosts - not for rulings or anything - just to facilitate - where are the restrooms, where can I find a store to buy XYZ, run get baseballs, officials for rulings etc.... If they have a copy of the brackets, a decent map if the fields are not all in the same place, a cell phone to call for help from the tournment director, and a first aid kit all the better.


Bad:
Pushing too many games onto too few fields... time limits are bad enough - but build cushion into the event to make sure that when things fall behind, you can get back on schedule.

All dirt infields with high school age players - a very bad idea that is just dangerous...

Umpires - make sure all umps know what rules the event is being played under - it can get ugly when the "team" of umps don't agree on the rules (Fed vs OBR)

Ugly:
Portable pitching mounds... they should all be burned - or melted... never a good idea - but especially when an average sized picher is off the end of the mound and landing on a flat surface.

Skipping between game maintenance - a quick drag, a little fresh chalk, and a little water goes a long way...

Charging to refill a water jug out of the kitchen tap - when the weather is over 100 degrees...

Very good list 08Dad!

Having lots of great parents that are willing to work their butts off is absolute key! Remind them up front that, yes, people are still needed to be working things while "their" team is playing!

SoutherNo1, if you want to see how to run an excellent tournament, go to www.westcoastsummerseries.com and check it out. Phil Singer is the guy who runs this tournament, which is going on right now, and he does an excellent job.

This year, Phil has twenty four 18u teams competing in his wood bat tournement. He does all the little things right, he offers a lodging assistance service, has discount arrangements for rental vehicles, good fields with field coordinators at each location, college level umpires, he gives every player participating a tournament tee shirt - at no cost (he includes this in the team's entry fee, smart idea!), he provides a hosted dinner the night before the tournament for all the head coaches to go over rules and get acquainted, he provides complimentary discount cards to some good local area restaurants, and a rest day (today) is included in the schedule to facilitate everyone having a day to play tourist in the San Diego area. Best of all, he attracts quality teams from a broad geographic area. This year's tournament has teams from Northern CA, Southern CA, Washington, Illinois and Kansas. It is my team's favorite tournament each summer.

This guy does it right!

To me, the absolute #1 thing, is quality umpires. We've played on great fields against quality competition but the umpires were doo doo--many times both ways.

06:

I have heard great things about the west coast summer series as well... I like the idea of the t-shirts in the entry cost - kids love to get the t-shirts and this way you know how many you will sell...

SoutherNo1:

Here is a link to the event in Southern California I was referring to:

http://www.ccyb.net/worldseries.htm


Just another place to look for ideas...

JT:

Don't get me started on the umps this weekend... oh my....

Good: Tournaments with websites that post scores, game recaps, schedules, updates, rosters, directions to fields, links to local resturants and activities. Refer to the Perfect Game WWBA web sites for excellent examples.

Bad: Stacked pools so the host team gets an easy entry into bracket play.

Communication,Communication,Communication. You have to be able to let everyone including parents and fans know what is going on at all times. These are the times of gadgets and gizmo's. Run a web site that is updated on a regular basis. Allot of tourny's have them but don't update them. Allot of relatives can't make the journy but will follow the web. Allow for mother nature and give one day in the middle for rain games. Will releive allot of headaches later on.

Try having a list of nice hotels listed around the area of the tournament. We had a tournament last week, players and coaches had to stay in dorms, and the closest hotels for parents to stay in were very bad. We also had to travel to a field an hour away from the dorms which defintly wasn't fun.

Tanthrough makes an excellent point. Perfect Game leads those who know how to run excellent tournaments. We've found every PG tournament that we've played in to be very well run by capable people.

I highlighted the summer series, as this is a local guy running only two tournaments this year. We're currently playing in this tournament and it is outstanding.

If I had anything I wish PG would change, it would only be to offer more tournaments out west. They had some this year, and they were very well run. Now it's time to expand the offerings out here, especially with $3.00 gasoline.

Tournament Umpires.......

Too many times a tourney will do everything right until they reach the one thing that is a significant cost factor and that is umpires...

They have income coming in from registration fees, concessions, parking, t-shirt sales, 50/50's and so on....and to maximize that revenue many tournament staff decide to hire budget umpires....

Depending on the tourney level, this can mean a "HOMER" crew of volunteer umpires and HS players to a small group of actual umpires who for a discounted fee accept all the games in the tourney....only to find out that 4 umpires covering 16 games does not work....and eventually you get majorly subpar performances out of these exhausted umpires....all they are interested in is getting the games over with....

Nothing runs off teams from returning to a tourney like bad umpires or worse yet, a group of homers.....

The answer is to find an associaton and negotiate a fair fee. Require the assocoation to provide an assignor/supervisor and certified uniformed umpires. The assignor/supervisor should be onsite to provide direction to the crews and provide the rules direction to which code the games will be played under. He can also assist in any rules or protest committee...

My association does this. We also provide a 4 man crew for the championship round. Tournament pays for 2 and gets 4 umpires... This is on top of the discount prevously negotiated.....and the 4 championship umpires are the top rated guys from the tourney, as determined by the Tournament Director.

Just My .02

PIAA:

Sounds like a great solution... essentially outsource the umpires to an association and let them run the umps. Too many games in one day is definitely a problem - I would build a limit per day into the contract with the association - perhaps no more than 2 without a game off - and then no more than 4 in a day. I would be interested in your experience as to a reasonable limit.

And the idea of a 4 man for the championship is really great. We had a four man for a game at the Omaha tournment and it was really great - sends a message to the players as well that this is the big game...

08Dad,
I have just come off of working tournaments for the last 3 weekends....

Any Reasonable limits for doing games is going to be different for different umpires. But my limits have changed over the years and now I usually try and do no more than 4 games per tourney.

I have found that by doing 4 games I can maintain my pace and give a top box effort, any more than that and I am less than fresh...its not fair to the players to be less than on my game.

My usual pace is the Friday night game, do a double on Saturday and one on Sunday.... I try not to do back to back games, but understand many do as they can maximize their availabilty that way.....

I usually assist in between games as the onsite uniformed supervisor if the need arrives...it gives our assignor the ability to take a game off......

I'd like to see a limit of 3 games per day. and no more than 2 back to back.

The 4 man crew for the championship is something my association is known for....many times it is the first time the players have ever seen a real full sized crew.......It does give "the big game" feel to the proceedings.....and as we have full coverage, we feel we cover the game better and with less controversy.......

after all, less disputes equal happy customers.......