?THANK YOU? to Penn, Mishawaka and Jimtown

[IntegratedCarp]

I want to say giant ?THANK YOU? to Penn, Mishawaka and Jimtown.  Recently, all three of these clubs have tried new methods of pairing tournaments.  Thank goodness someone in Indiana is trying to move us forward!

 

All three clubs seemed to learn a great deal from their experiments with pairings (matside or otherwise).  A few respectful suggestions:

1- Use staggered start times.  8am for elementary ages & noon for middle school (while high school season is going).  Or 8am elementary, 11 am middle school, 2pm high school (once HS season complete).  Staggered start times work well in other states.  It will shock you how much easier the tourney is to run.

2- Do NOT use a ?check-in? system on the morning of the tourney.  It just slows down the event to a crawl and delays the start by 90 minutes.  In Michigan, there is no tournament check-in.  If a wrestler fails to show up for his match, the table help has a ?two-bout-pass? rule. They jump to the next two matches and ?pass? over you.  If the wrestler fails to show up by the end of the second bout following his, the match becomes a forfeit.  No announcing names. No chasing kids.  No sitting with an empty mat for 5 minutes while giving 3 calls on the speakers.  Show up for your bout or FF.  Once again, it will shock you how much easier the tourney is to run.

3- Have one pairings clerk for every 2-4 surfaces who is seated at those surfaces.  Bout cards then don?t have to go across the gym to a pairings/staging area.  The pairings person is right there and immediately is composing the new round of bout cards.

 

Once again, I am very grateful to these clubs for being innovated.  Even if it didn't work as planned the first time, don't give up!  With a few proven adjustments, things will be dynamite next time around.

 

[charger.dad]

I want to say giant ?THANK YOU? to Penn, Mishawaka and Jimtown.  Recently, all three of these clubs have tried new methods of pairing tournaments.  Thank goodness someone in Indiana is trying to move us forward!

 

All three clubs seemed to learn a great deal from their experiments with pairings (matside or otherwise).  A few respectful suggestions:

1- Use staggered start times.  8am for elementary ages & noon for middle school (while high school season is going).  Or 8am elementary, 11 am middle school, 2pm high school (once HS season complete).  Staggered start times work well in other states.  It will shock you how much easier the tourney is to run.

2- Do NOT use a ?check-in? system on the morning of the tourney.  It just slows down the event to a crawl and delays the start by 90 minutes.  In Michigan, there is no tournament check-in.  If a wrestler fails to show up for his match, the table help has a ?two-bout-pass? rule. They jump to the next two matches and ?pass? over you.  If the wrestler fails to show up by the end of the second bout following his, the match becomes a forfeit.  No announcing names. No chasing kids.  No sitting with an empty mat for 5 minutes while giving 3 calls on the speakers.  Show up for your bout or FF.  Once again, it will shock you how much easier the tourney is to run.

3- Have one pairings clerk for every 2-4 surfaces who is seated at those surfaces.  Bout cards then don?t have to go across the gym to a pairings/staging area.  The pairings person is right there and immediately is composing the new round of bout cards.

 

Once again, I am very grateful to these clubs for being innovated.  Even if it didn't work as planned the first time, don't give up!  With a few proven adjustments, things will be dynamite next time around.

 

 

I couldn't agree more with item 2. That alone delayed the start of two of these tournaments by 90 minutes as said. And just an idea but what if the wrestlers who don't show up, they are held accountable to pay their regstration fees for that tournament, and until they do, they cannot wrestle in any later events that are sanctioned by that body? This is also done in the MYWAY tournaments and it greatly lessens the number of no shows. Nobody want to get a bunch of forfeits when you could have moved things around, but as was said, it just delays everything. Start holding people accountable for signing up and then not showing up, and it'll happen far less.

Otherwise, these were all well ran tournaments and I feel they went far smoother without the old pairings method.

 

[snoopy]

For the newby's, Jimtown with Marty and Mark have tried new things the last 3 or 4 years. Some worked and some did not. Things change, but not overnight. I know all of the pairing staff at Jimtown. Where are all of the young people when the work is being done. If you want your kids to get matches we need younger people to get involved. It is a lot like officiating both in season and out. Where is the young blood?