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...ORGANIZE A TOURNAMENT TEAM (Part 1)

If you register your team for a tournament, make sure you do one thing:

Show up.

That’s just common courtesy. Yet, tournaments are often hurt by teams that agree to participate, send payment (or a deposit), then back out just days before. The excuse
from the organizer is, invariably, “I had a lot of guys back out.”

That excuse may be valid. But once you agree to play, “guys backing out”
isn’t the tournament’s problem; it’s YOUR problem. Get different players. Go with a minimal amount of players and get beat. But once you agree to play, you have a responsibility to make it work, especially if the tournament is less than a week away.

I recently hosted a tournament in Pittsburgh where two teams backed out the week prior. The organizer of one team actually got angry when I gave him my standard response in situations like this, which is that non-refundable payment in full would be required next time. But schedules had to be re-done. Referees made less money. There’s a trickledown. It’s not just about your team. Each game features two teams on the rink.

The best tournaments are those run like a business. If you worked in sales, you’d be
leery about dealing further with a client that reneged on a purchase. You’d set more stringent future guidelines. That’s not only good business, that’s common sense.

A team backed out of the recent Can-Am tournament in Leominster, Mass., just a
few days before the tournament. It dropped the field from 16 to 15.
Sixteen teams are easy to format and schedule. Fifteen are just about impossible.

The organizer of the team that dropped out then asked if he could play for another team,
a team based in another part of the country. He was told “no” as per the Street Hockey USA geographic eligibility rules. He was then told that a team from his region wanted
him to play. He declined, because they weren’t “good enough.” That defines myopic.

The organizer in question said that nine players were willing to come. They should
have shown up, tried their best, and regrouped for next time. That happened to me
any number of times during my salad days as a team organizer. And every time we
just showed up, had some fun, took our medicine, and kept trying to get it right.
There’s some honor in that. More honor, certainly, than no-showing a commitment because you don’t think you can win. Remember, only one team wins.

If you’re not sure your team can play in a tournament, don’t commit. It’s a lot easier
for a tournament to accommodate an extra team at a moment’s notice than it is for a tournament to replace a team at the last minute. You might get left out sometimes,
sure. But better one team be disappointed than an entire tournament be reassembled.

The only way street hockey is going to flourish is through commitment and trust
among all participants. If you say you’re going to play, play.

...ORGANIZE A TOURNAMENT

In this section, Street Hockey USA offers guidelines on how to make your dek/ball/street hockey experience more enjoyable. In this article, we give suggestions on how to run a successful tournament.

*Do a mailing. Word of mouth, phone calls and exposure on web sites don't add up the exposure of one mass mailing to every team you have an address for. Phone calls are quickly forgotten, but an invitation received by mail lays around for repeated consideration by a coach/team captain. The mailing should include the tournament's date, location, format, fee and prizes as well as a synopsis of the rules.

*Get the entry fee in advance (or at least a down payment). Teams that haven't paid anything won't hesitate to pull out at the last minute, or, worse yet, not show up for
their first game.

*Use the IDTA/Street Hockey USA official rulebook. Do not deviate from the rules, i.e., use "house rules." That only causes confusion for visiting teams and may be perceived as giving local teams an unfair advantage. The rulebook has been used for 30 years and covers every situation conceivable. For FREE copies of the rulebook, e-mail us at streethockeyusa@hotmail.com.

*Segregate competition as evenly as possible. An "open" tournament means that any team can bring anybody and usually equates to top-level competition. If lesser teams unwittingly enter an "open" tournament, this can cause mismatches, bad feeling, and lack of repeat business. While the "open" designation is certainly the hallmark of a few prestigious tournaments like the National Championships and the Can-Am (both held in Leominster, MA), it's usually better to have divisions like "C" and "D" (for example). It's up to the tournament director to determine which teams belong in which division using knowledge gained by watching the teams in previous tournaments and through honest self-evaluation by the teams. This leads to good competition, exciting games, and repeat business. It's also suggested than when a team wins in one division, it moves up to the next division (where applicable) in the future.

*Employ the best referees possible. Select only top-quality game officials based on their performance in league play. Compensate refs fairly. You get what you pay for. Some tournaments use volunteer officials. Volunteer officials ref like they're doing you a favor, because they are. Teams don't come to a tournament merely to contribute to your fund-raiser. They expect a quality product. Only quality officials can provide that. Also, don't use referees who are playing in the tournament. This often can't be avoided because the best referees are usually the best players. If you must use players as referees, make sure they do not referee games that can affect the standing of their team.

*Do your best to make sure games run on time. Games consist of three 10-minute periods, so leave at least an hour for each game slot. (70 minutes is ideal.) In round-robin play, teams usually don't mind if the first period is running time (stops on goals and during penalties). Don't play overtime in round-robin games. Let ties be ties. In the playoffs, don't play overtime to a finish until the final. In playoff games before the final, play one 5- or 10-minute running-time sudden-death period, then go to a shootout if the game is still tied. You want to upset as many customers as possible? Have your tournament run late.

*The clock should run when one team leads by seven or more after the first period. A rout isn't enjoyable for either team. Dragging out routs often causes bad feeling and physical confrontation.

*Deal with fighting and referee abuse harshly. Instigators of either should be expelled from the tournament. Those who retaliate in a fight should be suspended for at least one game. Eject spectators who cause trouble permanently. They are not customers and so do you no tangible good.

*Make sure everyone knows who the tournament director(s) is/are. Customers want to know where to go with complaints/questions, and they want to know who is making the decisions. The director(s) should not suffer fools gladly. Everybody deserves to have his side of the story heard. But decisions can't be made based on debate. They must be made based on the rules and on common sense.

*Clearly post the rules/schedule/standings/brackets. If you have the answers posted in advance, you don't have to waste as much time answering questions.

This is by no means a complete list. If you have any suggestions on how to run a successful tournament, e-mail us at streethockeyusa@hotmail.com. If we like them, we'll post them on this site.