Communication is your main job

Communication is hugely important. There are many decisions which you will make which will affect the registrants, volunteers, and other directors. It is critical that you communicate these clearly and consistently. It is critical that you can be reached during the day before, during, and after your competition(s) in case anyone has questions.

How and when will people (competitors, volunteers, directors, spectators, family members) know what they need to know?

All directors must read the following guides

• Director Guide
• Generic Event Guide
• Generic Event Checklist
• Overall Convention Questions

Hockey/Basketball

• When will the teams be set?

• Do you have the necessary equipment?

  • Whistles
  • tennis balls
  • Pinnies
  • Scoring cards/boards
  • Shared hockeysticks for the “Pickup” Team
    • These should be clearly marked, so that pickup members know which sticks they can use (and which they cannot)

• Competitors want to know which days that they will be playing so that they can schedule going to other events/places.

  • When will the schedule with teams be set?
  • How will this be communicated with the competitors?

• Playing on a concrete floor is not a good idea, as it has led to a number of broken bones at UNICON because it is so hard

• When reviewing the venue, work out which lines will be in-play/out-of-play (for basketball especially)

• It is the responsibility of the Director to ensure that all members of each team are properly entered into the system

  • We need to know who is playing on each team in order to:

    • properly award the correct people
    • Prevent non-competitors from playing on teams
    • Prevent competitors from playing on multiple teams

• Ensure that the roster of each team is fully and accurately entered into the system.

  • This should occurs before the end of competition, preferably before ech team plays a game, so as to verify the membership.

• Who is the referee from each team?

  • In order to have a smooth running tournament, we must have enough referees. The rules specify that each team must provide a referee. We should know these people’s names BEFORE the competition starts, so that each referee can be contacted to ensure that they know they will be refereeing (and have reviewed the rules)
• If the director is also a member of one of the teams, the director must designate a non-playing person to coordinate the games and teams.
  • For scheduling reasons, it is important that the games run as quickly one-after-the-other as possible, and having someone coordinate this is best.
  • Recording the scores, win/loss is important to be centralized
  • Coordinating the referees for each game is necessary, so that games can start as quickly as possible.

• Pick-up teams

  • Some competitions allow people to sign up without specifying a Team or Captain, with hopes that there will be enough other people who want the same to build a team.
  • In order to field a Pick-up team, there should be at least 2 extra players than the minimum required. (e.g. If the game requires that 5 players be on the court at once, the pick-up team should have no fewer than 7 members)
  • The Director should reach out to the pick-up team registrants in advance of the competition, and confirm whether they are coming to play

• Scoring

  • Scoring should be done by a non-player at least 14 years old.