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Online now: 1 member: TABLE SETTER 11; 65 anonymousDiscussion: Friday Seating Bracket Play
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| Nov. 21, 2014 NYGNYY 215 posts | Friday Seating Bracket Play Just an observation from my past 2 tournaments (Vegas and Phoenix) Seems both tournaments are trying to expand the number of teams for their selected events. In doing so, at least from a 60 AAA perspective the directors decided to play more games on Friday's. For example we played 4 games on Friday in Phoenix this past weekend. I understand the math and money aspect however I am very concerned that this approach does not help those teams that may have an off day or not be at their best on Fridays. Seems it helps local teams in the area. Fridays were always just seating games. To be able to come back the next day and play at least 2 games instead of the possibility of 1 and done on Saturday is preferred. As stated above these 2 tournaments are becoming money driven events only and the number of fields are NOT the issue. |
| Nov. 21, 2014 DaveDowell Men's 70 4312 posts | NYGNYY ... Your premise that these events are money driven as it relates to scheduling is incorrect ... In both of the examples you cite, field availability, as measured against the games load requirements for each division for each day, dictates the schedule ... As it relates to the most recent of the two (Phoenix), the principal factor was the matter of the 40-Masters Divisions (both Men and Women) playing only a two-day schedule on the weekend only ... I have proposed that the 40-Masters next year go to either a 2½ or 3-day format to ease (or hopefully eliminate) this burden on the weekend ... As both the Tournament Director in Phoenix and the SSUSA's National Scheduling Consultant who writes the schedules, here's how the Phoenix schedule came together ... (Las Vegas is a completely different animal, but it's more difficult there for a variety of reasons) ... • SESSION #1 had 135 teams playing a potential of 435 games that had to fit into 438 total available game slots (that were not later at the end of the day) ... • We utilized every available tournament quality facility within the control and operation of the City of Phoenix and added Big League Dreams in Gilbert for Friday after it bcame apparent we couldn't handle those 435 games without doing so ... BLD was not available to us on the weekend this year because of a preexisting tournament booked there ... By adding BLD on Friday, were were able to accommodate the five teams who were the "last five in" and had been initially placed on a waiting list ... All five of them entered before the stated deadline, so it was not a case of trying to squeeze in any late entrants to the detriment of earlier timely entrants ... We felt an obligation to get them in because of the financial commitments they had made for travel and accommodations, not the financial commitment of an entry fee ... We routinely refund those for teams that withdraw timely, and this would have been no exception, but airlines and hotels are sometimes not so generous ... • We built the weekend around the games demand of the 40-Masters, back-filling Sunday first to take as many teams to Sunday as we could, with the balance of their games being placed into Saturday ... We also back-filled Sunday (103 games) with as many teams as we could take in every other division, except the 50-AA who did their Best 2 of 3 Championship Series on Saturday ... • The balance of the games, by definition, have to fit into Saturday and Friday (in that order) ... So we filled Saturday with 170 games as late as was reasonable (9:00 PM at Rose Mofford, which was not your group location), but only 8:00 PM at Desert West for you ... Then it was simple, with the remaining 162 games having to be played Friday ... • All seeding games were played early Friday and then brackets commenced ... Although it is our preference to not play more than one bracket game per team on Friday, we did not have that luxury this time ... The only other option would have been to play more games on Saturday, but they would have been at 9:30 PM or later ... There really isn't a lot we can do to, as you said, "...help those teams that may have an off day or not be at their best on Fridays..." since that is totally a team controlled function ... We believe that most teams try to do their best in every game of a tournament, but maybe that's not true ... Thank you for your comments, they are much appreciated ... If you have the time, maybe you could download and print the Master Planning Grid, which illustrates the overall tournament plan, play with it a bit, and let us know how you would have done it differently ... We welcome any input you might provide ... |
| Nov. 21, 2014 NYGNYY 215 posts | Thanks Dave...I completely understand that none of this is easy and while I was good with all of your feedback ---not to sure your comment regarding "We believe that most teams try to do their best in every game of a tournament, but maybe that's not true ... That was not what I was saying---at all! No need to go any further here...much appreciated and thanks for all your hard work in putting these together. |
| Nov. 23, 2014 Gloffer 24 posts | Is there any reason that the fields in Peoria aren't used? There are 6 fields at Pioneer park most with 320 ft fences and 4 more at Rio Vista. These are definitely tournament quality fields, especially compared to the fields that I've played at in Vegas the last few years. |
