State Tournament Info: Seeding, Format, Competition Rules, and other Notes

[Dave Klink]

Hello coaches,

Seeding/Format.  Thanks to those who provided feedback on the draft seeding and formats.  The competition committee has discussed, and what is now on the USAU event pages should be final: Girls and Open.

With that stated, if anyone notices an error, please let me know ASAP.  Eyes tend to glaze over after a while using the USAU event builder, and it's always possible that we made a typo somewhere.  We'll be printing programs in the next day or two, so always better to catch those beforehand if anyone has time to look =).

So you are aware, we did make a change from our prior draft of seeding in the girl's division, moving Eden Prairie up for their two wins over Hopkins (including one on Wildcard Week).  It was a more complicated decision that that, but in the end the RRI was close enough that it made sense given the direct head-to-head results, and we heard from both EP and Hopkins coaches asking us to make the change.

We also declined to make several changes which were requested in both open and girls.  To help explain why, please note that our seeding process is reactive to the results of the season, not an attempt to predict who is going to win.  And when your teams take the field at sanctioned events, bearing your team name, your results count.  They count the same whether you were missing your best players or not.  We can't ignore some results just because you do not feel they are representative of your team.  If you know you will be missing a number of key players for an event, then one option (at least for some tournaments) is to contact us in advance, and register under another team name so the results won't count in the rankings.  But coming to us after the fact (and after knowing the results of your games) is unfair to the other teams in the state.  Hopefully that makes sense to everyone.  We realize some teams will perform better or worse than they are seeded at the state tournament - and that's OK - that's even part of the fun.  But with our seeding we are trying to react to what has happened thus far, not pick winners.

Competition Rules.  Here are a few competition rules to plan on for this weekend:

• All games to 13, point cap 15
• Hard cap at 90 minutes (no soft cap)
• One timeout per half plus floater per team

Field Maps.  Attached again.

Saturday Issues.  Please be aware that on Saturday we need to be off the fields and vacate the complex by noon.  With hard cap for the 2nd round at 11:45 AM, that might mean needing to rush your players out of there once your game ends - please be prepared to do so.  Also, on Saturday we will be competing entirely on the north side of the complex, and we will be putting two ultimate fields on each soccer field.  Saturday lines will be painted in red.  There will be a safety buffer between each and every field, but the spaces between, e.g., H1 and H2 will be larger than the spaces between, e.g., H1-w and H1-e, so please keep all bags and ask all spectators to stick to the larger spaces and a safe distance from the sideline, or encourage spectators to get the endzone views on either end of the field.  Save the tighter buffers just for highly aware players who are supporting their teams from the opposite sideline.  Also, we cannot have anyone on the south side of the complex on Saturday - no parking, no warming up, no wandering - everyone must stay on the north side of 105th Ave.  Saturday parking will be in Lot E and the northern half of Lot D.  If Lots D and E fill up, then there will be overflow parking in the new northern parking lot to the east of the K fields (see field maps).  Thanks for your cooperation with these matters.  We know it's a headache, and it shouldn't happen in future years, but this is what we had to do to make the tournament work this year despite a NSC scheduling conflict.

Sunday.  On Sunday we'll be back to a normal field setup for states, spread across the complex with one ultimate field on each soccer field. Sunday lines will be painted in blue.  You'll probably want to remind your players about which lines to pay attention to, as there will be some red Saturday lines (and probably some white or yellow soccer lines) trying to trick people.

Field Food.  Due to very low consumption (and high waste) in the past couple of years, and to lessen the burden on our volunteers, we won't be providing food at the fields this year (e.g., bananas and bagels).  However, we will be done on Saturday before most people get too hungry, and on Sunday there will be concessions open (locations noted on field map).  The NSC is also surrounded by businesses selling food.  So please have your teams plan accordingly.

Water.  As in past years, there will be water refill stations around the complex at pavilions and other areas.  Unlike prior years, we will be refilling the jugs ourselves because no NSC staff were available to do it.  We will dedicate several volunteers and a golf cart to the task, but please ask your players to arrive with full and plentiful water bottles to help us out a bit, and if you notice an empty station, please have a volunteer radio it in.

Score Reporting.  We intend to use our website - through ultimate central - for score reporting this year.  More details on that to follow.  Please be aware that with pool play ending after the first round on Sunday, it will be super imperative that all scores are reported immediately after your first round games end on Sunday.

Meeting.  Because games are starting earlier than normal on Saturday, we plan to have the coaches/captains meeting via email in advance instead of in person this year.  We'll be sending out more tournament details in the next couple of days, so please stay tuned.

Best regards,

Dave Klink

Competition Director

[Dave Klink]

Hello again coaches,

Here is some additional information for the state tournament.

Spirit of the Game / Spirit of the Coach.  We normally read these clauses at our pre-game meeting, but since we aren't having one this year, we hope you will take it upon yourselves to reemphasize this extremely important aspect of our sport as your team begins its participation in this highly competitive tournament.  Please take a few minutes before the weekend to visit those links to remind yourself about SOTG and SOTC.  And please take a few minutes prior to play on Saturday to remind your team about SOTG as well.  

35W Closed.  Weekend Traffic Alert.  Please plan accordingly.

Reports Your Scores After Every Game.  In order to submit scores for your team during the weekend, you must be a registered player, coach, or team admin. This is the same process that was used to submit scores during the regular season: 

1. In your phone or computer, log in at www.MinnesotaUltimate.org.  

2. Your team's games are already posted, so click on the t-shirt icon to jump to your team. Under 'Upcoming Schedule', your team's games are posted.  

3. To submit a score, click on the trophy icon to report a score. Use the dropdown menus to select the correct score for each team, and scroll down to do the same for the opposing team's spirit.  To finalize the report, click on 'Report Scores' at the bottom.  

Note: Depending on your browser, the scores may not display until the page is refreshed.  

You can also report scores by sending someone to tournament central or radioing through a volunteer.  But if possible, please try to use the website.

Report Your Spirit Scores After Every Game.  We use the same 1-5 rating scale we use for league and prior years' tournament.  It will be outlined in the tournament program (coming soon).  As noted above, when you report your game scores, please report your spirit scores as well.

Player Safety & Weather.  We will have medical staff and ice at tournament central, and volunteers with radios can reach them, but if there is an extremely serious injury, call 9-1-1.  The nearest hospital info will be in the tournament program.  Current forecasts show some scattered storms on Saturday, though hopefully the weather will hold out until games are done for the day.  If not, we do follow the USA Ultimate health, safety and liability guidelines, including their lightning policy.  Remember that safety is always our top priority.  If we have to go to cars, check your email for updates.  Thankfully, the Sunday forecast is looking better - hopefully it stays that way.  If you haven't joined the coach email list yet (minnesotayo...@googlegroups.com), you should.  (Currently I'm bccing everyone who registered a team for states to these emails, but I won't be able to do that from my phone this weekend.)

NSC Rules: Dogs must be on leash.  No Glass.  No Smoking.  

Merchandise.   Breakmark is our merchandiser this year.  Be sure to check out their great deals near tournament central!  They'll also be selling official tournament discs.

Photographers.  We once again will have photographers roaming the fields, and photos will be made available after the tournament.

Keep a Tidy Sideline.  Please be sure to have your players cleanup their sidelines.  There will be trash bags available at tournament central.

Tuesday, June 7 - Division I Girls & Open Finals.  The Girls Division final will be at 6:30 PM and the Open Division final will be at 8:30 PM.  Both will take place at the Hamline University stadium.  If your team qualifies for finals, then please come to tournament central after your semifinal on Sunday and we will chat through some details with the coaches and captains of the 4 teams who qualify.

All-State Voting & Awards.  There will once again be a QR code in the program and links on the website for voting.  The ballot of nominees will be released tomorrow.  Voting opens on Saturday and runs until Monday at 9:00 PM.  All-State Nominees should plan to attend D1 finals on Tuesday, June 7 for the award ceremonies, but we'll also give the coaches of the winners a heads up to let them know if their player(s) should *really* be there on Tuesday.  Open Division winners will be announced during halftime of the Girls final, and Girls division winners will be announced during halftime of the Open final. 

Thank You.  Thank you very much for coaching.  You make the sport what it is in our state.  Hopefully your players are thanking you every day, because you deserve it!

Congratulations Grey Duck!  Speaking of the state of ultimate in Minnesota, congratulations to Minnesota Grey Duck on their recent college national championship!  Hopefully all those who coached those players in high school are beaming with pride - they should be!

I will follow-up with the tournament program once it is finalized.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Best of luck with final preparations, and see you Saturday!

Thanks,

Dave Klink

Competition Director

[Dave Klink]

Hello Coaches,

Three reminders:

1. Reporting Scores.  Please remember to report your scores after each game.  And for most divisions it is especially incredibly important that all scores are reported immediately after the first round game tomorrow so we can seed the brackets in a timely manner.  The website remains the best option for reporting scores.  But as an additional backup option to radioing them in or delivering them yourself, you can also text your scores to our head scorekeeper at this number: 651-200-5879.  If you send a text, make it clear what you are saying, like so: "Open Division II.  Forest Lake JV wins 12-9 over Winona.  Forest Lake gives Winona a 4 for spirit."  Keep in mind that our scorekeeper isn't going to know who you are or have much time to analyze what you are sending, so please avoid riddles and make it clear who is giving the spirit score to who, which team had each score, and which division you are talking about.

2. Reporting Spirit Scores.  Reporting scores is only half the battle.  Don't make us hunt you down!  

3. Division I Finalists.  If you win your semifinal in D1 Girls or D1 Open tomorrow, then please have your captains and coach report to tournament central to discuss plans for Tuesday night.  We'll plan to have a short meeting around 3:15 pm as the final round gets going for all other teams.

Also FYI - there will be no award ceremony tomorrow.  We intend to present all awards on Tuesday night at Hamline, including spirit awards, divisions 2-4 championship awards, all-state honors, and more.  Hopefully that will mean a big crowd will be there to congratulate each team and award recipient on their success!

See you tomorrow!

Dave

[Dave Klink]

Sorry - texting scores won't work.  Please use the website or radio/deliver.  And report ASAP!!!

[Dave Klink]

Our ultimate central (minnesota ultimate) website matches the wrong quarterfinal progression to semifinals. Should be fine for 11:15, but for 1:30 the website might be wrong. 

It should be winner of 1a v. 2b plays winner of 1d v. 2c.  And winner of 1c v. 2d plays winner of 1b v. 2a.

Similar story for consolation.

Brackets at tournament central have it right.

[Dave Klink]

Our website will be correct for the next round.