Tournament Directors

[Mica Withington]

TheDistrict Administrator for any given district is responsible for verifying the eligibility documents for each player on each tournament team, and signing the Tournament Affidavit, verify that each player on the team roster meets the Little League International Tournament eligibility requirements.

The Tournament Director at each separate level of tournament play is responsible for reviewing the documentation for all teams in that tournament before any games are played at that level.

The Tournament Director is then required to sign on the space provided on the affidavit, following review and verification of the affidavit and documentation. Any discrepancies in the documentation should be resolved (through the Little League International Tournament Committee in Williamsport, Pa.) before the team plays its first game at any tournament level. However, failure to discover a discrepancy does not relieve the league, manager, or team of the responsibility to:

Important Note: The documentation noted above contains information that may be of a sensitive and/or private nature. It is extremely important that the Tournament Director safeguard this information at all times that it is in his/her possession. The documents and information contained in them must not be shared or otherwise distributed to anyone without the expressed permission of the Little League International Tournament Committee.

The things that top the list are the lakes you would like to fish, the style of tournament (team or singles), and the basic rules and guidelines that will help your tournament run smoothly. Getting a few good friends to help you figure this out is important. I have found that if you go about it by yourself you will miss some very important things.

Now to the lake and date of said tournament. One good way is talk to others that fish in your area and see what lakes are going to draw a group of fishermen. Even ask what type of other tournaments are going on in that area, if there is a couple other tournaments planed for that week end your turn out will most definetly be affected by it so be sure to rethink the date of your tournament. By planning a head you increase your chance of having a good turn out and avoid any possible problems. When you are checking out the potential lakes where you would like to hold your tournament keep in mind, how many boats can it handle with room for other boat traffic, check out the ramps, parking, and a place to do the weight in at. These items may seem small when it comes to tournaments but if it starts out with a bad feeling with your tournament anglers, it will carry over into what others think about your tournament.

Ok so now you got the type of tournament you want to do, some friends to help you set it up, the lake you want to fish, and the date of the tournament. You might want to have a few back up dates and time set up incase the ones you want are taken. Where do you go now, and what do you need to make it work out?

Now with the rules in hand look them over and see if they fit where your fishing and the type of tournament you plan to run. Some rules are set for team tournaments while others will be set for a singles tournament. You will find that if you run it teams style it stops problems with matching up who fishes with whom and how long each person gets to run the boat. With the singles style most boaters do not want to let another person run there boat and even to say when or where to fish. So if its non-team style you will need rules like both members in the boat get to pick places to fish and that they have control of the boat for half of the tournament. Also thing like how is to bring what and does the non-boater need to give a cash payment to the boater for expenses of fish that day. These types of things keep the day on the water friendly and more enjoyable. At the bottom of this article I will add two different set of rules as done by the club I fish with so you can see what some clubs use for their guide lines when setting up their rules. I have taken out the amounts and names so it is easier to copy and use them in your next tournament.

As time draws closer and things get going faster you got to remember in the end everything you do will show how much care you took in the set up of this tournament. You have gotten who is doing what figured out and how things are going to be handled and by who. So now as the day gets closer think of having everyone involved in the running and set up meet at the ramp for final plans. This is good to see if anything was missed, I like to have everyone say what they plan to do and when. As we go through it some one can jot down any notes on anything that is noticed, but do not stop the whole thing for it. You will have something that got missed and later you can figure out how to handle it. In most cases it was not over looked just the person handling it forgot he said he had it covered.

Watch over the parking lot for tow vehicles and parking of them

To watch over the loading and unloading of the boats at the ramp

To collect tournament fees / figure out the winning when the tournament is over

Some one to do boat and live well checks

A question and answer person / a fill-in person to cover if some one needs to leave for a minute

Now for some key things to watch over as you go about the tournament

1. stick to the rules

2. no exceptions treat everyone the same

3. greet everyone and welcome them to the tournament

4. thanks them for sharing their day with you

5. and enjoy the event

12 If a competitor fails to return to the tournament weigh-in site by the designated finish-time, he shall be disqualified from that tournament, unless acceptable justification is received by the tournament director.

14 All fish must be transported to the weigh-in scales in a bag with adequate water and the fish returned to the lake immediately for release after their being weighed. The only exception will be for trophy fish.

15 All members must strictly obey all State and local fishing, game and watercraft laws and regulations. Failure to do so can result in tournament disqualification, other club sanctions and/or removal from club membership.

Rules Interpretation The Tournament Directors, along with club officers, if necessary, shall make all decisions regarding the interpretation of these rules; that decision shall be final. All disputes involving scoring shall be settled at the tournament, if possible.

5 Two (2) fishermen will fish in each boat unless there is an odd number of fishermen for the tournament in which case, one (1) member will fish alone to avoid having three (3) men in a boat. A coin toss will determine which fisherman fishes alone. Final discretion is left to the tournament director.

7 Pairings for the regular tournaments will be selected by random draw for the first tournament of the season and a round-robin system for the remaining regular scheduled tournaments. After all boaters are paired with non-boaters, remaining boaters will be paired as boaters/non-boaters. Boaters that are required to pair up will be able to use the highest starting position that either boater in the pair was assigned. The tournament director must be notified at least three (3) days in advance of the tournament, as to who is the boater and who is non-boater.

11 Non-boaters are obligated to share expenses with the boat owner. The non-boater must pay a nonrefundable minimum fee of $15.00 to the boater as his/her share of the expenses on the day of the tournament. Launch fees will be split 50/50 between boater and non-boater.

18 If a competitor fails to return to the tournament weigh-in site by the designated finish-time, he shall be disqualified from that tournament, unless acceptable justification is received by the tournament director.

20 All fish must be transported to the weigh-in scales in a bag with adequate water and the fish returned to the lake immediately for release after their being weighed. The only exception will be for trophy fish.

22 All members must strictly obey all State and local fishing, game and watercraft laws and regulations. Failure to do so can result in tournament disqualification, other club sanctions and/or removal from club membership.

3 The Most Improved Fisherman will be determined at the end of the year by comparing the final rank for the current year with the final rank of the same group whom fished the previous year. To be eligible, the member must participate for two consecutive years to be eligible. No member may receive this award twice and previous Club Angler of the Year winners are not eligible.

As a new td liked by some and not by others i definitely want to say that this blog is in point. Great job joe this is the first blog i have ever read in my life and im so dam excited to read your next one.

Have you tried Scoreholio? I used to be a Brackelope guy too, and switching to Scoreholio was a total game-changer for me. So much so that I signed on to help them with their marketing, docs and customer support. : ) Scoreholio has helped lots of other tournament directors amp up the fun factor of their tournaments, while making it easier and more enjoyable to run and even play in their own events.

How can I deal with two family members who are playing in the same section? For example, my brother and I both played in the same local tournament (one section) fairly frequently. Usually, we could avoid being paired (there were enough people, and the other players were willing to cut us some slack).

Occasionally, we would be leading the tournament and there was no way around pairing us. The most drastic case was when we both had perfect scores and were playing for first place (and potentially third for the loser). As a good big brother, I soundly trounced my younger brother.

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