New TD. What should I expect?

[cjrogus]

Hey,

My name Is C.J. and even though I've only been plaing for around a year, I am a fully addictied, forum scouring amature player. I have started to get into tournements this year and have found a love for competing in this sport that never existed anywhere else. I always enjoy friendly competion and play to win, but it was always for the fun. Now I want to hop in every tournement around and get my rating up and just get the experience.

Unfournatly our local course doesn't have a well esatbalished following or main man. The course builder is around everyonce and a while but he's pretty flakely when it comes to getting stuff done. We were supposed to have and ice bowl like everyother course around here did, and a spring tounement that no one has heard of yet.

So I am taking things into my own hands, I've alrady started a local club with 17 members now, Vinyled the back of my car with our logo, and have started contacting Parks and Rec on running the tounement.


LSS I am still very new and would love any advice to a first time Tounement Director. This will be a non-PDGA event, 15$ pre-reg, 20 at the door. Price includes a Z line discraft disc and lunch, plus the two rounds. We'll being doing Hotdogs and hamburgers inbetween the two rounds, and regrouping the cards after the first round. I'll be contacting local buisness to help sponsor it with they're Logo on the backside of the scorecards, and offering 20$ sponsorship per holes.

THe money will be going back to the course by finally laying the last three Teepads and through the efforts the club makes in cleaning up the holes.

any sugestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jeverett]

Most-important, in my opinion, is to get a little bit of help for the event. A few volunteers to register players, create scorecards, check scorecards, make the leaderboard/hole assignments, place OB lines/CTP flags on the course, etc. will be invaluable. It's *really* difficult to run an event yourself and keep it on-schedule, especially one with day-of signup only.

 

[ChrisWoj]

I usually set a player limit where it pertains to whether or not I'll play. My magic number is 35. More than 35 players? I don't play. Less than? I feel like I can do just fine. If you are playing - remember you are volunteering to sacrifice all of your warmup up. Some TDs will extend breaks and walk out times significantly to accommodate their own warmup time. As TD - you shouldn't get that. If you're going to play your own event, your own fault for deciding to do that.

Just remember that the event is your responsibility, not playing. If you're already planning on not playing - good for you. You're making the right decision.

 

[joesouthfla]

It takes a village to run a club and a tournament. Do not hesitate to ask for assistance. You might even consider keeping this first event even simpler. $20, 2 rounds, pro,advanced,intermediate,women division only. 50/50 payout, get folks to donate drinks,ice and condiments and you supply the hamburger and hotdogs. If you only charge $15 and are giving away a disc and doing lunch you are not going to make any money unless you get sponsors. Shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will send you my tournament check off list. Good luck!

 

[eday1022]

Keep in mind most parks require You to have insurance for events, this may not be a small fee so plan ahead for it. Also be ready for any weather conditions, having a shelter to set up in is a huge plus, if not find some good canopies to use. Do a course walk through and look for any O.B. that you wouldn't normally bring up, someone will find a way to land in it and complain because it wasn't listed. Make a check list for tournament supplies. As said above have a staff that can help you out, having a couple that are willing to not play will make the day go much smoother.

 

[DavidSauls]

The PDGA has some excellent documents for TDs. Especially the checklists. 95% of the stuff there applies, whether your event is sanctioned or not.

 

[cjrogus]

Thanks for all the points, I really, really want to play so I'd have to have a crazy amount of people show up for me not too. I've already started to assemble my team and have 3 mothers, girl friend and next door neighbor on the the helping and not playing end.

Once the parks and Rec guy gets back to me and gives me the green light I'll be flying around town getting sponsorship's. I plan on doing a by hole sponsor for 20$, 10$ for the back of the score card, or 25$ for both.

The park has some great Pavilions at the front and we have tow extra tents as of right now.

 

[bergdawg]

Disc golf

 

[AdamE]

I completely agree with what others have said about getting help. It's better to have helpers standing around with nothing to do than be overwhelmed and not have anyone to help.

Get everything done you possibly can before the day of the event.
You don't need to be running around tournament morning marking OB, DZs, putting sponsor signs at each hole, filling out scoreport cards (for players who preregister), organizing players packs (if you have them). The more you do to free yourself up the day of the event and the smoother everything will go. Don't forget to have a payout calculator ready, envelopes for cash payouts, and some way to mark stacks of discs for am payouts. The devil is in the details. Even if it's a small group and things go well, you'll find things you can do different next time so it will be even easier and more organized next time.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Discette]

New TD. What should I expect?

Expect that no matter how great a job you do, someone will complain. If someone doesn't complain directly to you, watch for anonymous complaints on the internet.


That being said, please be sure to do what works best for you as the TD because you will never be able to please all the people all the time.

 

[shawny0123]

Hey,

My name Is C.J. and even though I've only been plaing for around a year, I am a fully addictied, forum scouring amature player. I have started to get into tournements this year and have found a love for competing in this sport that never existed anywhere else. I always enjoy friendly competion and play to win, but it was always for the fun. Now I want to hop in every tournement around and get my rating up and just get the experience.

Unfournatly our local course doesn't have a well esatbalished following or main man. The course builder is around everyonce and a while but he's pretty flakely when it comes to getting stuff done. We were supposed to have and ice bowl like everyother course around here did, and a spring tounement that no one has heard of yet.

So I am taking things into my own hands, I've alrady started a local club with 17 members now, Vinyled the back of my car with our logo, and have started contacting Parks and Rec on running the tounement.


LSS I am still very new and would love any advice to a first time Tounement Director. This will be a non-PDGA event, 15$ pre-reg, 20 at the door. Price includes a Z line discraft disc and lunch, plus the two rounds. We'll being doing Hotdogs and hamburgers inbetween the two rounds, and regrouping the cards after the first round. I'll be contacting local buisness to help sponsor it with they're Logo on the backside of the scorecards, and offering 20$ sponsorship per holes.

THe money will be going back to the course by finally laying the last three Teepads and through the efforts the club makes in cleaning up the holes.

any sugestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think $15 is low for a z-plastic disc AND lunch AND trying to raise money from entries for course improvements...$15 is about right to cover cost of plastic and food, I don't see you getting any money for course improvements out of that too. I'm considering worst case with you not being able to get any sponsors to supplement the costs.

 

[dehaas]

I think $15 is low for a z-plastic disc AND lunch AND trying to raise money from entries for course improvements...$15 is about right to cover cost of plastic and food, I don't see you getting any money for course improvements out of that too. I'm considering worst case with you not being able to get any sponsors to supplement the costs.

i agree with this. i know depending on who you are trying to appeal to that offering a disc with entry may go over better than some type of pay out. not to mention if word spreads and you have a larger than expected turnout you may have more players than plastic, but if you have a ton of plastic on hand that means money spent up front on something you might not be able to move afterwards. realistically for a first tournament i'd scrap the included disc, budget a few bucks per person for lunch, budget so much per person to go towards course improvement or whatever, budget some towards a payout or ctp prizes or whatever, and budget a little bit for the unexpected expenses that always manage to come up.

obviously you want to put together a great event, but don't take on too much your first time out. you'll either stress out too much and not end up having a good time, or not budget properly barely make ends meet.

 

[throwfromthewoods]

i agree with this. i know depending on who you are trying to appeal to that offering a disc with entry may go over better than some type of pay out. not to mention if word spreads and you have a larger than expected turnout you may have more players than plastic, but if you have a ton of plastic on hand that means money spent up front on something you might not be able to move afterwards. realistically for a first tournament i'd scrap the included disc, budget a few bucks per person for lunch, budget so much per person to go towards course improvement or whatever, budget some towards a payout or ctp prizes or whatever, and budget a little bit for the unexpected expenses that always manage to come up.

obviously you want to put together a great event, but don't take on too much your first time out. you'll either stress out too much and not end up having a good time, or not budget properly barely make ends meet.

Any event I've run, I've set up a lunch to be paid in addition to the entry fee if they choose. Ask your local Jrecks or whoever if they'll do a $5 lunch deal with a small sub, chips, and a can of soda (or whatever). Places that do cater events usually will give you a stack of preorder slips. People fill out the slip and drop their $5 in the envelope. The only hang-up is you need a volunteer who's not playing to drop off the order after the player's meeting and then pick it up when it's lunchtime. See if your area also has any mobile vendors. People who travel to events and set up shop with burgers, etc. Then people can just pay that person, or bring their own. That's always worked out best for us.

Plus, places that cater lunch are also great places to ask for sponsorships. If you're bringing in 40-50 lunch orders, they're usually more than happy to donate $50 to your cause.

Also, be prepared to answer the same questions OVER and OVER. Players don't like to listen, unfortunately. Most will be good about it, but there's always a few that treat player's meetings like those pre-flight plane instructions on how to buckle a seatbelt. Make sure everyone is accounted for, and make it clear that you are not going to take any excuses after the player's meeting on any OBs or specific course rules you set just because someone wasn't paying attention. Especially if you're a first time TD, there is a strong possibility a player or two might look to take advantage.

 

[MarkDSM]

:thmbup:

See if your area also has any mobile vendors. People who travel to events and set up shop with burgers, etc. Then people can just pay that person, or bring their own. That's always worked out best for us.

Plus, places that cater lunch are also great places to ask for sponsorships. If you're bringing in 40-50 lunch orders, they're usually more than happy to donate $50 to your cause.

So much this for event simplicity. Get them ahead of time and you can post your vendors truck menu to your players.
(i am a huge inexpensive taco truck fan)

----
also, have any community newspaper to at minimum get a picture in after event?

 

[mattc]

Expect that no matter how great a job you do, someone will complain. If someone doesn't complain directly to you, watch for anonymous complaints on the internet.


That being said, please be sure to do what works best for you as the TD because you will never be able to please all the people all the time.

Also, be prepared to answer the same questions OVER and OVER. Players don't like to listen, unfortunately. Most will be good about it, but there's always a few that treat player's meetings like those pre-flight plane instructions on how to buckle a seatbelt. Make sure everyone is accounted for, and make it clear that you are not going to take any excuses after the player's meeting on any OBs or specific course rules you set just because someone wasn't paying attention. Especially if you're a first time TD, there is a strong possibility a player or two might look to take advantage.

my best advise is keep it simple at first

and stand your ground, be positive, but firm about everything you do

right, wrong, or whatever you will not please everyone, and people will complain

but you will be respected for standing firm, not for being wishy-washy

 

[cjrogus]

The food vendor Idea would be the best plan of action to get people the food. Unfortunately I live in a small town and those things don't happen to exist around here. All in all making money isn't the overall objective of the day. The main objective will be having a great time, building club membership, and getting some sweet plastic. Our course is seriously underused for the amount of players in the area. Making the money for the Teepads will just be a bonus. Defiantly considering scrapping the food in order to ease the process and help ensure that it goes smoother. The lunch is honestly the only thing I'm worried about. There's enough local businesses that sponsorship shouldn't be a problem, and I don't mind sitting on the extras for a while. I mean they'll be buzzes, forces, Avenger SS and other things that I throw so worse case scenario I'll be set for life with some custom plastic.

 

[shawny0123]

I think that's a much better idea to scrap the included lunch, get some sweet crystal Z limited discs and use the leftover entry fee money for course improvements. Everyone walks away with nice plastic and the satisfaction of helping the course.

 

[AdamE]

I like to have lunch available at tourneys but don't feel the need to put in the extra work to make it happen myself. There are lots of groups out there that would jump at the chance to serve lunch so they can raise money. The boyscouts in my area are doing this for the second year now at my tournament and it's win-win all around. We've got lunch between rounds at the course and we're helping out some kids. Doesn't have to be the scouts, church groups and others would probably be interested too.

 

[KDFrosty]

Hey,

My name Is C.J. and even though I've only been plaing for around a year, I am a fully addictied, forum scouring amature player. I have started to get into tournements this year and have found a love for competing in this sport that never existed anywhere else. I always enjoy friendly competion and play to win, but it was always for the fun. Now I want to hop in every tournement around and get my rating up and just get the experience.

Unfournatly our local course doesn't have a well esatbalished following or main man. The course builder is around everyonce and a while but he's pretty flakely when it comes to getting stuff done. We were supposed to have and ice bowl like everyother course around here did, and a spring tounement that no one has heard of yet.

So I am taking things into my own hands, I've alrady started a local club with 17 members now, Vinyled the back of my car with our logo, and have started contacting Parks and Rec on running the tounement.


LSS I am still very new and would love any advice to a first time Tounement Director. This will be a non-PDGA event, 15$ pre-reg, 20 at the door. Price includes a Z line discraft disc and lunch, plus the two rounds. We'll being doing Hotdogs and hamburgers inbetween the two rounds, and regrouping the cards after the first round. I'll be contacting local buisness to help sponsor it with they're Logo on the backside of the scorecards, and offering 20$ sponsorship per holes.

THe money will be going back to the course by finally laying the last three Teepads and through the efforts the club makes in cleaning up the holes.

any sugestions would be greatly appreciated.

BRAVO!

Sometimes it takes someone like you to take the initiative to further the sport. what you're describing is almost EXACTLY like I started New Mexico Disc Golf (NMDG.org)

Lean on your club members. Pick a couple that seem responsible and tell them you need help. Often times members will be more than willing to help out their DG community, and it makes them feel like an important part of the community. It could be something small like helping setup for the event, or could be something larger like taking a board role of your club.

In terms of being a TD the first time...just do any and all preparation you can beforehand. There's going to be people asking you questions and trying to pull you away from what youre trying to do, so being well prepared buys you a bit of extra time on tourney day.

Good start though. Good luck, and have fun with it!

 

[joegraham]

Push the club concept there. Have sign up sheets and a schedule of events there if you have a weekly or monthly, doubles. Let people know when the regular events are so they can be involved. Do you have bag tags yet? That might be the next event. Club membership gets you a tag. Very popular around the country. One round, very simple, small entry for a small payout and rest to the club and covering the tags costs. Building the club and its positive rep in cleaning and improving the course/park goes a long way for good publicity.