Regarding high school tournaments, our goal is to have a season opener in late September, followed by a novice tournament in October, with the rest of the tournaments happening around once a month. The last regular season high school tournament will be Southern California State Championships in April. Regarding middle school tournaments, our goal is to have three for the entire school year: one in the fall, one in the winter, then one in the spring that is combined with a high school novice tournament(similar to the Warhawk and PPT tournaments). For NHBB, we will aim to have 3 tournaments this year with the last tournament happening in March. As per usual, we will avoid major holidays as well as SAT/ACT dates.
A few things I want to keep in mind for next year:
- Avoid having a middle school tournament and a high school tournament on the same day. This was my bad this last year. I know that the tournaments are geared towards different audiences, but this causes a shortage in staffers and buzzers.
- Speak up if you do not have enough staffers! Staffers are the face of your tournament. Make sure your school is able to supply (or somehow find enough) quality moderators. To ensure the quality of your tournament, creating training sessions for inexperienced moderators is highly recommended. Please let me know if you are interested in hosting but do not have enough moderators.
- Holding two tournaments on back to back weekends will generally result in a lowered tournament attendance. This year, I will do my best to space the tournaments out better so we have one per month.
- To any prospective hosts, it is crucial that you respond to emails in a timely manner. This will ensure that any issues get sorted out as soon as possible. If any issues are to arise, please be sure to keep us updated. Communication is key!