Tournament Common Procedures

Tournament Common Procedures

The Rossmoor Tennis Club sponsors several types of tennis tournaments.   Each type of tournament has similarities to and differences from other events.  The information provided here is intended to assist RTC members assuming responsibility for the tennis tournament function.

Background

This list is a general plan for running a tournament.  Specific tournaments, e.g. Wild Cards, list any specific variations on their own page.

Tournaments are open to current paid up Rossmoor Tennis Club Members only. The exceptions are Wild Card Tournaments which are open to all Rossmoor residents.

Each tournament has a Captain responsible for coordinating and running the tournaments.  See the Events Calendar for Tournament Captains.

Refreshments are paid for by RTC and tennis balls are provided by the RTC Tournaments Director. As of this date, it is Chris Slee.

• Keep all receipts associated with any purchase[s] for later reimbursement

Most tournaments have a matching Excel spreadsheet that takes a list of player names and produces a

• Scorecard,
• Rotation sheet [cut up as a handout to each player], showing their court in each round, along with fellow players
• and an overall Assignment sheet, showing players on each court in each round

For more guidance, contact the RTC Tournaments Director.

Contact the Tournament Director [3 weeks in advance]

• 3 weeks before tournament if you have not been contacted by the RTC Tournament Director who is to help you, contact him or her. Get:
  • Sign up sheet
  • Tournament Instruction pack ... Common procedures, tournament specific procedures, rules of play
  • Props (Rotation Signs, Player rotations cards)
  • Excel workbooks [for scoring, team planning etc.]
• Coordinate publicity for the tournament with the RTC Publicity Director.
  • Put out an attention getting eMail / Newsletter / flyer to the membership
    • eMail should warn members that up to six courts will be used
  • Put a banner ad on the RTC site to promote sign ups
  • Potentially put article into the Rossmoor News
• Line up volunteer support for items like
  • Someone with a golf cart to get ice from Stanley Dollar on the morning of the tournament

Sign Up Participants [at least 2 weeks in advance]

• Post a sign up sheet at the Buckeye kiosk two or three weeks before the tournament
  • Sign up sheet in the the middle under the clock
  • Flyer on left hand wall so it is visible when you walk toward the kiosk
• Periodically check sign ups to see if additional publicity is required to get enough players.
  • Get help from Tournament Director or Publicity Director if required
  • Send a 2nd eMail Newsletter to get more players if needed

Confirm and Notify Players [Tournament Week]

• Take down the signup sheet late on the Monday before a Saturday Tournament
• Post the Courts 1 – 6 reserved sign.
• Send an email notice to all who signed up as players to positively confirm they will be playing
  • titled "RT ...xxx... Tournament Please CONFIRM ASAP"
    • reading “ This is a reminder that you signed up for, and will be playing in the ...xxx.... Tournament this coming Saturday, (tournament date). 
    • Your participation is critical for the rest of the tournament so please show up a few minutes before 8:45 am for photos etc prior to a 9 a.m. starting time.” 
  • This is critical as no shows cause significant problems and history shows people forget!
• If you do not receive a player’s confirmation by the end of Tuesday, call them for a verbal confirmation and, if they are unable to play, notify the first, same sex, alternate by phone that they will be playing in the tournament.
  • There are often 1 or more withdrawals which require some alternates
• Continue until there are the right number of confirmed players

Day[s] Before

• Post a "Courts Reserved" notice at the Kiosk
• Get the Tournament Kit and the Tennis Balls From the RTC Tournaments Director:
• Create the Scorecard, Court Assignments, Team and/or Individual Player handouts.  This varies based on the type of tournament.
• Reconfirm volunteer(s), especially ice delivery with a golf cart [Kern usually helps]
• Refreshments, Food, Drinks: On the day before or early in morning of the tournament stop by Safeway, or store of your choice, and purchase breakfast snack food for the participants [number varies by type of tournament]
• Print any tournament specific aids, including tournament Rules

Morning Of, Before Starting [Plan on arriving at 8 a.m.]

• Golf cart volunteer: give him/her an ice chest from the kitchen area to get ice from Stanley Dollar house.
  • Remove the central post to allow the golf cart to drive up to the lunch area
• Open the large shed closest to the serving counter ( combination 1776) to find the tournament kit.
• Refreshments
  • The coffee and tea which are stored in the tennis court under counter service lockers along with napkins, plates, cups, toothpicks, sugar, and other necessary serving items. The key is kept in the lockbox on the pillar next to the bell (Code 17895).
  • Cut up danish/muffins into smaller pieces (quarters) and put out tooth picks to serve fruit etc.
• • Set up the Keurig coffee maker
    • Note: there are two coffee makers, no longer used most of the time.  One of which is used for heating hot water for tea. There is a cup indicating the ratio of decaffeinated coffee grounds (1.5 cups) to 30 cups of water for brewing 30 cups of coffee. Plug in the coffee and tea water containers as soon as you arrive as they will take abound 15 minutes to heat up/brew then arrange the food on the counter.
    • Plug in the coffee and tea water containers as soon as you arrive as they will take about 15 minutes to heat up/brew then
  • Set out food and drink, breakfast snacks and juices for the participants on the counter
• Forms and Handouts [depends on the specific tournament type]
  • Post Court Assignment, Rotation etc.
  • Set up the white scoreboard if appropriate
  • Stage individual and/or team handouts and distribute as players arrive
• Provide a can of new tennis balls for each of courts

Starting Up the Tournament [at 9:00 a.m.]

• Check in Players prior to 9 a.m.
  • hand out individual court assignments if appropriate
  • inform players where the Court Assignments are posted and the Scorecard will be posted
• Take (or have someone take) a group photo before play starts, typically on court 4 across the net.  If this is Inter-Club, take a team picture for the opponents, they will appreciate it.
• Summarize the format and the rules ... announce a break mid way thru
• Explain court assignments
• Start at 9:00 a.m.
• Give time for warm ups, then ring the bell to start the event!

During the Tournament

• Each Tournament has its own rules.
• As each match is finished the players will report their scores for recording. 
• Consider a 10 minute rest break after the fourth round.
• Record the players scores for each round on the score sheet
• Take PHOTOGRAPHS for publicity on the club web site and Rossmoor News

At the end: Announcing the Winners

• At the end of the tournament, calculate and record the scores noting the first, second, and third highest scoring men and women and/or teams separately.
• Gather these winners together for a PHOTO shot (for Rossmoor News). If there are many tied players, resulting in a photo with more than 7-8 players, only include the first and second place players. (Rossmoor News does not want large group photos0

After the Tournament

• Clean the area - please, after the tournament.
  • return and lock all supply items in their respective cabinets,
  • return the Tournament Kit to the storage shed
  • clean the counter top
  • re hang and lock the keys in the big shed,
  • take down the Courts Reserved sign from the kiosk.
  • Take down Rotation signs
• To RTC Tournament Director
  • Save the Tournament Signup Sheet and the completed Tournament Score Sheets, for RTC Tournaments Director 
  • Return the Tournament Kit -- see below
• To RTC Publicity
  • WRITE an article for publication in the Rossmoor News
  • When tournament is over make sure the board member knows the scores of the winners and that he/she has the information for the Rossmoor News. If anything funny or interesting happens, make sure that those things are passed on. Any photos should be emailed as attachments.
  • Email the photo along with the names and scores of those in the photo to both the Publicity Officer [publicity@...] and the Tournaments Director [tournaments@...], for submission to Rossmoor News. [both @rossmoortennis.com]. Make sure to identify the players in sequence in the winners photo.
• To RTC Treasurer: File Reimbursement request for refreshments and other incidentals
  • You can download a reimbursement form to get your money back from the club web site.
  • and send it in to Ken Steiner, 3761 Terra Granada #1B, Walnut Creek, CA 94595 along with the completed Reimbursement Form.

Tournament Kitbag -- stored in the distant shed

• Scoreboard
• Dry Erase Markers
• Sharpies for recording scores
• Name tags
• Directory of members