Quote:
>>> It might be more helpful and productive than complaining to the internet
>>> world...
>My wife did just that. After one the events last summer, she got an address
>from the Tournament director and sent a very nice (nicer than mine!) letter
>to JC. The response... Nothing! Further more, it appears to be worse this
>year than last. I know several readers of rsv have contact with JC organizers.
>Maybe these well connected folks could forward comments (more traditional forms
>of communication have not worked).
Ask and ye shall recieve in this internet world... next day service brought to
you by the USA Volleyball/Jose Cuervo alliance for the betterment of the
outdoor game...
To: Rec.Sport Volleyball
From: JOSE CUERVO Beach Volleyball Series, National Director, Joseph Romano
Date: July 25, 2:18 pm
The JOSE CUERVO Beach Volleyball Series is the oldest and largest national amateur beach
series in the nation. This year the quality and quantity of prizes were upgraded while the entry
costs of been kept to 10%- 15% below other competing national events. Participation is up
nationally by an average of 15% as a result of our attempting to accommodate as many teams that
wish to play as possible. While this may seem to be financially motivated, it is important for
players to understand that when one subtracts out the player tank top cost, local site fees,
tournament director fees, and added staffing for the increase in players, the net revenue to the tour
from this growth is $2- $4 per added team.
I took over the series this year as the national tournament director and made two management
decisions this year that have caused some consternation, but I believe have been positive overall.
The first decision related to length of play. In the past many of the tournaments were not
completed and random solutions were used to determine a winner. To remedy this, we
have gone to a five team pool format with games played to 11 points with a 13 point cap and a
four team pool with play to 11 points and no cap. If at all possible, we try to stay with five team
pools and give players a minimum of four games. We take two teams out of each pool into a
single elimination final. We then play the finals to the same 11 point/ 13 point cap format. If we
reach the semifinals by 6PM we will play them and the finals to 15. I should note that with the
11 point format we have "never" had a men's A or Open final begin before 7PM. The fact that
teams take until 7 PM to start the finals convinces me that we have made the proper decision
regarding the score that pools are playing to.
At the ten previous sites this year, we have always been able to expand the number of courts
to accommodate everyone, In New London we were restricted to fif*** courts, but we talked
the site manager into allowing us twenty courts. Based on past participation,, we had sufficient
courts to handle everyone. As it turned out this was not the case and we were faced with either
turning away teams that had tried to register by mail, or accommodating them in six team pools or
dual pools of four on single courts. We opted for the dual pools. I am convinced that a six team
pool could not finish on time. And, the dual format has the benefit that we take four teams off a
court (two per pool) for the single elimination (this means that 50% of the teams go to the finals
instead of the 40% from the five team pool or 33% from a six team pool). While this "radical"
created a tremendous outcry, the fact is that the majority of the double pools finished before the
five team pools that played on Saturday.
On Sunday, after all the complaints we had on Saturday, we dropped the dual pool format and
turned away teams. This created more complaints than we had from Saturday.
The bottom line to all this is that we made some changes to try to keep everyone happy and in the
end just created an enormous headache for ourselves. In the future, we will be playing a
maximum of five teams on a court, and we will be turning away teams that are not preregistered if
we are out of space. I welcome any constructive comments from anyone have on how we solve
the type of dilemma that we were faced with last Saturday. Please just post them on the internet
or come on out to our tournament and tell us.
Sincerely,
Joseph W Romano
Regards to all, keep the information flowing...
John Kessel
USA Volleyball Director of Programs
FIVB Technical Commission Secretary
1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909
FAX (719) 597-6307 / ((719) 637-8300W
http://SportToday.org/