Tournament Procedures

Parking

The parking is all around the Eola Community Center but if you have trouble finding a spot you can park in the nearby church parking lot which is just south of ECC.

Check-in
When you arrive, please find me behind a table in the middle of the gym where you can check in.  I will print your names on 2 x 3 self adhesive name tag labels which you will find laid out on the table.  Please find your name tag and affix it to your shirt.  This should help us get to know each other quicker and find players who are to play the next match.  Next, please sign the waiver & release so in case something happens to you I or park district will not be liable for injuries.  I am attaching this form so you can read it in advance.  The group assignments have been published on the tournament's page so check which group you are in but if you can't do it we'll let you know. Each group will be assigned to one table for the duration of the round robin phase and tables will have large numbers on them so you can locate your table easily.  Here is the drawing showing the layout of the tables in the gym so you can see where your group's table will be located.

We will setup chairs along the east and west walls, behind the barriers so each player can leave their belongings there and stay close to the action in his/her group.  Please don't put your entire equipment bag between the tables as we are already tight on space without them.

Scoring
We will play best 3 out of 5 games matches. Each game will be to 11 points with servers changing every 2 serves.  If 10:10 is reached then serves will alternate on every serve until one player wins by 2 points.

Each group will get the scoring template on a clipboard, listing all players in a group and a place to record all match results.  Here is a partially filled template, showing one recorded match between player with code A (Naman Thakrar) and player with code F (Niraj Lawande), which player A won 3 games to 1.  This is how I would like you to record the matches.  Please record the score after each game.  At the last tournament some matches were not recorded at all or recorded in a wrong row.

At the end of the round robin phase, I will count the number of matches won to determine which place each player took.  If two players have the same number of matches won then I will look at the result of the match between these two players.  The winner will determine who takes a higher place in the group.  If we have a 3-way tie, I will look at the ratio of games won vs. lost.  The higher the ration the higher the place among the players who are tied.  If that doesn't resolve it, we will look at the total number of points won vs. lost.  I have a program in Excel spreadsheet which uses this method so the places should be determined quickly, but you must enter all match scores.

Once round robin phase is over the players who took 1st and 2nd place from each group will play for 1st through 8th place in their division. 

The following pairs will be playing in the quarter finals set of matches.

The same matches will be played in the intermediate division, except group numbers 9 - 12 are replaced with 5 - 8.  Junior and Amateur divisions will have players who took 1st place play the player who took 2nd place in the other group and vice-versa. 

There are two water fountains in the gym but it's best to bring your own large bottle of water and something to eat.  There are soft benches in the hallway and brand new chairs and small tables in the recently renovated area by the front desk so you can sit down and have something to eat there.  Please DO NOT EAT in the gym. Park district officials warned me that this is not allowed.  As I said it will be 5 - 6 hours of play so you may become thirsty and hungry.  There are also a soft drink & lightly flavored water vending machine near the front desk and a snack machine in the hallway.

Equipment

Our Killerspin MyT10 tables are black and 2 Stiga tables are dark blue color.  The tables will have numbers on them corresponding to a group which will play on it during round robin phase.  The floor is made of continuous sports linoleum in light blue/green color.  You can see the pictures of our gym on our club's website at http://www.fvttc.net.  We will be playing with 40 mm orange Nittaku balls donated by Paddle Palace who is our sole sponsor.  Please don't wear orange clothes because they make the ball hard to see. 

Pictures

I would like to take one picture of all players under the banner of our sponsor to thank them for their support.  In addition, I would like to take pictures of each group before the tournament so we can post them the tournament report.  I would like to take this group picture as soon as all group players arrive.  This may sound like too much for you, but if you line up for the group picture with player with code A first from the left, followed by player B, C, D, E & F it will be easy for me to identify you when I label the pictures. At the end of the tournament, we will take pictures of the players who took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each division standing on the podium.  The park district has black podium cubes labeled 1, 2 & 3 which they use for their gymnastics meets so I will see if we can use them again.

Next Tournament

Finally, I have already scheduled the next tournament for Sunday, June 3rd, 2012 at 2 PM.