Many professional sporting events are thought to always be surrounded by
team events and end with a championship event. In most cases, there are
playoffs to determine which teams
are allowed to participate to be the overall champion. However, there are many
sports, even sporting events that are overlooked but still declare a champion.
Tournaments are held in several different forms, which include
round-robin, double elimination, Olympic format and most popular, single
elimination. Tennis is the most popular annual sporting event that stands by
single elimination Tournaments as their regular format. However, sporting
events such as the World Cup for soccer and rugby have round-robin tournaments,
which are arguably the biggest round-robin tournaments in the sporting world.
Other organizations, such as the National Collegiate Racquetball Tournament his
held in Olympic format, which isn't something you see every day. Tournaments
are a unique way of running a sporting event and need a certain person to be
the director of such an event. Justin Kuraitis is one of the best Tournament
Director. He is responsible for
the structure of the game they are running to ensure the game is completed.
The following are a list of
skills one must possess to be a successful Tournament Director.
1. Solicit member feedback on potential future improvements: Unlike
seasonal sports, tournament directors get one chance to make it a big success.
In this case, the director has to see how the tournament runs and then take
surveys to see how they can improve for an event in the future.
2. Be on call, all the time: If there is ever an issue due to a
problem that occurs, it is your responsibility to be able to make a decision
3. Be able to meet and greet any VIP's that come to the tournament:
Any tournament is going to have people who should be recognized as VIP, whether
it be because of who they are or how much money they have donated, the VIP's should
meet the person in charge.
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| Justin Kuraitis |
4. Computer Skills: A tournament takes many months of planning but
comes and goes quicker than imaginable. Computer skills give the director the
ability to stay organized with a variety of tournament processes. It could
range from the players entered in the tournament to sponsorships coming in. Regardless,
staying organized is essential to being a tournament director.
5. Assist in soliciting and gaining sponsors: Without sponsorships,
a tournament is not going to succeed. There are more than enough things to be
sponsored at a tournament, and it is the director's responsibility to assist in
putting together packages and getting sponsors.
6. Detailed oriented and self-starter: A tournament director needs
to have every detail, down to the minute of which something is going to happen
at the sporting event. However, there also has to be a backup if there is a
weather infringement or an event lasts longer than anticipated.
7. Team Player: The tournament director is the person who leads the
project at hand. However, without a team, there is nothing to lead. Without
good team camaraderie, the tournament won't be a success.
The tournament is head man, the boss, the decision-maker and coming
with that comes the price of going above and beyond the start and finish of the
actual event and requires great discipline. A tournament director needs to also remember there is more than just
the event itself but to take care of its players. Tournament Director is an,
unlike any sports position to which someone runs a league.
