The volleyball tournament was meant to be run today (Heritage Day, a South African national holiday), tomorrow, and Saturday. My previous entry described the roller coaster of a challenge trying to put this together.
Things that were supposed to happen - what actually happened:
iKwekwezi FM was to air a radio advertisement for the tournament - the Community Development Worker from Vezubuhle didn't submit the proper paperwork so the ad never aired
The municipal government was to provide us with a team to represent them, volleyballs, and a tent for the testing - The municipality is still on strike (going on three weeks now) so the players wouldn't come and none of the paperwork was processed to get volleyballs or a tent since there was no one to process it
KwaMhlanga Hospital was to provide VCT services at the event as well as field a team - As promised, they showed up, but since no one was there, they left saying they would come back tomorrow if there were more people. Since today was National Heritage Day, the team was at another event.
A DJ was to play music and be the MC for the event - As promised, he showed up, but since there weren't enough people we requested he didn't set up but to stay on standby in case there was a large number of teams that registered at the event in the morning
Caterers were to cook and sell food to the people at the event - They also remained on standby but since no one showed up, their services were not needed
The Police Service was to provide volleyballs, trophies and medals for awards - They said it was too short notice (2 months is too short?) so they didn't get the proposal through the proper channels in time. Fortunately, they were not necessary since there weren't any brackets. What would I have done with all of those extra trophies?
Me: Happy Father's day dad, I got you a present
Dad: (he opens it) uhhh, thanks for the...women's bracket championship trophy. I guess I'll put it next to my "World's Greatest Dad" mug, use it as a paperweight. Yeah, this perfect, thanks.
Me: I knew you'd like it!
The teams were supposed to pay a R50 entry fee and I was going to use the money to buy raffle tickets - No teams showed up therefore there were no teams to pay entry fees and no money to buy raffle prizes. I didn't even have raffle tickets so maybe that worked out to my benefit.
Our revised plan (this morning) since all of those things fell through:
Today we hung out and played volleyball waiting for people to show up so we could register them. Registration would be completed today and early tomorrow morning. We would then play a tournament with those registered teams Friday and Saturday. Trophies without inscriptions would be brought as awards for the awards ceremony so people could take pictures. The trophies would then be taken back, engraved, and returned to the winners.
I spoke with everyone who was there and explained all of the challenges that I faced which resulted in the lackluster tournament. I really appreciate their showing up and participating but I asked them for a little understanding and flexibility. The compromise we reached this afternoon resulted in this revised plan:
Regardless of who shows up tomorrow, we will hold a small social tournament amongst whoever shows up. All participants will receive a certificate of participation from the Department of Sports and Recreation. The winners will be announced and will at a future date be awarded volleyballs; but no trophies will be awarded. We will hold another tournament in the near future that is marketed more effectively and more highly resourced. Winning a larger tournament will have more meaning and deserve the recognition of a trophy.
Although the running of this tournament was a complete failure in just about every way possible, it was a good learning experience. I have formulated a plan to run an excellent netball tournament in December. More details to come. . .
No comments:
Post a Comment