Interest in "international" Southern Tournament?

[Aestro]

I attended a tournament this weekend hosted by another local club, and while there a member of their club had a proposal - He had just taken a 3-week trip around Germany (and possibly other places), and fenced a few times as well as socialized with a German club. They discussed the possibility of the leader of the club (my friend stated he is a former Olympian) bringing 10 or so of his fencers here for a tournament and possibly other activities.

I am President of the University of Tennessee - Knoxville fencing club, and the University probably has the best facilities as far as space and spectators go, so we would probably be in charge of pulling things together. If this does happen, it'll be around a year, but we're looking to pull together a large tournament. I believe we could easily acquire the space and possibly some extra funding from the Athletics department.

The problem with this is that so far none of our clubs has had any experience organizing any tournament larger than about 20 members, the UTK club only has around 20 active members, 10-15 average turnout. Most tournaments in Knoxville consist of a portion of the 3 clubs in the area, and maybe a few more people that've traveled a couple hours. Basically, we're a small club trying to do something much bigger than has happened.

So, I ask for an honest opinion from the forums - would you REALLY considering attending a tournament such as this at UTK? If so, perhaps be willing to bring strips and competent judges? Finally, do you guys actually think we would even be able to pull a larger competition off?

As mentioned, this is still in the VERY early idea phase, but obviously if I see there might be support it could be a big motivator to start work on it over the summer.

[mlr2fence]

I think that that is an interesting idea. Could your Division or Section assist you?

[Craig]

Check with Michael Tarascio in SC and Gene Gettler in Atlanta. They both have some experience.

Also, don't poor-boy it. If you are bringing in good int'l fencers, then pay to bring in some top flight refs.

[Rolls]

While I don't have any resources to lend you, I can say that I DEFINITELY would attend. Tennessee isn't too far from Alabama, and I'm always looking for another tournament to go to. I would caution that you make sure no other events are being held at the same time. You can cut your participation in half by having the event on the same day as an event that you think is far enough away that it doesn't matter.

As for referees, my club is going to try something new this year. Before hosting our annual tournament in May, we are trying to organize a referre clinic. That way our fencers and any parents who want can become referees.

I think it would be a good idea for some clubs to get the younger fencer's parents involved as referees. They tend to be at all the events anyway, and many of them would like something extra to do to pitch in. Especially, if their child gets eliminated early on (or is in a youth event that takes place beforehand); it will give them a reason to stick around.

[DHCJr]

You might try our friends up north. On the Canadian Federation site is a manual on running tournaments combined with an Armorers manual.

[deflagratio]

I'm definately interested if some of those int'l fencers are sabres. I'm sure the Birmingham Fencing Club in Alabama would send a few people to fence. Also if I could get some information about that referee clinic me and a few friends would gladly attend.

[Ramrod]

I'd come up. Especially for some good international fencing. UT has good facilities so we wouldn't have to worry about crappy surroundings.

Craig's right about not skimping on referees. If your guests are spending the money to come from Germany you should make the investment to see that they get their money's worth.

Oh, and make sure they get to eat grits and fried chicken!

[Aestro]

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback guys, it'll be my last year with the club more than likely so I REALLY want something big to go out on.

If we do manage to get it together, obviously we're going to request more funding from the RecSports or possibly even go to the Athletics department. Cost will still be a factor though. We should get the facilities for free, but the club right now gets about 1500 bucks to work with, but we also rely on providing gear for many of our members, and electrical gear for nearly all of them. We are still a club, rather than a team.

We'll definitely look into hiring some refs though, as I figure we could work out a deal with some of the closer clubs in regards to borrowing some electrical equipment, probably in return for either free entry or a discount (depending on how many are with the club).

Apart from that, I hope our friend can get his friend to follow through.