Help with laying out strips in a gym

[erik_blank]

We're holding our IUP Spooktacular event this weekend, and I was hoping to get some ideas about better layouts for our strips. We're hosting foil and epee, with over 36 registered in foil and 24 in epee. Assuming access to 8 strips (we currently KNOW that we have 6 available with some more 'promised' by other clubs), what would be the best setup for a gym with the following dimensions: 100'X78'

We also have access to a 2nd gym (a mirror of the first one) if we need it, but we would rather keep everything together if possible.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

100' by seventy-what?

[OROD]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

100' by seventy-what?

100' means 100 feet.

.

[noodle]

are those two basketball courts? if so, put the table that is the center of two strips right on the free-throw line. perfect sizing for 8 strips on 2 courts.

[erik_blank]

Originally Posted by noodle

are those two basketball courts? if so, put the table that is the center of two strips right on the free-throw line. perfect sizing for 8 strips on 2 courts.

These are two seperate gyms, with no direct path between them. I'm not sure what the size of a standard basketball court is, but each gym has about 6 hoops in them two on each "north/south" wall and one each on the "east/west" walls. My belief is that each gym has enough room for only ONE 'professional' sized basketball court.
I am thinking about putting the desk for the registration and such in the small alcove in the gyms.
We have laid these out before with more than 9 strips, but it was VRY cramped and there was no room for spectators or equipment, so I'm looking for space optimization, recommendations of space between the strips that are side by side as well as referee room, etc.

Thank in advance for all your help!

[SJCFU#2]

I suggest starting off by assuming a 60 x 15 ft block for each strip. This will allow enough room for one-half of a 30x60 inch table, 39 inches (1 m) between the table and the edge of the strip, 5 ft (1.5 m) for the strip, and 5-1/2 feet for the referee, or 11 feet for two referees to stand back-to-back, plus about 7 feet (2 m+) run-off at each end. then you start squeezing (or expanding) it to fill the available space.

With a space roughly 100 x 78 ft you should be able to fit seven strips across without squeezing things too much (you could fit eight but you might hear some complaints about the tables being too close to the strips or the referees not being able to step back enough to see the action). So long as all seven of those strips start within 7 feet of one wall you should have enough space left on the other side of the room to lay down that eighth strip.

Also, don't forget to look at where the outlets are - presumably you'll need to get power to your scoring machines.

[Wafath]

I would seriously consider putting 6 well spaced strips in one gym, 4 in the other, and just running the two events separately.

Otherwise, if you only allow 3m of referee area, you can cram about 10 into one gym.

W

[SJCFU#2]

IIRC a regulation high-school basketball court is 84 x 50 ft, plus the boundaries, which are something like 3 ft wide along the sides and 5 ft wide at the ends.

When you said that the space was 100 x 78 my first thought was that it might be a full size court with the bleachers pushed back against one wall.

edit: NBA courts are 10 feet longer than high school courts (94 x 50 ft). Can't remember which side of that divide college courts fall into.

[noodle]

Originally Posted by erik_blank

These are two seperate gyms, with no direct path between them. I'm not sure what the size of a standard basketball court is, but each gym has about 6 hoops in them two on each "north/south" wall and one each on the "east/west" walls. My belief is that each gym has enough room for only ONE 'professional' sized basketball court.
I am thinking about putting the desk for the registration and such in the small alcove in the gyms.
We have laid these out before with more than 9 strips, but it was VRY cramped and there was no room for spectators or equipment, so I'm looking for space optimization, recommendations of space between the strips that are side by side as well as referee room, etc.

Thank in advance for all your help!

one professional sized bball court = 4 well-spaced strips.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by OROD

100' means 100 feet.

.

I'm actually not a total moron. I just can't see. I can tell that the gyms are 100 feet in one direction. In the other direction, i can make out the 7, but not the other number. And I'm very much assuming it's seventy-something, and not 7 something. I guess others are suggesting 78?

[erik_blank]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

I'm actually not a total moron. I just can't see. I can tell that the gyms are 100 feet in one direction. In the other direction, i can make out the 7, but not the other number. And I'm very much assuming it's seventy-something, and not 7 something. I guess others are suggesting 78?

Sorry about the poor quality picture, I had the dimensions in the text of the original post, but when I saved the picture the jpg conversion bunged up the text in the image.
Yes, the dimensions are 100'x
78'.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by erik_blank

Sorry about the poor quality picture, I had the dimensions in the text of the original post, but when I saved the picture the jpg conversion bunged up the text in the image.
Yes, the dimensions are 100'x
78'.

HAH. Totally didn't even finish reading once I saw there was a picture! Sorry!

In any case, 6 strips in the room is pretty easy. But don't forget to save room for bags and whomever's gonna sit there with the computer (or paper. whichever.) When you try to up the number of strips at the same time you up the number of people in the room, it may get tricky. I'm pretty sure I've put 8 strips in a basketball court sized room before, but there were almost NO bags in that room (NIWFAs 2007?, the smaller room? Epeemike was in that room most of the day iirc, he might remember.)

At a certain point, the question becomes "do you want to split the fencing, or do you want to split the fencers from their bags"-- and it's always a difficult question.

Whatever you choose to do, mark the corners/middles with tape hatches/chalk/whatever first, and do a sanity check. Put in tables/chairs/etc, and then, if it looks like people will actually fit, THEN put full strips down.

[edew]

From wall: 4' then 4' strip, then 12' refereeing room, then 4' strip, then 4' space for scoring machines, then 4' strip, then 12' refereeing room, then 4' strip, then 2' to center of room. Repeat in mirror image. 8 strips 4' wide. Keep strips closer to one wall then the other, to allow the wider portion for fencing bags and for people to walk around, as well as possible BC table.

Strips are 46' long, add 5' to each end for run-off for a total of 56' of competition space. You then have 22' of walking around storage space for bags.

[jfarmer]

Originally Posted by edew

From wall: 4' then 4' strip, then 12' refereeing room, then 4' strip, then 4' space for scoring machines, then 4' strip, then 12' refereeing room, then 4' strip, then 2' to center of room. Repeat in mirror image. 8 strips 4' wide. Keep strips closer to one wall then the other, to allow the wider portion for fencing bags and for people to walk around, as well as possible BC table.

Strips are 46' long, add 5' to each end for run-off for a total of 56' of competition space. You then have 22' of walking around storage space for bags.

What planet are these legal strips for competition?

Minimum strip width of 1.5 meters = 4.9 feet, rounded up to 5 feet.

[Goldgar]

Originally Posted by edew

From wall: 4' then 4' strip, then 12' refereeing room, then 4' strip, then 4' space for scoring machines, then 4' strip, then 12' refereeing room, then 4' strip, then 2' to center of room.

Originally Posted by jfarmer

What planet are these legal strips for competition?

Minimum strip width of 1.5 meters = 4.9 feet, rounded up to 5 feet.

The USFA operations manual allows strips as little as 1 meter wide for local competitions, 1.2 meters wide for regional competitions or qualifiers.

[deepwave]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

At a certain point, the question becomes "do you want to split the fencing, or do you want to split the fencers from their bags"-- and it's always a difficult question.

I don't know about any of you, but I like to have all of my gear (including repair kit) right there, so that if I need something I don't have to go running all over the place.
And, not sure if this is just me, but I feel better knowing my gear is where I can see it (I'm very protective of my gear and don't like people even touching it without my permission & supervision). I would be very uncomfortable (and kind of angry) to have leave my gear in a separate room.

[erik_blank]

I want to thank everyone that has responded to this thread.

After looking at our venu and discussing the situation between the officers of the club, it looks like we are now going to split the competition between the two rooms so that we will have lots of room for people to spread out. We plan on having a lot of extra chairs and tables set up for folks (since the gym doesn't have any bleachers). This way people will have places to sit and even have a decent horizontal surface to do some minor repairs to their equipment. At least that's the plan.. We'l see if the University is able to keep it's ducks in a row and make sure we have everything we requested...

[edew]

Originally Posted by jfarmer

What planet are these legal strips for competition?

Minimum strip width of 1.5 meters = 4.9 feet, rounded up to 5 feet.

You should see some of the "legal" strips that we use at various clubs in the Bay Area. 3' wide (less than 1 meter) or worse, 2.5' wide strips. Heck, in some cases, the paint for the edges of the strip is wider than the strip themselves!

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by deepwave

I don't know about any of you, but I like to have all of my gear (including repair kit) right there, so that if I need something I don't have to go running all over the place.
And, not sure if this is just me, but I feel better knowing my gear is where I can see it (I'm very protective of my gear and don't like people even touching it without my permission & supervision). I would be very uncomfortable (and kind of angry) to have leave my gear in a separate room.

I agree that in an ideal world, you'd always have the option to be in the same room as your gear.


College teams are what make this somewhat more complicated. Schools with big budgets have a pile of assistant coaches who don't mind if weapons are split into different rooms. Schools that lack budgets may have one coach trying to do everything, or no coach at all. Schools with small budgets(and no fencers with prior experience) may only have one toolbox.

Ignoring college teams, it's always harder to RUN an event where fencing is in more than one place. Getting results back, finding refs, getting pools out and all the fencers to the right place... It's not impossible by any stretch, but it does factor in.

I'm not suggesting your concerns aren't valid-- they definitely are. But there are trade-offs involved.