2004 Nationals in Charlotte

[Rolls]

Originally posted by edew
In-and-Out for free is overpriced. Maybe what you consider to be good food - if In-and-Out is a representative of that - is different from what I consider good food.

If I were to eat an In-and-Out, the result will be just that: in and out, and might be before I can get home.

Wow, not appreciating Amercican fast food is on par with going to Greece and not wanting a Gyro (or going to a ball game and not getting a hotdog and a order of nachos and cheese). Whether you like it or not, cheap, greasy fast food is a staple of American cuisine. And it tastes damn good. You should really give it a try. I recommend Hardee's. Right now, I believe they have one of the best fast food menus.

Rolls.

[Tireur]

My man, Rolls, from Mobile.

I was sad to see, a little over a year ago, that Barnacle Bills, out at the country club, on Dauphin Island, had closed. Food was ok, but, we loved the location and went there many times.

Do you know if anything has taken it's place? We love to go to Dauphin for a quiet weekend away.

[R. Exnicios]

Okay I keep seeing posts about food. If you want food have the event in New Orleans. There would be no referees without hangovers and fencers would be flashing their breast protectors for beads but here would be no complaint about good food

Sorry, No we are not planning on hosting nationals any time soon; The Super Bowl yes.


Cheers

[Tireur]

Ahhh, yes, memories of the Mardi Gras Tournament, back in the 70s...

That's when I found out how good New Orleans can be....

[dekko]

Quick message to EDEW and Tireur, please have this discussion of food quality in private and not on this thread. While humourous it doesn't serve to help the overall purpose of this thread. Quick note for both of you, Charlotte does have lots of very good resturants and most are not long driving distance from the hotel or venue. As for the best resturants in the country, Houston wins hands down, ask anyone there for the Super Bowl.

To Dee EffEll, when we had oru first meeting and the group was chosen we made a list of customers to this event, the customer base being addressed here are the fencers. While you are correct we do not have much say in some things we do want to provide, as best we can, a very positive fencing enviornment for those who visit and maybe not host only one national event every 5 years. We all know people every year who come to nationals for the first time and we will do our best to make this something they, new fencers and related, want to attend again.

Let's try to hit your list and see what's what.

1. We are working with Phil Daly of ProPrint Wear and bottom line on that relationship, we provide a design and volunteers, he does the shirts and other mechandising. Phil is in that business, we are not. We have all gone down the path of having shirts made but Phil is the expert and we will, and are, following his lead.

2. Not sure where the type-o was on the Greeneville nationals shirt was but both words were spelled correctly.

3. We will know this when are ablt to have one of our meetings at the venue to see what we have to work with. I am not sure at this point how the room will be set up and how much say we will have in that set-up but we will approach it as if we are the final word and have a plan ready. If the armourers and USFA set-up crew change our plans then so be it.

4. We have had thoughts of an internet cafe type set-up for folks to use but there several questions and 'problems' to be answered and worked out. We like the message board idea and working to figure out a good logistical way to do this, if possible.

5. The overhead projector is a good idea but doea present other problems, maybe they can be worked out and maybe not. Either way, in my personal experience when those items have been used they can, at times, be difficult to read after projecting a certain distance. We like the idea but there are some bugs to be worked out.

6. As a national ref myself, every ref knows it is their job to bring necessary items with them, cards, pen/pencil, scorpad, etc. I personally use the Palm Scorepad one of the armourers wrote, it is great and has been very successful for me. I met the guy last yearwho wrote it and he gets an eternal, phat thumbs up from me for it's existance.

7. Annoucements are always tough and are either too loud or not loud enough. This one is tough. The good thing about annoucements are they do not care where you are in the room they can usually be heard where the scrolling sign needs to have the fencers in its immidiate area to be effective. I have been reffing when announcements are made and had to stop reffing because they were too loud. When our meeing is there that is one item that will be checked.

8. I like this idea but it is very rare that events are delayed the day or night before it happens. I agree it does happen but it is rare. I do like the idea of having that info available and the USFA has been good anout giving that info out at nationals, I suspect that will not change.

9. We are fortunate to have a vendor represented on our LOC. The vendor will not be ignored. I have heard that phone lines for them does/can cost quite a bit for them to use. The more important issue for them will be cell phone ability. Most vendors now have cc machines that hook to a cell phone and works or doesn't work when the cell phone works or doesn't work.

10. Charlotte does have 2-3 million people in the metro area. We do have plans to let everyone know the fencers are coming and when.

11. We have discussed making maps and plans liek this available on the website for nationals. I am sure they will also be available on site and we have discussed the possiblity of having them at the host hotel. Not sure if we can get them to all hotels but with having this avaiable online it should catch almost everyone who wants the info.

12. We do have ideas for the refs but nothing certain yet.

13. This is a ref concern. I have never had a problem being a hardass to coaches, polite but firm with parents and doing what I can to keep the area clean. The fencers usually hate me because I move their equipement out of the way when it's in the area. Bottomline, the refs need to handle this. The USFA and LOC don't have the man power to handle this one.

14. This is a good idea and will be looked into. I do not know what the Mechandise Mart has for this issue but the question will be asked. Charlotte does have an above average spinal center and there are several wheelchair companies here, they will be contacted.

Hopefully this will answer most of your questions.

Thanks for the positive thoughts and thoughtful questions.

[Dee EffEll]

Thanks, Dekko. Best of luck to you. I am looking forward to it.

Originally posted by dekko


2. Not sure where the type-o was on the Greeneville nationals shirt was but both words were spelled correctly.

English convention for making contractions is to note removed letters with an apostrophe. "You all" is acceptable English usage ("All of you"), making the contraction "Y'all" grammatically acceptable. It has taken on something of a southern flavor, of course, but it is certainly part of the King's English. However, the apostrophe goes between the Y and the A to denote the removed letters. If this is the worst thing that happens at summer nationals, we are in good shape. IMHO, though, the rather androgenous anime figure was really unpleasant. I bought the shirt that had the event poster on it instead. But fairly, I thought the Greenville event was in many ways superior to last year's Austin event. Looking forward to a trip to the Carolinas again.

[Inquartata]

Originally posted by Mo
You can afford steak?? You must not be a serious fencer.

Not serious enough, anyway, that's for sure! My results bear THAT out...

[Tireur]

Quick message to EDEW and Tireur, please have this discussion of food quality in private and not on this thread. While humourous it doesn't serve to help the overall purpose of this thread. Quick note for both of you, Charlotte does have lots of very good resturants and most are not long driving distance from the hotel or venue. As for the best resturants in the country, Houston wins hands down, ask anyone there for the Super Bowl.

Sorry, the CA-NY elitist talk got my back up.

On a final note, you're right, Charlotte does have some fine food, but, like edew, you don't always pick it up just passing thru.

I lived in Houston for 5 years and it does have some fine restaurants, but not the best in the country (except, maybe the best Mexican).

CA's contribution to world cuisine? Trail Mix......

[Dee EffEll]

Here's a couple more ideas for the list:

-Get a few score of pagers to give to the refs. That way they can be contacted whenever and wherever the bout committee needs them. They can go out of the venue for a few minutes to get lunch or whatever, and then when they are needed, they can be paged. Someone will have to compile a list of which ref has which pager number, and be the interface to the bout committee. Maybe a local pager company will provide them in exchange for some advertizing. (and hey, if you're looking for a way to help advertize the event, set up some live webcams in the venue, and broadcast live to the internet! Who knows, maybe even fencing101.co will pick up the feed. One thing for sure - the USFA "web site" will not.)

-Assign someone from the LOC to ride herd on a section (10?) of strips. Let the bout committee know which strips are in use in an event at all times. It seemed like there was a lot of milling around in Austin, waiting for strips to open up or refs to be found. If the bout committee can look at some sort of status board (think "AirBoss" on an aircraft carrier) that is up to the minute reliable, things will go a lot smoother. Yes, this takes 10 people willing to do nothing else all day, all week, but it could really help out.

Yes, the USFA "runs the show." But if the locals can provide them with tools to expedite things, perhaps we can reduce the amount of dead time.

I know cost is always an issue with the LOC. I am willing to bear the cost of participating in my sport. I will offer to donate to any event I attend that turns out in the red if they explain their expenses. If at the end of the event there are expenses not covered and the event was reasonably well run, set up a paypal account and solict donations. I think you'll find the fencing community sympathetic toward people that offer good services but due to circumstances beyond their control, come out a little short. We *want* well run tournaments, and if it costs a few more bucks, many people are willing to help out.

Best of luck, see you in July.

[mlr2fence]

Thanks for asking for suggestions! I think it would be great if you could provide a listing of family things to do, especially those that could be done in a afternoon. Such as: a listing of the movies that are showing, paintball, laser tag, video arcades, miniature golf, roller skating, museums, malls, etc. Include with the directions the phone number, the hours of operation, cost, how far away from the venue its located, etc. Many of us find we have an afternoon to fill and the problem is always what to do.

[edew]

Originally posted by R. Exnicios
Okay I keep seeing posts about food. If you want food have the event in New Orleans. There would be no referees without hangovers and fencers would be flashing their breast protectors for beads but here would be no complaint about good food

Sorry, No we are not planning on hosting nationals any time soon; The Super Bowl yes.


Cheers

Referees work best with a massive hangover. That way, they can excuse themselves for not biasing for their friend, the coach of a fencer.

[dekko]

I do like the pager idea but this seems as though it would be better served as a purchase by the USFA for more events than just nationals.

I know the web cam situation is very difficult. Lots of PPV's, such as boxing, do have this ability but they do limit the number of buys to 5,000 due to technology concerns. However, if fencing.net has the ability and technology to do live web casts I am sure I speak for the LOC when I say no problem. Bring all the stuff needed and we can discuss sponsorship.

At the risk of upsetting certain people, the FOC and tournament committee people keep track of refs and strips in use and where. I am not sure that having a local volunteer to watch strips would be useful to them. As they are usually elevated above the rest of us they usually look and see what is going on when they have a question. How about this, let's make a rule that no practice, drills, lessons, etc can happen on any strip anywhere in the room! You're right it's a bad idea. Seriously, they are good about keeping up with that info and I am not sure we can reallt bring anything positive to that situation.

The paypal account is very interesting and not sure how many fencers share you willingness to help, but I applaud you idea. How about an opportunity for parents to 'buy' an ad for thier kids in the program at a very low fee. This would be easy and allow people such as yourself to help out and get something for your money.

We do have lots of places to see and go here in Charlotte during the days you are here and not fencing. Although I no idea why you wouldn't want to hang out in the conv center and watch. Just kidding.

Keep the good ideas and suggestions coming, they are appreciated.

[veeco]

Originally posted by mlr2fence
Many of us find we have an afternoon to fill and the problem is always what to do.

Of course, you can always watch the fencing. After all, it's not like there are too many spectators at this kind of tournament...

[oiuyt]

Originally posted by dekko
I do like the pager idea but this seems as though it would be better served as a purchase by the USFA for more events than just nationals.

I think the suggestion was to have a local vendor donate use fo the pagers/service. The USFA rarely needs the pagers (what, ~35 days out of the year) and would need national coverage for them to be useful. A local company that can just loan returned/refurbished/used pagers to the USFA for the week and a half and can provide service is all that would be required.

It's an interesting idea. Not really all that useful I'd imagine, but creative anyway.

-B :)

[dekko]

Don't get me wrong I like the idea as well. The kind of pagers for this use are more like the ones resturants use not the ones used by people to receive phone numbers. I like the idea and would love to see it but at every national event there is an issue with finding refs and hurt feelings and upset LOC when the ref was in the bathroom.

Like I said I like the idea but this really is a USFA issue.

[dekko]

Just out of curiousity, how do fencers feel about fencing event programs? Love them, hate them, emergency toilet paper, most useful thing they get at nationals events, etc?

We are curious.

[j4koch]

To H**l with what the fencers think about the programs! It's the parents, grandparents and significant others who read the things! And tips, hints, guides on what on earth is going on those strips is greatly appreciated.

[dekko]

Sounds good to me:

All others who might be there for nationals and don't fence, let us know what you think of the programs. We would appreciate your input.

Thanks.

[Inquartata]

Thank YOU, for caring enough what the fencers think to ask! That's not a terribly widespread thing, alas...

[Corazo]

My biggest recommendation is one that may be diffiuclt to do. I would greatly appreciate it if there's some way to get the floor a little bit easier on the knees than in previous nationals. Usually there is a thin carpet on top of concrete flooring and then the strips on top of that. It would be nice if the floor was wooden, but I recognize that most convention centers have concret floors. But maybe you could have a thicker carpet layer or two layers somehow. Fencing and standing and walking on concrete flooring for 10 hours at a time can really hurt your knees and make it difficult to fence your best (and I'm only 17, I can only imagine how some of the older people who already have knee problems must feel).


A few extra chairs would be nice, too.