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Unread 03-05-2013, 14:01
MrJohnston MrJohnston is offline
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Re: Saving Seats Epidemic

Some thoughts:

* Seating was a major issue at Nationals for all the reasons previously outlined. It is crazy that somebody can camp out all weekend in a "prime" viewing location, watching every single match from an ideal vantage, when some kids completely miss some of their team's matches - simply because they did not bully (yes, bully) their way to the ideal seats... Something really should be done.

* Collaborative scouting: With a large team, we are always looking for jobs for all our kids to do. Moreover, we have created a couple of formal leadership positions around scouting. We'd rather do most of our work internally so as to allow our students to do this.

* Seats reserved for teh public: Definitely.

Two possible solutions:
* Assign seats. However, assign the same set of seats to two different teams, only giving them enough for one team. Let the two teams work it out such that everybody can watch their teams matches. Coordinating with a "partner" team is much easier than with various other teams.

* We already have five fields set up for play. There should be room for a sixth (allowing for more qualificaiton matches)... However, instead of designating one field as teh "Newton" field, simply number them 1-6. Teams would have scheduled matches on all six fields. This way, teams would not be reasonably able to camp out at one spot all weekend. This would naturally create enough movement in the stands that there woudl always be open seats for gropus of people.


Finally, the ferocity with which folks will "save" seats is really upsetting. My most frustrating moment came at the Seattle regional. Our team was hosting 100 4th graders for about two hours on Friday - about one hour of which was to be in the stands watching the competition. We were given leave (by the tournament directors) to hold on to about 150 seats for that one hour so that some of our students coudl sit with the younger kids. As other teams came to sit in that area, we spoke with them about it and simply asked that they allow the smaller kids sit in that area during the one hour they would be present. They moved in and, when the time came, most refused to allow the small kids somewhere to sit. Those who refused were a variety of mentors, FRC teams and families. They even refused to give up empty seats. Worse, the fire marshall was already upset at the number of folks standing in the aisles and was kicking folks out of the stands who could not find seats. It was brutal having to talke 10-year-olds out of the stands and try to find them somewhere to stand alongside the field in a near mosh-pit. The $@#$@#$@#$@# thing about it, is that one team told me that they were trying to win the spirit award and if they were not together cheering, the judges would not know how much spirit they had.

Seeing similar struggles at Nationals and reading justifcations here, I am convinced that a few rules and announcements is not going to change this aspect of our culture. Either we are all going to have to pay more and have much larger venues so that there is never a shortage of seats, or we are all going to have to bring the change to our teams.