Quote:
|
Originally Posted by dbSparx
I am not sure if we are connecting on the same point. I think the queue length should be shorter, not longer. If you take the 24 minutes early (I think that's the estimate we were given, and it ties with the 18-24 minutes you suggest) x the 7 matches we played, that's 168 minutes of time in queue (not minutes per match, but cumulative time spent in queue). That's a lot of time, and our kids were really feeling it by the end of the weekend. Strategy conversations typically take only a few minutes during qualifying rounds and teams can always meet in the pits if they want to. I would really prefer if we cut the number of matches in queue from 4 to 2.
|
Alright, now I understand what you were saying, for the most part. What do you consider "in queue". I don't consider a team queued until they are at the field. If a team leaves 4 matches prior to their own they will arrive and be the second match in queue on the field. In the past when we made pit announcements we had to make the final call 2 matches prior to make sure the team had enough time to get to the field. For this reason we like having 2 full matches queued up on the field.
24 minutes was just a recommendation, you don't get penalized for not using that time. Your team doesn't have to leave 24 minutes before your match time if they don't want to. They can wait until 12 minutes, but don't expect the field to wait if it takes you 13 minutes or the field is a match ahead of schedule. We hate to see teams missing matches so we are a little generous with the amount of time we recommend.
Throughout the championship Newton went from 3 matches fully queued (all 6 teams) all the way to about 5 and then back to about 1. This was largely due to the field getting behind schedule and then getting slightly ahead. 5 matches queued was too many but I can do little to control the number of matches queued at the field. In past years we could have the pit announcers change the timing of thier match calls as necessary but this year the teams were responsible for adjusting their time to arrive on the field. The 5 match situation was right after opening ceremonies, which went long as I'm sure you noticed. I think many teams stuck with the 24 minute recommendation forgetting that matches were delayed 15 minutes and so were actually leaving 39 minutes early.