Running a Youth Wrestling Tournament

[Mom813]

I was curious what tips everyone might have for running a successful tournament. I know we all go to so many tournaments and I hope some may be willing to share some tips, lessons learned, important checklists etc. It would be greatly appreciated and I'm sure it will help out others that are wanting to run a successful tournament because I know we've all been to at least 1 tournament and have said NEVER again.

[J.W.]

Start weigh ins early if accepting walking
Give at least 1 hour from weigh in to scheduled start time - you will have no shows
Have a check in system that allows you to guarantee who is not there to make scratches easy to manage
Start on time
Hire one more referee than you have mats, keep mats hot all day
Competent table workers, wrong results kill momentum
Use a bout number system, so wrestlers know where to be without having to be told
Issue awards timely
Plenty of people at door and at registration to avoid bottlenecks and back up
Have concession open at time of weighins
Keep spectators away from mat
If seeding, have a criteria and stick to it
If large entries and minimal mats, split start times for sessions
Youth tournament, have a clinician give some instruction during coaches meeting, keeps kids from running all over mats and unnecessary injuries
Have scoreboard and clocks, helps keep people in stands instead of standing on table workers.
Make skin checks and making weight important.
As a director assist officials in maintaining control of the mats.

Those are just a few, there are many more I am missing off the top of my head.

[workout]

better yet, do as we do in parkersburg, we work 2 refs per mat. works fine, no breaks need to be taken and our area tournament people are happy with it works out fine.