Please help at the regional tournament

Hi Parents

We need your help at the tournament! Our senior members and instructors are competing or officiating at the Regional Tournament. We would love some help coordinating students. Ideally we need:

• About 6 parents to coordinate students. You will watch the draw, and ensure students get to the correct ring on time to compete. Each ring has a ring marshal who calls competitors, so if we have a parent by each ring, you can listen for “Glendowie”, and pop back to our base to call the student.
• 3-5 parents to help as sparring coaches. Our senior competitors will do this, too, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know. You sit at the side of the ring, and support the child competing. Usually the best tips are things like, “keep your hands up”, “move around”, “side kick when they move in”, “punch”. Only one or two tips.
• Senior students will act as runners when they are not competing.

We want to have more volunteers than we need, so we can share the workload. We all want to watch our own children compete, so we need enough volunteers to cover each other while we watch our children.

General

• We will have a team briefing 30 mins before the tournament forms up to begin. Please be at the briefing.
• You will want a copy of a draw sheet. Take a photo on your phone or grab a spare copy. (Each competitor gets their own copy.) Every draw sheet has the whole day’s draw and is the same, except for the list of each student’s personal events across the bottom.
• Help your child and other students understand the flow of their day – what events, where (which ring) and when. Times on the draws are approximate, because events run at different speeds.
• Each event is divided into divisions and each division will have a set time and location. Divisions are set by one or more of age, rank, and weight, depending on the event.
• It is really helpful to have one person keeping an eye on each event (usually 1 to 3 rings), so that they can send out a runner to find any student caught at another event.

Patterns, speciality, power

• Ensure students turn up and report to the ring marshal on time.
• Students need to remember their etiquette: when to bow and to whom, and how to measure for power (with boards only). If they are unsure, ask a senior well in advance.

Sparring

• In addition to the above (turn up, remember etiquette), students need a coach/second to sit on their side of the ring and provide tips and encouragement. The coach must wear latex gloves (provided) and bring a towel (students should bring their own). Coaches must wear sports shoes, and should wear long trousers (eg, track pants).
• At this level, coaches can only expect one or two tips to reach the student mid-match! Hands up, move to the side, kick more! These are the usually three to pick from.

If you don’t have an International Taekwon-Do Glendowie t-shirt, I have them, although I’ve run out of some sizes. They are $30.

The tournament organisers also need volunteers to help run the tournament (full training provided). Things like ring marshals and time keepers. (Children often help as time keepers, and our kids can do that when they have finished competing.) Volunteer in the same place that you register your child to compete.

There is a food shop there, but it gets very busy. I recommend bringing a packed lunch, and we can all sit and eat together as a club.

Have loads of fun!

Regards

Master Banicevich.