Tournament Desk Day of Operations - Recommended Setup and Location

Running a successful tournament revolves around the Tournament Desk and its ability to quickly and precisely resolve issues and get scores entered and matches on and off court.  This can be a highly stressful position, so we have the following recommendations for tournament to follow:

Location

Anytime it is available, the tournament operations desk should be in a private location and not accessible by the general public/players.  We recommend a separate room only accessible to volunteers or essential staff.  If outdoors, I highly recommend setting up a tent that is enclosed partially to keep the general public or players away from the desk.  A separate "Check in Desk" should be used with volunteers having their own computers.  I recommend this is in a different location closer to player courts and away from the Tournament Desk.

Set up instead a "find a player" or additional "court desk" out near the players that they can report to if they have a question.  The person assigned to this location can assist the players in finding the location they should go to or in general questions so the tournament desk can focus on keeping the tournament running.

Staff and Equipment

We recommend that at least 2 staff members are available on site always during the running of the tournament.  If an issue with the software or something else takes place, this allows one operator to contact support or work on resolving the issue while the other person continues to run the event.

Each operator on site should have access to a laptop or computer and it is recommended that both are attached to a printer if scoresheets are being printed.  

If you are using internet connections, be sure these are tested on site before the day of the tournament to make sure they correctly work.  It is recommended that you have multiple backups to this as well.

If you are using scoresheets, print multiple blank sheets to have on site and make sure you have access to the ability to make copies if needed.  If you have a printer issue on site you may want to move to adding team names to a blank scoresheet to send out and keep the tournament running while the printer issues are resolved.  The Blank Scoresheets option can be found in the Live Console above the list of events:

Backup Planning

I highly recommend that you print off hard copies of every event.  You can find this location in the "Live Console" section by clicking on the verified event name and then "Print Page" at the top.  This gives you an option to progress and play out matches shown if for some reason you are unable to access the software.  While very unlikely, and issues like this are quickly resolved by our tech department, it is important to give yourself every option.

Remember that the Tournament Desk is the backbone of the tournament operations the day of the tournament.  Allowing them to focus on getting matches input and sent out is key to the tournament staying on time and being successful.

If at any time support is need, please see the Chat Bot function located on pickleballtournaments.com in the bottom right hand corner.  A live agent will be available from 6:30am to 5pm EST on Friday, Saturday and Sundays to support and help troubleshoot.  You can also email support@pickleball.com if the issue is not an emergency.