NATSSO comments

Stephen Webb <*sdwebb91984_at_sdwebb91984.yahoo.invalid*> · Thu, 03 Jul 2003 06:31:28 -0000

First off, any foibles or failures on the part of the tournament 
questions or logistics are solely my responsibility, and I accept 
them, and am working on ways to rectify matters for the future (I'm 
looking into a software to check for repeats). That being said, 
please keep in mind that this was the first attempt at a tournament 
by a player just finishing his first year, and though that is no real 
excuse, it means there is still plenty of time to perfect things for 
the future. I have already resolved to hold this tournament again 
next year, with the problems of this year fresh on my mind (and saved 
as a text file) to avoid repeats. The tournament started thirty 
minutes late due to buzzer problems which I couldn't have helped. I 
spent time attempting to catch repeats, and took out a few on the 
fly, and the first tossup of the first round of the playoffs was a 
horribly brain wandering that I never once caught. Next year things 
should run smoother (I'm aiming to have a round and turnaround to the 
next round down from 38 to 35 minutes on average) and I will take the 
liberty of editting more rigorously for repeats as well as writing 
style. I will also hesitate less to return a packet that does not fit 
the given distribution and writing style, and I will probably start 
writing house packets earlier so I have more than one extra (which 
could have caused a problem I did not even conceive of, a four way 
tie for first with one packet left). Every tournament is a learning 
experience, and after having been involved in the planning and 
running of three this past year, I have seen both sides of the coin, 
and having this experience should help more. I again thank all those 
who came out in support of the tournament and again apologize for any 
problems with the editting, I shall do better next year, and I also 
thank the moderators, who went through rounds in a timely manner and 
allowed the tournament to run quickly (we started at 10, took about 
an hour break for lunch, and I had left the building cleaned and 
lovely by 7:30) and to my brother who was able to get stats up 
literally moments after a round finished. With all this being said, I 
lay the tournament to rest, and ask all to wait with eager breath the 
announcement of NATSSO II, which will be better than the first.