Multiplicity is a good title for a movie, but not regarding a tournament issue: coaches of multiple teams entering your tournament. This topic is coming up with tournaments more and more and more and more. One sentence(coach) for so many mores(teams):). You see the trend.
Do we allow coaches of multiple teams? How many teams can they coach? It is so frustrating to manage the potential conflicts and juggle the scheduling of games!!
The question becomes not one of customer service — which we all want to provide — but one of practical math. If you are running a tournament of 200 teams and 10% of them are coached by multiple coaches, that is only 20 teams or 10-16 games you can juggle. But when that number approaches 33-50%, that is 100 teams or 50 games at minimum that you must juggle to avoid conflicts. And, if you are using multiple venues, some of which may only have short-sided fields, the coach that does a U14 and U11 team will be disappointed in your efforts. What about finals? If both team emerge out of their brackets and the U14 and U11 finals are held at the same time, what do you do?
We all want to satisfy the customer, but as the customer makes decisions without regard for the practical limitations we all face, accommodating large numbers of multiple coached-teams may just be impossible. NOW is the time for your tournament to institute a policy regarding multiple coaches as more and more clubs move to paid coaches with responsibility for multiple teams.
Our advice: Keep track of coaches with multiple teams using the Applications Module. Edit your application disclaimer to include a statement about the coach resolving their multiple team issues as a condition of application. When you see a multiple-team coach, send him/her an email, reminding them that you will do all you can, but conflicts are theirs to resolve. In the beginning, it will be a bit painful for the tournament, but in the long run, the tournaments that don’t make unconditional commitments for multiple-team coaches will emerge as winners. You can’t fight math.