WORK ATTACHMENT PROJECT (WAP)

ORGANIZING A TENNIS TOURNAMENT 2008

INTRODUCTION

I just recently finished organizing our bi-annual International Tennis Tournament which draws a total of 130 players from all over the continents around the world. It is an under 18 International Tennis Tournament Circuit where it is divided into 2 seasons – Summer and Autumn. Winner from every round will get points which will constitute to their world ranking position. The event was divided into 2 groups – boys and girls. I have been organizing such event since 1992 till recently. Every tournament organized there is always a learning process involved, especially in educating the younger generation either the players or the organizers, into how the tournament should be run according to the International standard. I delegating my knowledge to the youngsters and it will be up to them to decide whether they needed the knowledge or not. The tournament did not have any officiating (umpires) except for semifinal and final matches. The whole idea of the tournament without umpires was to educate the players the spirit of fair play and honesty, before they proceed to the next stage of their tournament career which is the adult event or Men’s or Ladies event. Meanwhile for the organizer point of learning, this tournament will help them to be more independent on their task and responsibility on how they could manage all the organizer and players needs.

PLANNING PROCESS

A committee management (association members) meeting was held four months before the event, to discuss on the vision of the proposed event which was submitted by the Secretary General, whether it is worthwhile or not to host it. Besides the vision, the committee management also discussed on the budgeting or expenses of the event and how the source of financial will come from. Then the proposed date of the event will then be discussed either it is suitable for our own players and organization to have it. Once the proposed date is confirmed then the tentative dates will also be discussed incase the event needs rescheduling due to unavoidable circumstances.
Prior to the approval of the event and its date, the committee management then appointed a Tournament Director, in which is normally myself as the Secretary General of the association. As a Tournament Director it is my responsibility to produce an operational plan and to manage the overall organization of the event which includes appointing the organizing committee which include recruiting volunteers (especially the youth or ex-junior tennis players), for available positions in the event structure and also to do the projected event expenses together with the Treasurer. In order to save cost in organizing the event, I have to source for my network whom I could use to get all the logistics support in which is the costly part of the organization. Through the network support I managed to negotiate on the usage of government facilities such as Tennis Venue, Accommodation, Transport and Medical staff. So herewith I have achieved the committee management main criteria to save cost on organizing the event.

Then the event structure or organizing committee which was constructed by the Tournament Director which consists of Treasurer (existing), Tournament Referee and Volunteers which consist of the Chief of Umpires and Ball kids, Head of Court Facilities, Head of Technical, Head of Hospitality and Public Relation. Treasurer will be responsible to control all expenses of the event in order to save cost on organizing it. The Tournament Referee will be to foresee all matches are being run according to the schedule. The duty of the Chief of Umpires and Ball kids will be to select successful candidates to be umpire and ball kids during the tournament and at the same time to conduct courses and training respectively for those successful candidates. Head of Court facilities will be responsible to make sure that all match courts are well equip as required according to tournament rules. As for the Head of Technical, he or she will be responsible to make sure that all electronic equipment such as PA System, Electronic Scoreboard and etc are available and in usable condition. Head of Hospitality will make sure that accommodation, meals and transport are prepared and available for the participants. Public Relation will take charge of all media and tournament exposures are done accordingly which includes Special Function such as Welcoming Dinner and Prize Presentation. All the relevant organizing committee was part of the planning process of the tournament.
The first organizing committee meeting was held three months before the event, to call in all the volunteers where the main topic of discussion will be the selection and appointment of the right person or candidate for their respective position base on the organizing committee structure. The meeting was chaired by the Tournament Director without the presence of association’s committee management. After the appointment then everybody were briefed on their roles and responsibilities, besides providing all the information needed on where and how they could achieve their assignment target including the time frame given to achieve it.
Meetings were arranged on weekly basis so that everybody could report back on their progress and if they needed assistance, we will decide on who should assist them. After every organizing committee meeting, the Tournament Director together with the Treasurer will then arranged for a meeting with the association’s committee management in order to report back on the progress of the organizing committee.

IMPLEMENTATION

During the tournament period, a daily morning briefing were conducted with a limited time frame of half an hour before the start of the match where everybody in the organizing committee would present a brief report on the day before and put up any issues or problems that needed mending or solving. By doing this it would help to minimize errors on a daily basis. All activities and problems were recorded during the briefing and distributed within one hour after the daily briefing to everybody by the Tournament Director which includes all the suggestion on how to mend any issues or problems. During the daily morning briefing every individuals were be congratulated either they did a good job or not the day before but most important of all, everybody deserved it and everybody is in a learning stage including myself. We can never be perfect in anything we do in life as we are all human being which are prone to make mistakes. As long we don’t do the same mistakes again and again.

CONCLUSION

Every individuals will be congratulate either they did a good job or not the day before but most important of everybody is in a learning stage including myself. We can never be perfect in anything we do in life as we are all human being which are prone to make mistakes. As long we don’t do the same mistakes again and again. As a whole the tournament main objectives is to educate the youngster to interact among each other within the tennis fraternity, either players and coaches or officials. Through this process of communication and interaction, it would help the youngsters to be more independent in managing their own playing career. This process of education is really important as the younger tennis player would have to manage their own tennis life career when they reached the adult stage. As for the volunteer organizer, they would need this learning process to enable them to be more independent in making their own decision in regard to assisting all the needs of the players and main organizing committee. There was a holistic learning process going on throughout the tournament, either it was a peaceful learning process or a painful learning process. But most of all, everybody is learning.