It is deadline time for one of our tournaments and the person in charge of applications sent out a broadcast email to all the teams that have yet to pay the application fee. The message was essentially; ‘pay your fees or we will not consider your team.’ Since they are overbooked in all divisions, the leverage was easy to apply.
Within minutes, a flood of email responses came in. I just sent the check, My club treasurer is sending it today, Please don’t cut us, the check was sent yesterday, I’ll FedEx you the check, etc, etc. This continued pretty much all day, with a bubble of emails coming in over lunch. I suspect more will come in tonight when people get home.
What amazes me is that this is the same audience, when asked to do something via email, like fax in their rosters or confirm their hotel rooming lists, will claim with absolute certainty that they never got your email and it is your fault they were not able to comply within the deadline.
Our advice: When the referee blows the whistle, you don’t get another five minutes to attempt a goal. Everyone is busy, but don’t take excuses. Teams that are organized and comply by the deadline are a pleasure to have at your tournament. Make your appreciation known. Write the coach of the team manager a personal note, thanking them for their organization and respecting your deadlines. Keep this up year after year and pretty soon, you may never have to deal with those teams that suck the energy away from you and your staff.
On the other side, when you do have teams apply who consistently pay late, who demand special hotel treatment, who never show up prepared to register, who ask for early morning registration… turn them away early. Let them know specifically why you are turning them away.
Don’t let teams rob you of your energy and time. You need every precious drop of both to run a soccer tournament as it is.