Chris, thank you for the feedback: Let me give you some comments from our views: - The Round Robin style and that each team/group is guaranteed to have a chance to play 5 matches against another team/group, win or lose. + We made the round-robin system, so every team will have a chance to play against each other and to let every player of each team to recognize each others who are mainly ABC members. As we mentioned earlier, this event is based on friendship. - It's interesting to see players from outside of ABC joining despite a long wait and no winning prize at the end. + Yes, we are lucky enough to get acknowledged and strong participants outside of ABC. We hope after this event, they will be familiar to ABC members and there will be no hesitation to visit us in the future, because they already met and knew some members through this event. - I'm interested to see other reg. ABC members participate as i know there are some regulars who didn't participate this time. I'll be interested to see the response/turn out for this event, the next time it's held. Hopefully there will be more and the ABC community will be a tighter knit group. + Actually we received more teams inquiries. However due to time and courts availability, we decided to limit to 12 groups only. In addition, we only allow 10 players per team (5-pairs). These players who did not participate on this event were crossed due to teams availability. - Good job, Rudy, on the match control for the 1st week. + Thanks Chris Note: Tournament updates and photo gallery are now available (thanks to Lu Do on the amazing photo shoots). However, you have to be a member of Birdievent.com to view the pictures. Birdievent.com is a FREE badminton site dedicated to badminton discussion, events, and news. We encourage everyone to register and become our members. Thank you, Birdievent.com
On this.. ..no problem, glad to chip in.. Thank you for sharing a bit more background on this event, for the rest of the BCers. On the above point, i'm just wondering, are those additional teams/players inquiries from ABC members? Because if they are, shouldn't they be given a "priority" over non-ABC members?..
Chris, We always considered ABC members as the VIP on all the local events. Unfortunately, some regular ABC players did not respond 'till last minutes, when everything was almost set and done. In the same time, some players only wanted to play for certain teams, which in most cases, these popular teams were already full. Thanks, Birdievent.com
^^I see..^^ ..another question: what's the percentage of ABC members playing in this event? How many players participating, if you recall, are reg. ABC players/members?..
Chris: You probably have to ask these questions to the team leaders, since they are responsible to recruit their team members.
This coming Final Round will be more interesting to watch. The 6 qualified teams had proven their supremacy within their brackets. The 6 qualified teams are: Arcadia pCox - (William Chan - Team Leader) New Sky Line Stone - (Andy Jang - Team Leader) Ronin Garuda Badminton - (Michael Chang - Team Leader) NOVA II (Megan Chiu/ Paul Wong - Team Leader) LA SGVBC (Mei Mei - Team Leader) LA Badminton II (Andy Jap - Team Leader) If you like to see the teams standing within their respective brackets: Team Standing. Matches Schedules Thank you, Birdievent.com
^^I looked at the schedule for tomorrow's Final Rd, the 13th..^^ ..Rudy, i noticed the last matches of the day is @ 11 pm at night??..or is that just an approximate??..
Chris: The software estimated the time based on 3 courts reserved (originally approved by ABC). However, since we extended to 6 courts for this final round, the time will greatly reduced. I think we may finish about the same time as the qualification rounds or probably earlier since every team match will occupy 2 courts. thanks, Birdievent.com
^^Ok..^^ ..good to know there will be 6 courts used and all te matches should end abt the same time as last week..see you in a few hrs..
Congrats are in order to.. ..overall winning group, LA Badminton Two (and LA Badminton One) and to Rudy for a job well done in the 1st ever Birdievent Team Winter Competition 2009. I know it's been a pretty challenging task, but what do you think of the overall success? Btw, i heard for the 2nd edition, there is a possibility of actual prize money being awarded to the overall winner..........is this of some truth??..If so, then, i feel, it'll become even more "serious" and more "very good players" will participate with money at stake..and most likely "not so very good players" will not participate.. *A few pretty good matches today. One involving Ran & Richard vs. Steve and his partner (with both games reaching 22-20). Also, the match between Andy J. & Charles L. vs. Brian & his partner.
Chris: Thank you for the kind words. We are very pleased to the progress and results of the event. I believe everyone was excited and showed their best skills to overcome the opponents. During the final stages, the most convincing teams, who won 3-0 during the qualification rounds, were not performing so well, while the struggling teams (LA-2 & Arcadia p-Cox) achieved remarkable came back. Both the LA-2 & p-Cox were 4-0 before clashing at the final rounds. We hope this first event will become a stepping stone to a bigger tournament. We are currently gathering sponsors so the next tournament (around March 2010), which will offer $$$ to the winning team. Meanwhile, we also got approval to have "Hall of Fame" wall in ABC to honor the winning team(s) along with the players names. Sammy sponsored the creation of this banner, which probably will be ready in a few weeks. We congratulate the winning team for this event (LA-2) and like to appreciate all the team leaders, players and volunteers who continued to support us from the planning and 'till the end of the event. Thank you, Birdievent.com
Hmm.. - No problem. Glad to provide some "noise" in the ABC sub-forum.. - On the round robin group play, i was thinking last night, how about if you guys allow all the teams to play against each other. Meaning, if there are 12 teams, all 12 teams will play against each other and there won't be any Qualification or Final Rd. (just so all the teams get to play against each other). In the end, there will be 1 team with a 11-0 and 1 team w/a 0-11 record.. The downside to that will be the time restraint, thus you guys will probably reserve more courts. - I know this probably has been brought up or mentioned, but for this particular tournament, i know it's quite tough to match all the groups' level/players; some teams are, overall, stronger than the others. Will you apply some kind of "equal level" of playing field in the future (meaning each group will have A, B, C, D or E level players/pairs)? - Wow. If there's a sponsor willing to give a prize money in the next edition, then i'm pretty much sure a lot of "very good players" will participate. It'll be like a mini-Summersmash or Wintersmash. I mean the level of competition will be even greater than this edition. Will the participants pay an additional fee to play? I could imagine the "not so good players" will think thrice abt joining again..
- No problem. Glad to provide some "noise" in the ABC sub-forum.. + Thanks. - On the round robin group play, i was thinking last night, how about if you guys allow all the teams to play against each other. Meaning, if there are 12 teams, all 12 teams will play against each other and there won't be any Qualification or Final Rd. (just so all the teams get to play against each other). In the end, there will be 1 team with a 11-0 and 1 team w/a 0-11 record.. + It will back to the same issue as we mentioned earlier: courts availability and time. - I know this probably has been brought up or mentioned, but for this particular tournament, i know it's quite tough to match all the groups' level/players; some teams are, overall, stronger than the others. Will you apply some kind of "equal level" of playing field in the future (meaning each group will have A, B, C, D or E level players/pairs)? + It is very difficult to categorize a player, since we do not have standard ranking systems. I do not think subjective opinion will be fair to level out a player. - Wow. If there's a sponsor willing to give a prize money in the next edition, then i'm pretty much sure a lot of "very good players" will participate. It'll be like a mini-Summersmash or Wintersmash. I mean the level of competition will be even greater than this edition. Will the participants pay an additional fee to play? I could imagine the "not so good players" will think thrice abt joining again.. + This is another discussion we had on dinner time after the final match last week with some teams leaders. If we begin to give $$$, the event will not be "friendly" and "entertaining" to good, but non-professional players. It will become championship event, instead of "friendly" event. Therefore, we are still planning, if we rather give away "surprise gift", which every player can use and be proud of to wear, because it shows if he/ she belonged to a winning team , instead of merely $$$. Another issue with $$$, how much is too little and how much is too much? Remember, this is a team event. Note: Photo Gallery of the event is now available. You have to be a registered member to view the images. Thank you, Birdievent.com
Hmm.. - I understand abt the challenge of ranking/categorizing players to different level(s). Then, if that's the case, most likely there will be teams which are very strong and teams which are not so strong, again, in the future. - In the future, would you consider limiting the number of teams competing, knowing court availability and time will be tight. That way, rather than having a QF Rd. and Final Rd., every team will be able to play against each other, at least, once. Consider also, summer time tournament will be even tougher as the weather will be in the 90s or even 100s. - I was thinking perhaps the idea of giving some kind of prize money incentives would entice more players who were reluctant to join. - I also heard from a few other ABC regular players that they never heard abt this tourney. Was it mentioned or announced @ ABC? Maybe a simple banner or poster announcing the event will help? - I noticed there were a few teams who even asked coaches to join. Will there be different rules applied the next time on allowing coaches to compete? - I also notice there are a couple of teams which split into Team A & Team B. But on the Finals Rd. day, some players from Team A were replaced with some players from Team B. Rather than doing so, i was thinking let all the teams play against each other; make it a round robin team tournament. - As for the amt of "too little" or "too much" prize money, how about starting with $500? I think that's a pretty good & reasonable sum to gather. If a team has & wins with only 10 players, then each player gets $50 each. If a team has & wins with 15 players, then each player gets less. The thing i'm wondering if there's a prize money offered is, if this is still an "open to every level of players" event, really good players will form a team and will have a really powerful team. At the end, there will be only a handful of teams competing, maybe even less than 5 teams. Imagine all the OCBC junior players competing and forming a team. - I have a feeling, this tourney will be even more competitive (and perhaps less friendly), with or without prize money, for the next edition. It could be a good thing or could not. I think teams will be gearing up even more better and will "hire" better players to compete. Not so good players will look at the other teams & will wonder how they'll fare. On the other hand, other very good teams will also "lower" their standard of play & probably won't be interested in playing.
I don't know about any of you, but how about getting shirts for the participants or a keepsake of sorts and then donate the rest to a charitable foundation. It doesn't have to be donated to the same recipient. What do you guys think of that idea?
- I understand abt the challenge of ranking/categorizing players to different level(s). Then, if that's the case, most likely there will be teams which are very strong and teams which are not so strong, again, in the future. + That is always the case in every sport. We see in almost every season of NFL, NBA, NHL and all other sports. There is no exception in our event. - In the future, would you consider limiting the number of teams competing, knowing court availability and time will be tight. That way, rather than having a QF Rd. and Final Rd., every team will be able to play against each other, at least, once. Consider also, summer time tournament will be even tougher as the weather will be in the 90s or even 100s. + The comfort level is 12 teams. However, if we can gather more and ABC allows us to acquire more courts, I may be looking for 16, 18 or even 20 teams to compete. Of course there is consideration of time, which we may have to play this event for more than two days if there are more teams participating. - I was thinking perhaps the idea of giving some kind of prize money incentives would entice more players who were reluctant to join. + Like I mentioned earlier, $$$ is very bias. How much is too little and how much is too much. You have to remember, it is a team event and will be played for more than one day. - I also heard from a few other ABC regular players that they never heard abt this tourney. Was it mentioned or announced @ ABC? Maybe a simple banner or poster announcing the event will help? + Well, it was very difficult to measure the spread of news among the members. Even though you received the non-heard feedback, I received high inquires of teams participation and players of this event, which I finally asked team leaders to consolidate and re-group into 12 competitive teams. - I noticed there were a few teams who even asked coaches to join. Will there be different rules applied the next time on allowing coaches to compete? + We did not expect the event would be so competitive. We would not mind to let coaches to play. Isn't it great to see coaches showed their skills, endurance and talents to all of us? - I also notice there are a couple of teams which split into Team A & Team B. But on the Finals Rd. day, some players from Team A were replaced with some players from Team B. Rather than doing so, i was thinking let all the teams play against each other; make it a round robin team tournament. + Some players could not play on the following week for personal reasons. Therefore, we allowed them to re-group and consolidate their teams to continue the event. Of course, we asked team leaders to announce their changes by re-registering their teams online for members and public reviews. - As for the amt of "too little" or "too much" prize money, how about starting with $500? I think that's a pretty good & reasonable sum to gather. If a team has & wins with only 10 players, then each player gets $50 each. If a team has & wins with 15 players, then each player gets less. The thing i'm wondering if there's a prize money offered is, if this is still an "open to every level of players" event, really good players will form a team and will have a really powerful team. At the end, there will be only a handful of teams competing, maybe even less than 5 teams. Imagine all the OCBC junior players competing and forming a team. + It is difficult to say $500 is good and $1000 is too much. We have to discuss this matter deeper, before announcing the next event. - I have a feeling, this tourney will be even more competitive (and perhaps less friendly), with or without prize money, for the next edition. It could be a good thing or could not. I think teams will be gearing up even more better and will "hire" better players to compete. Not so good players will look at the other teams & will wonder how they'll fare. On the other hand, other very good teams will also "lower" their standard of play & probably won't be interested in playing. + We have the same impression after watching the matches. Let's see how it will measure on the 2nd event. Thank you, Birdievent.com
That is a good idea. We will discuss it on the next meeting for the 2nd event. Thanks, Birdievent.com
Hmm.. - There's a difference, imo. Those are pro sports, where (a lot of) money is involved & at stake. This, i thought, is supposed to be a "friendly" tournament??..It turned out, some teams are stronger (have more better players) than the others.. - I thought abt the possibility of seeing even more teams in the future. How would that pan out, schedule and court availability wise??. That's a different challenge altogether. - What do you mean by "$$ is very bias"??..you mean, each person has a different opinion on what is a reasonable amt? - So, the news wasn't really spread throughout the club? I recall, originally there were only 6 or 8 teams which signed up? But then you received a rush of new participants/teams as the deadline drew near?.. - So, if we allow coaches to play, does that mean we can invite Halim H. and/or Tony G. or any of the coaches to join or play? - For the amt of prize money, i was thinking, what is the easiest and most affordable way to garner it; which amt is easier to get, $500 or $1000? If $500 or even $1000 is not difficult to collect, then go for it. But if those are too much, then we go for the amt that is easiest & most affordable to come up with. If it requires participants to chip in a few $$ in order to play (and come up with the prize money), then so be it. Anyway, we'll let you figure that out..
