Starting a league and a few questions to help us start

[Pokealjovin]

Hi everyone,

I've applied to get a league started in Gatineau, Québec (Canada), the application has been made about a month ago, but still no official answers. I've read on another thread, that they are pretty busy and there was (for that person) about 6 months of waiting.

The store got request to start a league and for about 1-2 months nobody showed up. When we went there, I realised that if it was to be, it was to me...

We started with only 7 on the first day about 6-7 weeks ago, we now have a total of 13 people that attended at least once in the last 4-5 weeks (only 3 attended only once, and they were all new attendees yesterday; they showed interest in coming back!) I've bought a bunch of Common/Uncommon in order to have some price to give to the attendees. It did help the younger kids keep their interest up! (and probably a few "older" kids... )

I've also got some help from another league (about 45 minutes drive from my place), they did gave us a few older promos, so that we have something special for our members.

I think we're up to a good start!

Now to the question part:

- How important is the Professor "status" to a league organizer?

- I've tried twice and failled both times (75% on the first run and 68% on the second one) - I'm not too good at studying. I've read it's a hard test; what is the average number of tries a Professor has to take the exam?

- What are the advantages to be a Professor without a league? (considering we may not get the official league for another couple of months) Should I wait and not hurry for that qualification?

- I've been able to go to 2 tournaments in the last month (both League challenges), it was fun, and I'm hoping to be able to make a tournament in about a month (with prices) I'm thinking of a tournament that could go with the new set released in August. Is it a good idea?

- Any suggestions to help a new league starting? (like many of you, I'm a volonteer, not a store employee, so I do not have a full access to the store stock when we run the league)

- What are the benefits of registring their player ID on Pokemon.com for the players? I know that for the league, it helps get prizes for the participants, but for them, what does it bring them?

- Any ways to help us out?



And lastly:

THANKS for your help in advance!

 

[FincastlePokemon2]

Professor test: Definitely don't give up - it might take a few tries, but it is a fun program to be involved with. Another way to help familiarlize yourself with rules and rulings is to attend/participate/volunteer in other organized events (like the League Challenges you mentioned) the more connections you make in the Professor community, the more experience and advice you can glean in ways other than just "studying". If you are able to get your Professor-ship - and sometimes even if not (depending on the organizer) you might be able to help volunteer at tournaments. Once you get Professor-ship status, you earn Professor points for running your league as well as judging in tournaments - you can then "shop" with your points for Professor-exclusive goodies from Pokemon.