League: what should we do?

[Bohn]

Hey folks.

First of all, if this is on the wrong place i'd thank if a mod could move this.

This will be a long post, sorry.

I was talking with the store owner of our league today about our current situation here. Our league is usually full, it happens every saturday from 10 to 12. But the kids, and even the ones who would be on masters are only trading cards, they dont want to play much and i dont know why. :frown:
It's not possible: we have 2 Nats champ on the league (me once on masters last year, and Renan B. 2006 and this year on junior), both with world championships on the back, and going again. But seems like it doesnt motivate them.

Its good to mention the behavior of the parents: Most of them drop their kids and go out shopping or do anything they need, as the league is some place for babysitting their kids .

ALL kind of tourneys we have: this season we had 5 BR's (spring and fall), 1 CC and 1 SPT, but usually people from outside here come, and our players from league dont.

Honestly i face the league as the first steps on the game, to train for tourneys, trade cards to use them, but looks like people are regreting.

This month Renan B. and I will be at local news paper about Worlds (i'll post it when its done), i really hope this helps to bring more players and to give some motivation to others.

Renan's father is a great pokédad, and the only one we have here.
So, the store owner, Renan's father, Renan and I want to change things here.
I'm asking you guys what should we do to let people PLAY POKEMON, and this includes juniors, seniors and masters.

Allan

 

[SD PokeMom]

ouch; i feel your pain.

i'm lucky: my league store (a borders books) does not allow dropoffs for their kids events, including league. though i'm sure there are parents who do do so, i'm VERY clear about that rule when new families join, as doing so would endanger our ability to run league there.

at my former host store, we did allow dropoffs with the clear understanding that it was a privilege that could be revoked at any time should the child's behavior require the parent to be there. we required a cell phone number on the sign-in sheet, as well as requiring the parent to pick their child up by league end (which was also the store's closing time). but even so we still had the problem of 'late' pickups...=/

the other thing i do is restrict trading/gameboy play to the last half hour of the two-hour league session. i found years ago that allowing trade throughout league time made it too easy for kids to be distracted from actually playing and making progress towards their badges. plus i had some kids who were there ONLY to trade and had no interest in playing who started bringing YGO to league; i stopped that immediately.

you need to sit down with your store owner and decide what you'd like to do: if you want to stop dropoffs, keep trades to a certain time and make the rest of the league session gameplay only, etc. then draft up written rules for the league, print them up, and make sure each player and/or parent gets a copy. please PM me if you'd like a copy of the rules i use at my league.

you can also try doing fun things like double stamp sessions, or fill a box with old cards and have players each choose a card blindly when they report their match. winner of the match gets to choose which card ...theirs, or the one their opponent drew...they'd like to keep. if you want to make it even more interesting you can write prizes on some of the cards...like a booster, or whatever promo item(s) you have...so that the person drawing that card gets that prize...

good luck!
'mom