Many teams will be playing in their first tournament in a short time. Here are some reminders from the Player/Parent Handbook...

Play

All teams are place in pools of 3 to 4 teams. You will play each team in your pool and the teams with the best records will advance to a Gold bracket with other teams advancing to a Silver or Bronze bracket. At larger tournaments, teams will play other pools, where they will advance to the different brackets. These brackets are usually single elimination with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awarded in each. So, a team could lose all their pool play matches and still win 1st place in Bronze or a team could win all their pool play matches and lose in Gold and not place.

What to Bring

• Bring your own chairs. Seating is sparse in most of the gyms so we recommend that you bring your own chairs.
• Pack a cooler. We strongly advise that you pack a cooler for your athlete for the day of a tournament because they can run long.
• Bring a pillow and sleeping bag. Teams usually find a place where they can sit together. This is affectionately known as "camp". Some players bring pillows and sleeping bags so they can rest between rounds. Games, homework, books, etc. are all recommended for some of the longer tournaments.

Arrive early so you can help set up your team area and get ready to warm-up. Except for starting times, most tournaments do not follow a set time schedule. Matches will begin 10 minutes after the end of the previous match. Depending on the size of the tournament and how well it is run, it can be over anywhere between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m.