New Tournaments Policy
The Club has introduced a new policy relating to participation in tournaments from this year:
Tournament drop-outs.....It's a tournament manager's biggest headache.
When people pull out of tournaments, it has an impact on everyone who participates. Though we've never had to drop an entire team from a tournament, last season we came awfully close. On several occasions, we had to recruit newbies and even non-Raiders in order to have the minimum 10 people to form a side. It was enormously stressful--and tournaments are supposed to be fun!
It also costs the club money. In order to guarantee our participation in a tournament, we have to register each team and pay the fees weeks (sometimes months) in advance. This is a non-refundable fee: once a team is registered and entered we cannot get our money back. As a result, the club ends up subsidising a team when players who have signed up for a tournament don't show up. This was one of the contributing factors to the club's financial loss last year.
We're launching something new this season in an attempt to eliminate those drops from tournament teams.
Players who want to participate in tournaments must pay a £20 deposit prior to playing their first tournament.
If you pull out of a tournament less than 2 weeks before it takes place, you will lose your deposit.
If you can find a substitute player, you will NOT lose your deposit. The sub needs to be of the same general playing standard as yourself. The sub will need to confirm with the tournament manager their intent to play. The original player then keeps their deposit unless the sub is unable to play.
If you are a Raiders member but do not want to play any tournaments, you will NOT have to pay a deposit.
OTHER KEY POINTS:
- You will not be able to play in any tournament until you've paid your deposit.
- You will not have to pay a deposit for EACH TOURNAMENT—just once at the start of the season. However, if you drop from a tournament, you will have to give the club a new £20 deposit if you want to play in further tournaments.
- You will lose £10 if you drop out of a 1-day tournament, £20 for a 2-day tournament.
- There are very limited extenuating circumstances: if you are ill, you will still have to forfeit your deposit. If you are injured, the committee will make a decision on a case-by-case basis.
- There will be no '1 day only' option for 2-day tournaments this year. If you commit to a 2-day tournament, you must play both days. If you do not attend the second day of a tournament, you will lose £10 of your deposit.
Now the good news...!
Your deposit will be paid back at the end of the season if you've attended all the tournaments you signed up for!
We will post updated lists of who is signed up for which tournaments on the website so members can access that information at any time. You will find these lists under the ‘Tournaments’ section inside the Members Area of the Raiders website. I will also send reminder emails just before the 2-week deadline so you can see if you're playing or not.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this--we know it's quite a bit of information to absorb.