Scheduling/Team Contacts/Communications

[Sonny]

After hearing some stories from the past few weeks about travel around the country... I continue to be amazed at how disorganized & non-communicative some MDIA teams exist during the regular season. Some teams are spending thousands & thousands of dollars to travel for MDIA games and they aren't even in regular contact with the host program(s).

Some suggestions from Sonny's soapbox:

1. If you are hosting a team (especially one from outside of your conference), you should be in contact with them a minimum of one week prior to the contest.

I know its hard to believe. But some folks still aren't comfortable with email in this day and age... So if you don't hear from them via email 3 - 4 days out from your game, I would pick up the phone. Confirm game location/date/local time, travel plans, local lodging, jersey colors, field surface (grass or turf), and any other special requirements/requests (parking, locker rooms, post-game showers, etc).

If you cannot contact the other team immediately, don't cry about it on the USLIA.com Message Board. Work your way up the ladder to find out the leadership of said lacrosse team -- Use Sports Club/Campus Recreation Directors, MDIA Conference Executives, etc. The Internet is your friend.

2. You should also confirm that the game location/date/local time match up with what is listed on your conference web site (and USLIA.com)! Most MDIA conferences use their conference web sites to assign referees. If there is a misunderstanding, you might not have any Zebras show up.

3. Get at least one, preferably two, team contacts with cell phone numbers (Head Coach, Assistant Coach, and/or Team President) for the trip. In the cell phone/free long distance/voice mail era, there is no reason why one cannot be in contact with everyone else 100% of the time. If there is a last minute issue, you have a way to contact the team in question.

I'm astonished to learn that some teams schedule an out of conference game in the Fall and then don't talk to the team again until they show up at the field for the game in the Spring.

4. Attempt to have a local, back-up (turf) field lined up, esp. if you play on natural grass. I'm not pointing any specific fingers, but this has been a serious issue in the West and in Texas this season. I know many teams are trying hard to find back-up fields. It would be great if that could be worked out in advance, so teams didn't have to scramble at the last moment.

Explain to your campus adminstrators the seriousness of the situation when you are hosting out of conference competition. Maybe they can assist in securing alternate fields off campus, if/when they shut down their fields?

Just some thoughts from rambling mind on a slow Monday. If you have any other good suggestions, please post them in this thread.

[Sonny]

bump and a sticky.

[Coach Peterson]

Sonny,

I agree with all you said about staying in close contact with your opponents, especially those out of conference. Our Clemson game last year was a forfeit and we didn't know they weren't coming until we (and our fans, parents and others) were at the game waiting for them to show. Not a good situation for anyone, especially some of our parents who travel 3-6 hours to attend a game.

As for alternative surfaces, out West there aren't many of those, practically zero in some areas like LA or San Diego and the ones that are in place (like LMU) are usually greatly oversubscribed so that booking them (unless it is your actual home field) is near impossible. Here in North Carolina, we don't have any non-grass options on our campus at NC State or in the surrounding area. Duke recently installed their first non-grass playing field and Carolina has several, all of them well used by rec sports and club sports and neither of those schools are going to let us schedule a game on their fields. No one outside of those schools has a non-grass field for 100 miles. Our school is very protective of the grass fields here and won't let us play on them if they get significant rain within 2 days of the event, especially until April when the warmer weather and grass growing rate dries them out quicker.

[Sonny]

As for alternative surfaces, out West there aren't many of those, practically zero in some areas like LA or San Diego and the ones that are in place (like LMU) are usually greatly oversubscribed so that booking them (unless it is your actual home field) is near impossible.

There are more turf fields then you think out West. Check out this thread from the WCLL Forum:
http://forums.uslia.com/viewtopic.php?t=539

[Nick]

Sonny,

I agree with all you said about staying in close contact with your opponents, especially those out of conference. Our Clemson game last year was a forfeit and we didn't know they weren't coming until we (and our fans, parents and others) were at the game waiting for them to show. Not a good situation for anyone, especially some of our parents who travel 3-6 hours to attend a game.

We played you in Atlanta at the ACC Shootout last year.

[Coach Peterson]

Sonny,

Yes, in Northern CA, which is about 300 miles from Los Angeles, they do have turf fields and an impressive number from the thread you pointed out. But my note specifically mentioned LA and SD. In that part of the state, they're still pretty rare, as they are here in North Carolina.

I must have misspoke about Clemson, we had a forfeit at the end of last season for a home game and my memory must have faded as to who stood us up. My appologies to Clemson. I won't speculate on who it was since I obviously got it wrong the first time.

Coach Peterson