Tournament Courtesy

Disclaimer:  This article is solely the opinion of Dana Torp, so take it for what you will. I write this article by way of encouragement, not commandment.  Carry on. 

This article will list some ways to make it a a good tournament experience for everyone. 

1. Show up!  You can't have a good tournament without people.  Yeah, yeah.  You probably won't win.  So what.  Technically, there's only one winner per tournament, and there are going to be 4 hours of casuals from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm.  If circumstances prevent you from coming, it's understandable.  But try.
2. Be on time.  Or in other words, don't be late.  There are circumstances that are out of your control, like work, a jackknifed semi, or a trip to the emergency room.  That's cool.  Barring these and similar emergencies, you can do it.  Coordinate rides, bus schedules, etc. beforehand.  Don't wait till the last minute.  Well-run tournaments are a community effort and timeliness and efficiency leave people thinking they had a good experience, win or lose, and leave organizers thinking that they want to keep organizing future tournaments. 
3. Bring money for fees.  Self-explanatory.  Ya gotta pay.  And don't go showing up with $100 bill and expect change.  Seriously?  But bring what money you need for fees and everything else.  No surprises.
4. Bring your own sticks, controllers, etc.   If you legitimately forgot your gear, stuff happens. But bumming sticks off others can slows things down and affect the tournament for others as well (see #2 above).  Bring the equipment you need to compete.
5. Buy from the venue.  In this case, Kafeneio.  Are you required to do so?  No, but it sure would be nice and encourage them to allow us to hold more tournaments in the future.  Consider it, at least.  And don't go sneaking in any outside food and whatnot, per their rules. 
6. Be good guests.  Clean up after yourself.  It's a business, not your basement.  Don't make the TO's and everyone else look bad.  If you can, follow the campfire rule:  leave it better than you found it. 
7. Bathe and put on deodorant.  99% of you don't have an issue.  But if you're the 1%, intentional or not, you affect the other 99%.  Don't be that guy.  
8. Be a good sport.  Even I occasionally struggle with this one.  People know that I can have strong feelings when I lose, but it's all business.  No hard feelings.  No drama.  We're still friends.  Keep that in mind when playing with others, please.  You don't want to shake hands, fine. Maybe it takes you a minute to calm down.  Take a breather.  But consider giving the guy that beat you at least a "good game", and the sooner the better.  Sportsmanship, son!
9. Be sociable.  Highly encouraged.  You don't have to meet everyone, especially if that's not your personality.  But even getting to know ONE new person can help.  You want to go where you feel welcome, and everyone has been the new guy before.  It's usually uncomfortable.  We want people to enjoy and come back, right? 
10. Have fun.  I'll write it again.  Have.  Fun.  PLEASE.  It's tournament time!

Thanks for reading.  I appreciate Steven and Yury for holding the tournament tomorrow, and to all of you and the time you take to read what Mark and I write.  I hope to see everyone there tomorrow.     -Dana