2010 Creekside Open

[skycor]

Hello, everyone.

I've heard a bit of backlash regarding the way the awards ceremony (or lack thereof) went and the way the Am prizes were handled. Yes, it was unfortunate and yes, some players didn't get what they had earned. However, I want to clear the air and let everyone know how much I appreciate the fact that Bruce Waldo volunteered to run the 2010 Creekside Open. Doug Smith has been trying to get others to volunteer to run this event, and others, for quite some time. Bruce was brave enough to volunteer. As brave as his volunteering was, I think that Bruce didn't quite know what he was getting himself in to. Running a PDGA B-Tier event with 106 players is a daunting task. And I wish I could have spent more time helping.

I hope that others will be as brave as Bruce and volunteer to help run the Creekside Open and other events here in Utah. It's not easy, but it's do-able. And the more people who get involved and volunteer, the better our Utah Tournaments will be.

Thanks, Bruce! And Thanks, Doug! You did well and I appreciate all of your efforts!

And I also appreciate all of the players, sponsors and other volunteers who made the tournament possible!

[glenn]

CASE CLOSED

[waldo]

May 4, 2010

Dear Am players from the 2010 Creekside Open,

I’m writing this letter for a few reasons… First and foremost, I’d like to thank all of you for your participation in the 2010 Creekside Open. I truly hope you all had a good time, no matter how you shot your rounds.

As some of you know, this was my first time being a T.D. for a disc golf tournament. Suffice it to say that I learned a lot about what it takes to run a tournament of this size. This leads me to talk about two other reasons for taking the time to write this letter. First, I’d like to apologize for the lack of a properly organized awards ceremony. What I found out the hard way is that it takes at least 2 to 3 hours to properly organize all the amateur prizes. Because I was playing the tourney, I had approximately 30 minutes to complete this 3 hour task. As you probably noticed, I failed to get each individual prize sorted and organized. I was attempting to do this when many of the Am players (especially those who were antsy to get on the road) approached Steven and requested their prizes right now so they could leave. Steven, being the nice guy that he is, tried his best to accommodate their needs by telling them what the value of their prize packages were worth and let them go through the prize pile at random. This started with 2 guys and within 30 seconds, turned into 15 or more rabid Am’s rummaging through the pile at random and taking what they felt they were due. Because I was fairly exhausted from playing, I neither had the energy or the gumption to try to police the feeding frenzy. What I probably should have done was to stop it immediately, stop the frenzy, and make each player go through the process individually. As it turned out, I trusted that the players would be honest and only take the proper amount of their prize package. This was both naïve and stupid on my part, because, as it turned out, many Am players received very little or nothing at all, and the prize pile, that should have been sufficient for everyone, was gone in a matter of minutes. This indicates that there must have been many who either knowingly or unknowingly took more than their share…I know I saw at least one guy that had a pile of about 9 or 10 discs, and when he looked at me, he had both greed and guilt in his eyes. No one, including the top finishers, should have received more than 2 to 4 discs. Again, I just didn’t have it in me to come down with a heavy hand. I still very much want to believe that most who were involved in the feeding frenzy were being honest about trying to only take their fair share, but the facts indicate otherwise.
Despite all that, I would still like to try to make good and get everyone at least something that could represent their prize package. It appears that because of what went down, the tourney is several hundred dollars upside down. Although I feel a sense of responsibility, and I’ve spent a great deal of emotionally draining disillusionment energy around this situation, I am clear that I will not dig into my own pocket to try to make this thing right. I also don’t think its right for me to re-approach our sponsors for more than they’ve already given.

The best suggestion I can think of is for those of you that were involved in the feeding frenzy, to grow a conscience and think of your fellow Am players that received nothing, and consider sharing some of your booty so that everyone can have a little something. You know who you are, but I don’t. If any of you are willing to share, so that your fellow Ams can get a little something, I am open to receiving phone calls, and/or donations for this cause. I don’t even care if you don’t tell me who you are. I’m not trying to make anyone wrong, and I accept ultimate responsibility for this fiasco, but after thinking about this for the last couple of days, and losing sleep over it, I will not pay for this discrepancy out of my own pocket!

In closing, I’d just like to reiterate that I hope everyone had a good enough time that you will all want to have another Creekside Open next year. Please have some consideration for your beleaguered first-time T.D. and give me a call or talk to me about this. And let’s all step up as a community of one of the best sports in the world, to show that we care about our great disc golf family.

Thank you,
Bruce Waldo, T.D.
801-706-4637

P.S. Thanks again for your participation in this year’s event!!!

[glenn]

Thank you for your thoughtful statement, Bruce. It was very much needed.

I think all of us AM players can sympathize with the overwhelming duties that go along with running a tournament of this size, but few know much about the most time consuming and unpalatable duty of parsing out the AM prizes. I warned you about that job. It is a bitch. Anyhow, I don't think you can be held personally and financially responsible for the debacle. I don't know what the solution is, but it can't be that Bruce digs into his bank account and pays out those of us that were stiffed. And, although I am essentially an optimist and believe in the basic goodness of human nature, I don't think for a minute that you'll receive any phone calls from people who know or suspect that they took advantage of 'the situation'. I hope I am proven wrong. I don't think there is a solution out there that will please all, but, as I am often heard quoting, "a good compromise is one wherein both parties are unsatisfied".

Best of luck with this dilemma. Much love.

[Rob]

Hi everyone.
Bruce, May I suggest that if you have not already, compiling a precise list of the players who got screwed and what they should have received? I say that because maybe an opportunity to compensate them will arise from an unexpected source this season and without that list it would be pretty much impossible to go back and figure it out.

Also, as a Team Utah member (yet to renew this year) I wouldn't mind if Team Utah used other events to fund their compensation.

Rob Tautges

[Side Arm Dave]

Agreed. There are also fellow disc golfers who have some extra discs they don't use that they would be willing to donate to the effort.