Thanks James, that's kinda what we have been talking about. Ya'll definitely have something great going on in TN. What do you mean by small novice only tournaments? No prize money but some trophies and only one class (Novice not Pro)? Would love some input and help man. Like I said, whatever ya'll are doing over there is working. Thanks again.
This is the formula I used to create taa, we ran for a while on novice only events
Goal - To bring in as many new Faces to the sport as possible while staying in the positive from a business perspective.
You are not trying to make a killing but you dont want to have to come out of pocket to host the event.
Step 1
Find a venue that will sponsor your Medals(I say medals because this is the cheaper route and gives new pullers decent prizes.
At this point you are introducing them to armwrestling as an organized sport and not trying to make them think this is the end all be
all of armwrestling. If the medals are sponsored then there is very little overhead and your entry fees can now cover paying staff
(refs, scorekeepers, and yourself)
, giving out cash awards or whatever you think the cash should be used for. Offer to have the event during the non peak hours of the venue so they can
capitalize on the after market of bringing all these people into their venue and give them a reason to pay for the medals.
Step 2
Attention to details.
below is the tournament format I used to promote TAA, and it worked very well
Entree Fee $15.oo per class (these new pullers want to have very little invested)
(feel free to play with the weight classes but I suggest you offer classes that can be found at larger tournaments
that way your winners who are the most likely to return will feel more at home. I also suggest no more
than 3 weight classes per arm, light, middle, heavy KEEP IT SIMPLE)
WEIGHT CLASSES
Mens Novice right 0-176, 177 to 198, 199 and up
Mens Novice Left 0-176, 177 and up (generally not as many people will pull left handed)
Womens Novice Right unlimited (normally only ever got 3 or 4 women to sign up but its good to offer for
some girlfriends,wives, mothers, sisters ect.)
OPEN rigth and left (I offered 1 open class each hand so our pro pullers would be able to pull and hence give them a reason to come,
I made these classes 20 to enter
and winner take all, if you feel there are enough pro pullerd who would come support the newbies or are helping out then offer these classes,
if not then probably just adding more length to the event
when
where
prizes
contact info
venue logo
picture (I suggest using a pic of two very normal looking people armwrestling,
if you use a picture of Jerry Cadorette and Richard Lupkes you are probably going to scare
potential pullers away.
Armwrestling website information, other armwrestling websites they mite enjoy
Waivers - get a solid waiver that you can show your venue that releases them, yourself and all staff from liability.
Refs - make sure yours refs are clear on the rules, (if you are gonna use uncle Jim as a ref make sure he attends a
couple practices and knows his role before the actuall event
Rules - whatever rules you are using have a copy on hand and stand by those rules, (NFA Rules
can be found on the NFA Message board) otherwise it will look unprofessional, not legit and possibly bias.
Score keeper - go to printyourbrackets.com and print out some of the double elim bracket sheets,
learn how to use them, try doing some practice runs at practice or just use fake names. Then I suggest do it yourself or train
someone close to you this way you have a reliable person for later events (my wife does mine and does a wonderful job)
Step 3
Actuall promoting. Make flyers, I made mine from my home computer with a photoshop program and had copies made at kinkos,
this is very inexpensive to do and should be the life line of your event. Place the flyers at any Gym or resturaunt that will allow it,
make enough copies so that you can leave ten or so at each place or post in somewhere everyone can see. You can pick up cheap
plastic sleeves that can be taped to any window or door and people can pull them from the sleeve to take
home, people who are interested may look at the event and be interested but forget about it by the time they get home.
Get the event posted online, Facebook, message boards, or any other public forum people may see.
Step 4
last and maybe the most important step for growth!!!
Have a set practice location and put it on your flyer and on all websites. This is huge, you want to be able to teach people the ropes
who are willing to learn, you want them to feel as comfortable as possible and not bully them around the table, make them fully
aware of the dangers of the sport and how to prevent them. Once people get on the table and start to get pulled into new positions
they will more than likely want to learn or feel like they are at a disadvantage and are less likely to return. I got the venue I hosted the first TAA tournament at
to allow us to practice there every Other sunday, this does a couple things, gives a public location so people dont feel uncomfortable at someones home they dont know
and longevity of aftermarket to the venue, if they can get people who are practicing in their event to buy food or soft drinks at practice a couple time a month
then that is all the more reason to sponsor prizes for your tournaments
