Ben Boldt and I are both celebrating 10 years of running amateur sporting events here at the Rochester Amateur Sports Commission, and the time has gone by quickly.
I often relate being a tournament director for a large national or state event to planning and preparing to a wedding. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of coordinating with involved people, much anticipation, the execution of the event, a little luck and the conclusion and wrap up. Emotions often run high, unforeseen issues can occur, you need to be quick on your feet and ultimately you need to be accountable throughout.
We have dealt with numerous challenges, some we weren't sure we were going to conquer. However, many times over the years we just looked at each as we prepared to dig in and say "I bet no matter what the sun will still come up tomorrow"….and it has, every time.
We had the World Tug-of-War championships with athletes from 15 countries here in town, most of whom did not speaking English. The Israeli team sent their junior team by mistake. They were alone, confused and competing way out of their class. We needed to help them.
Then two 20-foot tents blew over when the wind came up, injuring a few competitors.
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Another time we had 120 basketball teams in town when a lightning bolt blew a hole in the roof at the RCTC Field House, which caused water to run onto the courts.
And yet another time we had a monsoon downpour the final day of the World Series of Beep Baseball. Two hundred vision impaired baseball players were caught outside at Fuad Mansour Sports Complex in the pouring rain.
These are just a few examples of the numerous challenges we have dealt with over the years.
In the 10 years since Ben and I were hired, we have been involved with almost 400 amateur sporting events – everything from baton twirling to USA Weightlifting. No matter what the event, you always feel the pressure to perform for our guests and to always make Rochester proud.
There is an old saying "plan your work and work your plan," which is the philosophy we go by.
There are currently almost 70 events on the 2013 schedule and it looks like at least as many in 2014. We will work hard on each, knowing that many challenges will occur. However, we also know that each event will proceed as planned and no matter what unforeseen issue might come up, we will look at each other, smile and know that the sun will come up tomorrow.
