What should the role of parents be limited to in scholastic events?? For example–I know of major organizers in the DFW area
that will not allow certified tournament directors who have kids playing to have anything to do with their events. And their instructions
to me as chief td is that I cannot use these quite often very talented and truly unbiased individuals due to potential parental/coach
complaint. My two children (children no longer), sometimes said that as quite often the lone tournament director at events,
(no one else to make such rulings), that it was unfair to them. That in the effort to be unbiased, that I was really biased toward
their opponent.
The general rule that I use when we have large events is simply to tell the TD/parents that they should refrain from rulings regarding
either their kids or teams.
I have found that the greatest source of future tds are the parents. This was how I became involved as a TD myself.
And for that matter, how mostof the other TDs I know also got started.
Rob Jones
At the scholastic nationals the TDs are generally restricted from being involved with a section where a kid of theirs is playing (a ruling made in a game that didn’t involve their kid or school could still influence their kid’s or school’s final standing).
After 18 years of scholastic directing (never affiliated with any school) I finally had a kid that started playing in events I was the chief of. None of the local organizers were going to look for anybody else, and they often comped my son’s entry fee. I let other TDs rule on his games and I was generally way too busy to be able to take time to take a look at them.
That said, at local events there have been accusations made when other TDs had family members playing in events (unsupported accusations in my opinion - at least in the tournaments I’ve been involved in).
When I have been a TD in various scholastic events, several of my students were competing. I told them to not come to me if they need a TD or a ruling on an issue. I informed the other TDs of the possible conflict of interest and asked them to rule if so needed. I make it a point to limit looking at their games. In a recent event, one of my students came up to me a little confused as he did not know what to do. It seems that his opponent, an older boy, was crying. I told him to get the floor chief and let him know what was going on.
Generally, the role of parents should be as the logistics for the kids; getting food and drink for the kids, carting the kids around to hotels and restaurants, and making sure they get their rest. For those with TD credentials, it is possible to have them serve in sections where their kids are not playing. They can also take part in updating the scoring or being part of the backroom doing the computer pairings. Having a few TDs on hand to spell the others during long weekend tournaments is a great aid to running the tournament.