St. Gabriel Church Men's Club at 3016 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28211 US - The View from Here and Now
The View from Here and Now
Some Thoughts from the Activities Vice-President
Hi! As Activities VP for the Mens Club, I usually have more insight to how things work in our organization than most parishioners, and I recognize some think we're just a social group. This article is a shortened version of something I wrote with the emphasis on running a youth tournament. While you're free to utilize the information in 'The Magnificent 7', the point is, as John Rice pointed out at our last meeting, "THIS IS WHAT WE DO." Enjoy!
Putting on a great youth tournament-
Harness ‘The Magnificent Seven’, You Won’t Need a #8
The recent Charlotte tournament featured teams from Canada coming large, with Senator O’Connor definitely in charge; NC powerhouse Charlotte Catholic rallying to win their finale by a point over the Hilltoppers (Raleigh); and ‘The Magnificent Seven’ of St. Gabriel Men’s Club, taking on the challenge of feeding 400 hungry ruggers and parents for Saturday night’s banquet at Charlotte Catholic.
No doubt that the success of the 4th Annual Charlotte Youth Rugby tournament involved constant examples of skill and energy, that certain glorious knowledge they’re doing something not many others would attempt, and for ‘olde boys’ with memories that don’t include having jumpers hoisted high during lineout plays. The tourney presented two golden days of classic athletics and easy ambience. At a personal level, taking Sunday (no grill provided, no cooking…) to simply enjoy the 13 boys, 5 girls teams event (plus middle school play) was joyful, very entertaining and quality play. When an inside center meets a runner and we hear the thwap! associated with a good stick in football, there aren’t any pads and helmets cushioning exactly how that feels. Getting a close-up view of two packs the moment they hear a referee’s ‘Engage!’ command is enough to re-ignite competitive fires burning from any athletic past.
That should be an absolute given in tournaments, that players competing well happens and on the pitch experiences are positive—a profitable tourney is great gravy though. Watching how Catholic’s people linked up going into loose rucks was a thing of beauty; the hits were fierce, many, and everywhere; the absolute, unadulterated speed of one OCS girls back brought nods of admiration. Winning is an incredible feeling for these sons and daughters and friends, and memories of events and camaraderie are rugby’s stock in trade. Utilizing this recent tournament’s successful results achieved by awareness of ‘The Magnificent 7’ rules should be useful. Marshalling an exceptional weekend effort that enhances future memories will label your organizations as winners too.
The Magnificent 7 of Tournament Management
1. Sponsorship - Beyond economics, committed effort counts.
2. Communications/PR -Take nothing for granted, talk to people! E-mail is great!
3. Banquet, food supply - $$ to be made.
4. Parental-Organizational support –Usually an incredibly willing force; tap it!
5. ‘Plus’ events - Dance, rugby exhibition, singing…memory making!
6. Goodies -Trophies are okay, details count! Hoodies/shirts level...
7. Documentation – Really ok vs. ‘said ok’, timing/amounts/names & numbers.
This was a terrific outreach event for the St. Gabriel Men’s Club, and raising the group's profile and reaching the local rugby Dads/potential membership was a legitimate goal. Friday (the 9th) SGMC staffed the annual Fish Fry, our third major community-feeding event since late January. My personal rugby connection and role as Membership VP validates the #1 rule in running a smoother, memorable, profitable tournament—Get strong commitment from your major sponsors. While SGMC provided the Charlotte Youth Rugby Festival both economic support (allowing for ‘Goodies’- Rule 6) and legendary on-the-line manpower effort at Saturday’s banquet, the group’s major food contact lowered costs, automatically meaning better financials.
Giving props to ‘The Magnificent Seven’ of food service is mandatory here; ‘do rag’ Jeff Horton, Mark Herboth, as aggressive in ‘his kitchen’ as any wing-forward on the pitch, Pete Mussoni, Rich Pirko, myself, Dave Wilson, and his son Chris were “The Seven” who proudly put SGMC’s sponsoring imprint on the proceedings, and enduring any similar barrage with them would be an honor. ‘Almost-12’ Chris deserves an extra plug, alone in the packed cafeteria doing big cookie-scoop of ice cream desserts. We were pitching on the line, he was The Man out there. Guys staying to clean pans, that’s what I’m talking about with sponsor commitment!
‘Plus’ Events-- Fact: In original meeting with Event Director, dance, rugby exhibition between 2 college sides, Mass (teams requested in past), college fair for up to 20 scholarship-giving schools, and singing (a rugger’s delight) were projected as essential parts of feeding and then keeping all those active young people occupied between 2nd games and morning, and essentially none of that came off. Results: Obviously less than they could’ve been. The VALUE of $15 dinner tickets could’ve been maximized with those additional positives. The O’Connor girls came looking real good, dresses, hair, and attitude working righteous, and nothing thrills a rugger-guy more than telling stories a rugger-cutie actually understands. Crank in a DJ, you’d be done. Those desirable factors failed because of Communications—nobody else CYR-related knew actual Saturday night plans. Sunday a lady related telling her group “the banquets at Charlotte Catholic, not in the hotel”; they only believed because she’d talked to the guy doing banquet!
