Lesson 9:  How to Enter Tournament Information

 

Overview:  Nothing can be more frustrating for a baseball family than trying to keep up with a tournament schedule when adequate tournament information is unavailable.  Therefore, providing accurate, up to date information about the tournaments that your team is participating in is one of the most important functions of the BaseballNebraska.com website.  Our readers will be very grateful for this information. 

 

If your program is either (a) hosting a tournament, or (b) participating in an out-of-state tournament where the host team is not posting information to BaseballNebraska.com, then you will have PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY for posting information about this tournament under the Tournaments link on the Main Menu.  That means that you are the primary person responsible for obtaining information about the tournament and posting it to the Tournament link as explained in this lesson.

 

If your program is participating in a tournament in-state where the host team is posting information on BaseballNebraska.com, then you will have SECONDARY RESPONSIBILITY for posting information about this tournament to the Tournaments link.  That means if the host Team Reporter has not already posted information about the tournament, you are authorized and requested to go ahead and post information that has previously been made available to you by the host team (please be sure that you have the most recent and accurate information).  The host Team Reporter can then edit and supplement the information that you post. 

 

If your program is hosting an Area Tournament or State Tournament, you have PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY for posting the information about your tournament to the Tournaments link. 

 

It is our goal to have EVERY TOURNAMENT listed on the Tournaments link so that readers can be assured of having quality information about every tournament being played by Nebraska teams this summer.

 

This lesson explains how to post tournament information to the Tournaments link and what kinds of information to post.

 

Before proceeding, please make sure that you understand the difference between creating tournament games on your team's schedule and posting information to the Tournaments link.  Here's the difference:  when creating your schedule, you created games for each tournament that your team will be playing in.  Sometimes you know the opponents in advance (as in in the case of pool play where you have been provided a list of the teams in your pool by the tournament host), and sometimes you won't know the opponents in advance (as in the case of games played on the last day(s) of the tournament when you are competing against other teams based on your standings in pool play.)  As discussed previously, when you don't know who your tournament opponent will be, you can use a "TBD - name of tournament" placeholder opponent. 

 

On the other hand, the Tournaments link is on the Main Menu and takes the reader to a list of tournaments in your division.  Clicking on a tournament name will take the reader to general information about the tournament, including (hopefully) a tournament schedule and/or bracket.  If you haven't already done so, please click on the Tournaments link on the Main Menu and look at some of the tournament information already posted there, particularly those that your team will be participating in.

 

1. Select "Tournaments" from the Admin Menu.  This will take you to a page called "Tournament List"  shown at the right. 

Select the appropriate "Division" for the host team from the drop-down list.  You can either edit an existing Tournament or add a new Tournament.

We will discuss how to add a Tournament first, and will then cover how to edit an existing Tournament.

To add a Tournament, click on the "Add Tournament" link in the blue header of the Tournament List. 

2. "Tournament Editor - Add New Tournament."   The first thing that you will probably notice when you click the "Add Tournament" link is that it takes you to a page called, "Team Editor - Add New Team."  That's a goof.  The page name should be "Tournament Editor - Add New Tournament."

The first items of information requested are self-explanatory:  the Name of Tournament, Tournament Dates and Division.  Please fill these in. 

Location:  if your tournament will be played at one location, please select that location from the drop down.  However, if your tournament will be played at multiple ball fields, please leave the Location field blank for now.

  

3.  Add New Tournament - cont'd.  

Contact Information:  enter the name of the tournament director, along with his / her phone number and email address.

Website URL;  If you have information about the tournament, on your team's website, post the URL for that webpage in the Website URL field, for example, www.centralbaseball.org/tournament

Please note:  readers will want to come back to this space during the tournament to check tournament results and pool standings.  You can either manage this information in the "Comments" section (more on this later) or on your own website, in which case this link will help direct readers to this infomation.

 

 

4.  Add New Tournament - cont'd.  

Tournament logo:  if you have a tournament sponsor or a special logo for your tournament or for the host team, you can upload that logo using the File Upload method discussed in Lesson Eight and then select the logo from the drop-down menu.  The logo will then appear at the top of your tournament page.

Filename Link Desc and Tournament Filename:  these two go together.  You can upload a document, such as a Word document or an Excel file, that contains information about your tournament, such as the schedule, participating teams, pool assignments, standings, scores and other information.  Most tournament directors email an information sheet with basic information such as the participating teams, schedules, pool assignments, etc.   You can upload that document and create a link to it here.  Or you can create and upload your own document about the tournament and  create a link here.

After you upload the document, select it from the drop-down list in the Tournament Filename field.  And also give the document a name that will display on your Tournament page, such as "Firecracker Tournament Information."  That document name should be entered in the "Filename Link Desc" field.  This document name will appear on the Tournament page, and readers will be able to click on it to open the document that your uploaded.
5.  Add New Tournament - cont'd.  

Comments:  As with many of the other pages that you have worked with, the Comments field on the Tournaments page is a large, open space where you can provide any information that you might find helpful for your readers.  It will accept html code. 

It is helpful to provide general information here about the tournament, such as, dates, participating teams, format, rain dates, etc.  Look at other Tournaments on the system for examples and ideas.

If your tournament will be played at multiple locations, please list those locations here since the Location drop down list only allowed one location.

You can also post scores, standings and results here as the tournament progresses.  At the conclusion of tournament play, please post the final standings and the tournament champion.  Or, if this information is available on your team website or tournament website, please note this in the Comments area and include a link. 

When all fields have been entered, click "Save" to save the information.
6.  Editing an Existing Tournament.  

If your tournament has already been added to the Tournaments link (either by the website administrator or by a participating team), you can edit the tournament to add additional information by selecting it from the Tournament List and clicking "Edit."  (To get to the Tournament List, just click on "Tournaments" on the Admin Menu.)

This will put you in a page called "Tournament Editor - Edit Existing Tournament."  You can then edit the information that was entered when the tournament was created.  You can use this procedure to add information in the Comments field to update readers as the tournament is played.

  

In conclusion, the Tournament Page can be a very valuable tool for providing accurate, complete and up-to-date tournament information to our readers.  Our goal is to have every tournament listed on the Tournaments link with complete information listed for each.  Please realize that baseball families are relying on us to make this information available to them.  Please post the tournament handout (e.g., schedule, brackets, etc.) on the Tournaments link.  Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

End of  Lesson Nine

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