Understanding the feeling of the people, to have a active tournament director removed if the direcot does not send in tournament reports or membership fees. One of the reasons the federation has a hard time to remove a tournament director, is the problem of the limited members that are active tournament directors.
With the federation on the campaign “Activity Means Members” why would the federation go and swat the tournament directors pool. The one that takes care of the penalities, is the executive director; if there are penalies, the director can appeal it to the TDCC, then appeal to the executive board, then the board of delegates, and the board of delegates are final. Some people have questions about the executive director Bill Goichberg, do not know the man, some have talked about how close he is with other chess groups.
The problem, is not how many people are tournament directors, or how many members become tournament directors. There is a very small pool of directors, that will have a tournament in a year. It is not the question how many tournaments that happen in a state, just notice how many people you have in a given year, that has one tournament.
Know of one director that has a tournament each month in Toledo, Ohio, know one director in Flint, Michigan, know of one director in the Detroit area, that almost have a tournament every week, know of one tournament every month in the Lansing area, but over the years the director has changed. Yes, Lansing and the Detroit area have other tournaments, they are in line with the Michigan Chess Association. Know of the city of Grand Rapids, that has a population close to one million people, cannot recall a tournament in Grand Rapids in years, one of the reasons, there is no active tournament director in the region.
One of the reason the federation is not in the total mood for de-certification of a director, if you take away a director, who will take the directors place. Any president of a chess club that is worth his salt, knows if you remove a tournament director, or the tournament director just stops doing tournaments, the club will get smaller without tournaments.
The best way to get ride of a bad tournament director, is having so many active tournament directors, that every weekend you can find a tournament in less then fifty miles. Do not like the idea of a director that does not send in tournament reports or membership fees, they should be punnished.
What all active tournament directors do understand, is finding out who is also doing tournaments. Just in my county know three senior tournament directors, one is a member of the TDCC, with myself there are two local tournament directors, then there is one that does open tournaments in the city. We all know each other, if we have a tournament every month in the city of Ann Arbor, with a population greater then 115,000 we know it would not work. We know there is a nitch, if there is a tournament in Ann Arbor, the best anyone can get other then being a Michigan Chess Association event, for being 20 players and with the best luck 30.
If you know a director that is not sending in reports, have your own tournament. Best way to make it as a director, never have it on the same day as his, but have it the next weekend, or if his is a Saturday have yours on a Sunday. There are some players that would say, if there is a tournament less then a half hour drive they will show up. Each member, has there reason for going to a tournament or not going to a tournament.
Untill there is a greater amount of tournaments with different directors, the best and only way to get a bad director out, is be a director yourself or have someone to take his place. It takes a great deal of work to have the federation remove a poor director, it is just supply and demand.
Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, local td
