Player Management situation..

[Tkwiget]

Ok, this happened on Saturday during the regional. I don't recall what round this occured in but it was brought to my attention. So here's the story and how I handled it. I'm looking to see if I made the right judgement call on it.

John was clearing some people out of the tournament area so we could tell who was done playing and who wasn't. One of the players (who I will call Player A) made a racial comment to him directly that John was only telling him to clear out of the tournament area because he's "mexician." I know John well enough that he wasn't asking Player A and his friends to clear out because Player A is of a different ethnic background than himself. After clearing players out of the tournament area on half the side of the room (which I will label as Side A) he came to me and informed me about this. John wasn't asking players of a specific ethnic background to clear out of the tournament area because he was asking everyone that wasn't following his announcement about it to clear out on their own. He was simply doing his job.

In the next round Player A is playing against a teenager (who I will call Player B). After Player A and B got done playing I was confronted by Player B and asked to talk to me in private. So naturally I talked to him in private. Our conversation was about his opponent's behavior during their Match -- the opponent being Player A. He explained to me that Player A was using vulgar language that continued to become more heated as the Match progressed more towards the end. He told me that when the Match ended that Player A didn't quit with the vulgar language and continued to use very unsporting conduct towards him.

I figured there had to be at least a couple witnesses that saw the whole thing. I asked Player B if there were any witnesses and indeed there were -- two to be exact (I'll call them Player C and Player D). After I got done talking to Player B, I went over to the Match between Player C and D and stopped their Match briefly. I asked them if they noticed any ridculously bad behavior around them and they both said they have. I asked them if they could come find me after their Match to fill me in on the details of what went on.

After Player C and D got done with their Match. I talked to them in private about what they witnessed. They told me that Player A wasn't the only one that expressed horridly bad unsporting conduct towards Player B. It was apparent that Player B only gave me a bucket barely containing any truth in the matter -- probably because I explained to him that the behavior he witnessed was considered to be "Unsporting Conduct - Severe (Disqualification without Prize)." Both the witnesses, Player C and D, had consistant information and stories of what they saw.

From that information I told them that if they saw any of this type of behavior happen again with anyone during the regional that they should call me over if I happen to be available at the time. I'm very great at telling if a player is lying to me because if they happen to lie to a judge about something like this that could result in them getting a very serious penalty as well.

From that point on I put extra effort in watching both Player A and B to notice for this kind of behavior. I couldn't issue them a warning and I didn't feel it was necessary to inform Patman and John of this because I was going purely off hear-say in the matter. However, I do feel that I should have went to John and mention it to him on the grounds that two witnesses with consistant stories of went on is a pretty relible source IMO. To make the whole situation even more juicy is the fact that both witnesses know both players. Player B and C are on the same Team and Player A and D are on the same team. So to even have your own teammate reporting your own behavior is a very strong and relible source. I should've realised this at the time and acted.

How I handled the situation was watch both Player A and B very closely for the rest of the day for the same behavior. Let me know what you guys think of this kind of retarded situation I had to deal with. =/

I really do feel like I should have went to John about this.

 

[John Danker]

It never hurts and is usually wise to let the other judges (not just the head judge) know of potential problems. Informing the other judges that it is at this point "hearsay" and cautioning them not to act on anything until they're witnesses themselves.

 

[Tkwiget]

I didn't even tell Patman about it. Luckily Player A and B didn't express the same behavior with other players that they did with one another.

 

[ygo doc]

A few comments:

1) You did well not to render any premature judgments based on hearsay until you gathered further information or actually witnessed or had a judge witness the event.

2) Whenever you are uncertain of the actions of ANY player: whether it is cheating, unsporting conduct, stalling, stealing cards, etc. I would ALWAYS alert your other judges to pay particularly close attention to the person(s) involved. You only have 1 pair of eyes, so it helps to have others watch. You may also learn that other judges have already heard or witnessed similar problems with the player which may now call for intervention, rather than further surveillance.

3) It also helps to make public announcements to alert players to unsportsmanlike conduct and to report such conduct immediately when it happens, rather than after matches when information is less fresh and more difficult to gather. This also gives fair warning to any perpetrators to be on their guard!

4) Lastly, it always helps to have your other judges involved and work as a team. I can guarantee you, if you have to make a difficult decision such as giving a game or match loss or worse to a player for usporting conduct, you will want the full backup of all your judges and your TO. Most players will argue with you one on one until their blue in the face, but if they see a united front of judges (especially when one of them is as intimidating as JD can be) they back down rather quickly.

doc

 

[slither]

A few comments:

1) You did well not to render any premature judgments based on hearsay until you gathered further information or actually witnessed or had a judge witness the event.

2) Whenever you are uncertain of the actions of ANY player: whether it is cheating, unsporting conduct, stalling, stealing cards, etc. I would ALWAYS alert your other judges to pay particularly close attention to the person(s) involved. You only have 1 pair of eyes, so it helps to have others watch. You may also learn that other judges have already heard or witnessed similar problems with the player which may now call for intervention, rather than further surveillance.

3) It also helps to make public announcements to alert players to unsportsmanlike conduct and to report such conduct immediately when it happens, rather than after matches when information is less fresh and more difficult to gather. This also gives fair warning to any perpetrators to be on their guard!

4) Lastly, it always helps to have your other judges involved and work as a team. I can guarantee you, if you have to make a difficult decision such as giving a game or match loss or worse to a player for usporting conduct, you will want the full backup of all your judges and your TO. Most players will argue with you one on one until their blue in the face, but if they see a united front of judges (especially when one of them is as intimidating as JD can be) they back down rather quickly.

doc

Magnificent suggestions, just had to say it.

 

[masterwoo0]

I would also add, that telling players what a penalty may lead to is not a good idea unless it is the specific player that will receive the penalty.

There are enough Rule Sharks out there without handing them more information than necessary.

 

[Tkwiget]

A few comments:

1) You did well not to render any premature judgments based on hearsay until you gathered further information or actually witnessed or had a judge witness the event.

2) Whenever you are uncertain of the actions of ANY player: whether it is cheating, unsporting conduct, stalling, stealing cards, etc. I would ALWAYS alert your other judges to pay particularly close attention to the person(s) involved. You only have 1 pair of eyes, so it helps to have others watch. You may also learn that other judges have already heard or witnessed similar problems with the player which may now call for intervention, rather than further surveillance.

3) It also helps to make public announcements to alert players to unsportsmanlike conduct and to report such conduct immediately when it happens, rather than after matches when information is less fresh and more difficult to gather. This also gives fair warning to any perpetrators to be on their guard!

4) Lastly, it always helps to have your other judges involved and work as a team. I can guarantee you, if you have to make a difficult decision such as giving a game or match loss or worse to a player for usporting conduct, you will want the full backup of all your judges and your TO. Most players will argue with you one on one until their blue in the face, but if they see a united front of judges (especially when one of them is as intimidating as JD can be) they back down rather quickly.

doc

Awesome advice! I'll have to remember this again at future events. John can be pretty intimidating at times when players try to agrue with him.

Also I agree with Masterwoo0 about not telling them of the kind of penalty that could be issued for this kind of behavior. There are players at Iowa Regionals that will use any trick in the book in order to net a win under their belt for their match or for the tournament itself.

So thanks for reading over the situation and telling me where I was at fault at and what I did correctly. I think the biggest error in this situation was not informing the other judges of the situation.

 

[HorusMaster]

Awesome advice! I'll have to remember this again at future events. John can be pretty intimidating at times when players try to agrue with him.

Also I agree with Masterwoo0 about not telling them of the kind of penalty that could be issued for this kind of behavior. There are players at Iowa Regionals that will use any trick in the book in order to net a win under their belt for their match or for the tournament itself.

So thanks for reading over the situation and telling me where I was at fault at and what I did correctly. I think the biggest error in this situation was not informing the other judges of the situation.

There was also the opportunity for you to advise Players A & B that there had been comments and complaints regarding their behavior. Remind them that the rules prohibit (without telling them the penalty) unsportsman-like behavior as well as vulgar language. Advise them that you ARE NOT accusing them but ADVISING them of the comments and careful attention to behavior would be recommended so that no one else could interpret their behavior as unsportsman-like. It's been my experience that if someone is aware that attention is being paid to their behavior, they tend to act accordingly in someone else's presence. JMO

 

[Tkwiget]

There was also the opportunity for you to advise Players A & B that there had been comments and complaints regarding their behavior. Remind them that the rules prohibit (without telling them the penalty) unsportsman-like behavior as well as vulgar language. Advise them that you ARE NOT accusing them but ADVISING them of the comments and careful attention to behavior would be recommended so that no one else could interpret their behavior as unsportsman-like. It's been my experience that if someone is aware that attention is being paid to their behavior, they tend to act accordingly in someone else's presence. JMO

That's another great piece of advice! This piece of advice I agree on too. Because when someone with a level of authority is addressing your behavior and possible effects that could happen from it stick in the person's mind more. Thanks for the advice!