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A great teamwork at 2024 Synergy NorCal ORC
About 2 months ago, Ben Lee asked me if I can be the Tournament Director of upcoming ORC to be hosted at Synergy Badminton Academy. My first reaction was “no way!”. After rounds of discussions with Ben and Synergy team, we decided to not only do it, but also make it as good as it gets.
Since then, Ben and the whole Synergy team gave me nothing but full supports! From management team, coaches, to front desk staffs, everyone contributed and helped when help is needed. There were many tough decisions to be made (some even involved making investments and/or with financial impacts), but Synergy always ended up willing to support the decision that is for the best for the ORC. This is completely different or even opposite to what I had experienced previously with the other club owner. So, thank you, Ben and Synergy team!
On the other hand, I also got a lot of inputs from referees and technical officials, and learned the details from Bellevue Badminton Club during NW ORC in Sept. It’s great that I got the chance to work with all these experienced officials and event directors. After getting the full downloads, we were able to digest the info and think about how we can build on what we already got, but make improvements in our own ORC. So, thank you technical officials and BBC.
We came up with all these good / ideas, but they are only good if we can really make them happen. Although it takes extra times and efforts, we managed to take care of most of the process and logistic changes / upgrades (100+ action items!). However, it is indeed challenging when we try to streamline the process using the TP networks, especially we are running the ORC at two venues. My partner York Liu at RisingStars really did a great job solving problem one after another. 3 nights in a row before the ORC, we worked at the gym past midnight solving the problems, testing the systems, and simulating different scenarios we may encounter during the ORC. It was exhausting but we felt achieving. I told the team that if all the hours and works we put in result in minimizing delay during the ORC and save all players and families 2-3 hours of waiting, then it’s all worth it. Thank you , York and team!
Prior to tournament, I know all these changes and design in the flow/process would not work if people don’t know about. I started the Tournament Information Hub and sent out timely update emails. Our boys at Synergy even made a video for it. Thank you Arden, Stanley Xing, Devin, and Justin!
Then it came the ORC Day 1 - when all technical officials, tournament desk staffs, Synergy staffs, volunteering parents and players work together to execute all planned actions. Both sites ran relatively smoothly, and we wrapped up matches by 8-9 pm. Great job by Jimmy Do and Brandon Lee as match control! It’s not bad, but not as smooth as I originally planned. After we cleared the gym at Mission and finished all works for the day, I decided that things can be better if we make further improvements in the route/flow. We ended up taping the floor to show the route, direction, exit, and redo the caution tape to make it more clear, and even made another quick video to show how it works.
https://youtu.be/9lvqtnZ037A?feature=shared
Day 2, indeed we got much more smoother and efficient. At one point we were almost 1 hour ahead on our call time. One parent actually complained that “how come you start game so early” . We wrapped up day on time at both locations, and felt great about it 。Toward the end of Day2, I realized that our job doesn’t end at completing all matches, but we also need to clean up Mission site and put everything back so Synergy Mission can open and operate on Monday. While I was worried and wondering how I can finish the clean up, surprisingly I already saw Synergy coaches started to move things back without me asking. Thank you so much, to all Synergy coaches and volunteers, parents and kids!
On Day 3, all semi finals and finals were played at Automall. There were different challenges on Day 3 but it’s manageable. It didn’t really go as planned, by all matches finished in time.
In the past, Day 3 is all about the winning players who have advanced to semi- finals. This time, with Synergy’s support, RisingStars Infinite hosted a “Never Give Up” tournament for those who didn’t make it to Semi. I think it’s meaningful for these kids, especially those who traveled from other states. They got a chance to play more and watch semi/finals. Great job, York, Irnov Efendi, and Yi-Jui Chang!
I’m so glad that the ORC is finally over (1 tournament, 2 venues, 3 days, almost 600 players, and over 1000 matches). It was not perfect, but we made a mark as a team! I already received a lot of positive feedbacks and appreciation notes. We couldn’t have done this without everyone pitching in. Thank you Synergy Badminton Academy, RisingSrars, referees, umpires, and all parents, friends, and kids who contributed in this successful tournament! Thank you again!
What a great teamwork!
Shao-wen 11/14/2024
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