What planning needs to be done?
This process actually starts while the selections are happening. The selections coordinator will ask for volunteers for the delegation management committee for the world youth and for any other events for which there are definite dates and venues.
Management
You might wonder why the AusJCL does not itself manage the delegation. Unfortunately there are not enough resources for this to happen, or for Australia to send a paid manager. It also makes more sense for the parents who are directly to benefit, to provide the volunteers. There are quite a few tasks that need to be done in a very efficient and timely manner in order for the whole event to be enjoyable.
The management committee will be making a number of critical decisions, so it is in the interest of parents who care about these decisions to be involved.
Delegation Uniforms
The delegation uniform is compulsory for all children. Similar uniforms can sometimes be bought by parents and siblings, but the actual uniform can only be worn by the child who is playing. The uniform is kept the same in consecutive years where possible, to save on the cost of buying a new uniform for children who have been before, but where a change is necessary due to discontinuing of a pattern, then all children must purchase the new uniform. The delegation might be able to obtain sponsorship to cover the cost of all the uniforms.
Accommodation
This is a high priority item. Normally the organizers will only allocate accommodation once it is booked AND paid for. As discussed previously accommodation can be an issue, so the earlier the better.
You will thus be asked to decide and pay for your accommodation very early. The organizers will give you a timetable as to when payments must be made and will also give you a reminder as the date approaches. Anyone who does not pay on time, will have their selection withdrawn. If they are a primary selection, this selection will pass to the next person in the selection list. You must remember that by not paying on time, you are not only causing problems with your own accommodation, but the accommodation for the whole delegation, as it has to be paid together. The management committee are volunteers and are not paid in any form – it is discourteous to abuse them by making them have to constantly phone and e-mail you to try and get the money paid. While it is understood that parents often struggle to find the money, to give their children this opportunity, this has been a problem area for some time and deadlines have to be met without causing problems for the organizers or the rest of the delegation.
All children who are playing have to stay at the official hotels – this is compulsory. The Australian delegation will all stay together at the same hotel. Sometimes a parent chooses to stay separately from their children, in order to save money. This is allowed within the following constraints.
If the child is under 14 then a guardian who is staying at the hotel, has to be appointed and be prepared to take responsibility for the child’ welfare and behaviour.
The parent/siblings are not allowed to eat without paying, at any delegation meals. The parent/siblings are not allowed to stay at the hotel without paying. The parents/siblings are not allowed to travel on the delegation buses. The parents/siblings may be excluded from the playing venue by the organisers. Unacceptable behaviour by parents/siblings could lead to them being requested to not visit the delegation.
The AusJCL sets a maximum value to be spent on accommodation per person. The management committee can choose accommodation up to this amount. If no accommodation is available for this amount, then the management committee can apply to the AusJCL for a variation. There is one exception, as follows, where management can book a hotel outside of this allowed amount.
If the playing hall is at a particular hotel, then the management committee will always attempt to book accommodation there, even if it exceeds the maximum value. This is because there are huge benefits to the delegation in staying at the venue.
If the accommodation chosen falls within the allowable amount, but will result in primary selected children having to pay extra then either:
All selected children have to agree to pay the extra, or
Sponsorship has to be obtained by the management committee to pay the increased costs of the primary selected children (this sponsorship only needs to cover the primary selected children, not siblings or accompanying parents). This restriction does not apply, where the playing venue is at the chosen hotel.
The management committee may consult with delegation members as to what hotel they want, but the decision of the management committee is final.
Some examples:
Example 1
All delegations stay at the same hotel and then the only choices might be whether to pay for a single, double or triple occupancy room.
Example 2
Two levels of accommodation are available
30 euros per night for a double and 45 euros per night for a double. Both values are within the allowed amount and there is no extra cost to upgrade the primary selected children. The management committee will look at a number of criteria – e.g. quality, easy access to venue etc and then choose the hotel offering the best value.
Example 3
Three levels of accommodation are available at 30 euros, 40 euros and 50 euros. All 3 are within the allowed amount, but there is an upgrade cost of 10 euros per night for primary selected children to stay in the 50 euro per night hotel. None of the hotels is the playing venue.
The management committee feels the 50 euro hotel is the appropriate one for the delegation. The management committee will ask the 12 primary selected children what they wish to do. If some of the primary selected children are unable to afford the extra cost, then either the management committee will find funding to cover the upgrade cost for these children, or the whole delegation will stay at the 40 euro hotel.
Example 4
Two levels of accommodation are available at 50 euros and 65 euros per night. 65 euros is outside the allowed amount. The delegation will stay at the 50 euros hotel. If there are compelling reasons why the delegation should stay at the 65 euros hotel, then the management committee will ask the AusJCL committee for a decision.
Coaching
All children must receive preparation from a coach, unless they are rated more than 2200 ACF. In this case they may do their own preparation if they wish.
You can take your own private coach if you wish – either just for your own child, or to share with other families. In this case all arrangements are up to you and you must be prepared to pay for registration fees, accommodation costs in a timely way, so as to not hold up the delegation booking.
The alternative is to request to be included in team coaching. Once you have decided on team coaching, you will be asked to pay a further $200 deposit (non refundable). The management committee will work out how many coaches are needed – the ratio is between 4 children per coach and up to 7. The management committee might ask for input on coach choices from the delegation, but the management committees’ decision will be final.
All children will pay the same amount for a team coach. The management committee will source high quality coaches, preferably GM and IM standard, but there might be a difference. E.g. if 3 coaches are used, there might be a GM, an IM and an FM doing the coaching. The children using the FM do not pay less than the children getting the GM. All coaching expenses are added up and divided by the number of children to get a single per child cost. Usually there is free accommodation and food provided for one official. Where a team coach is taken, this free allocation is assigned to the team coach, to reduce costs for that item. Where there are multiple team coaches, then this is just factored into the total cost before the division is done to work out the per child cost.
Once the number of coaches has been confirmed and the ratio of players, the management committee will set up the coaching schedules. The way this is done, is the management committee decides how long each coaching session will be. It is a function of the tournament schedule and the ratio of players to coaches. Normally around 30-45 minutes will be decided. Where two rounds are played on a day, the coaching may be shorter.
The management committee will ask each player their preferred coach and coaching time. Normally this works out easily and there are no clashes.
Where there are too many players requesting the same coach, then the strongest players will get the strongest coach (a player is ‘stronger’, when they are more than 200 ACF rated points higher).
If this still doesn’t resolve the matter, then a primary selected player will get preference over a secondary selected player.
When it comes to clashes with preferred coaching times, a primary selected player will get first choice. If this still doesn’t resolve all clashes, then the younger player will get their preferred time.
Code of Conduct
All players, accompanying people and coaches must sign a code of conduct.
Everyone wishes the children (and parents) to have an enjoyable time overseas and the code of conduct is not meant to spoil the events. Unfortunately from time to time, there has been some unacceptable behaviour and the code of conduct seeks to ensure that everyone understands that you are the Australian Delegation and representing your country. Thus a certain standard of behaviour is expected.