Building a Women's Tournament

I want to do this. I keep telling myself that. Yes, it's true, but oh my. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started thinking about how fun it would be to host a disc golf tournament.

The good side? It's for women only, which means, by default, it just can't get that big. There aren't that many women who play - so that's good right? The original idea (the one I keep selling to my club members as they stare at me with their wary "don't even think of asking me to volunteer for more of your crazy women-only events" eyes) is this: it's going to be just like a normal day of playing disc golf, only we'll have a dozen women here to play with us... right?

Well, kind of.

First, to get the pros, we're going to need to pay prizes (I haven't learned much as LMDGC President, but I have learned that much). And ams do like to win stuff (I, personally LOVE to win stuff), So that means we have to charge entry fees and get sponsors and bring in some money so we can turn around and give it back to the players. OK, not too bad, but then that leads to all these other questions: How much should the entry fee be? How much should the payouts be, and to how many levels of players?

Do we do online signups? (it's more convenient, but incurs admin costs)

Do we provide lunch between rounds? (I LOVE not having to worry about lunch during a tourney, but people are so picky about what food they want to eat, and this will also take money away from the prizes)

1-day event or a 2-day event? (2-days is more serious, but means people have to commit to an entire weekend. This seriously limits out-of-towners, and may intimidate new tourney players)

Do we have a players pack? If so, for just the ams, or for all players? What do we put into it (what can we get that women would actually think was cool without having to use up all of the entry fee to get it?)

How do we advertise? Is word-of-mouth going to be good enough, without registering it as an official PDGA tournament? What is involved with having SoCal list it?

And last but not least: Can we do this? Can we really pull it off? Having never organized a tourney before, I am already astounded at the amount of work that is involved. What if no-one shows up? What if it's all just a big waste of time?

[ibrude]

Hey - YOUR name is not on my putter!!! I had assumed you were a mere mortal - I guess it was good I learned otherwise AFTER I'd talked to you, otherwise I would have been too intimidated! :-)

[ibrude]

A women's league would be a bit tough, as there are only two of us who play the course on any kind of consistent basis... :-) When we do the women-only classes, women drive in from all over Southern California to join us - which is fantastic, but I wouldn't expect them to do that too often!
Wouldn't it be a bit presumptuous for me to contact JK? She's a legend, and I'm a nobody (her name is on my putter!) I would feel a bit strange contacting her out of the blue and asking her for advice!
Mark (comment above) was a huge help for me - he answered a ton of basic questions, and so the tourney is now officially a "go" - though to get final approval I had to promise to cover any extra expenses out of my own pocket - so I hope I worked the numbers in the budget out right!
THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT! You all have been super nice and helpful! If you'd like to check out my progress, visit the group "SoCal Women" over the next few weeks. I'll try really hard to do this right and make y'all proud!

[Leslie Charles]

Contact Erin Oakley here on DGR.us. We just held our third annual "Disc Girls Gone Wild" women only tournament here in Lansing MI and Erin can give you a lot of good tips plus encouragement! Erin founded a local women's league four years ago and it has flourished! She will answer any question you have. I've been on her league since it began and I've played Juliana's tournament, Women's Nationals (once) and William Gilbert's "Femillz" women only tournaments. They are a blast! I encourage you to establish a women's league AND hold a women only tournament. We need more events like this throughout the U.S., thanks for your interest!

[Tino "SilverBack" Medina]

contact Julianna korver, She put on the "le vie en rose" ladies only tournament in Florida not to long ago. She is all for promoting and ladies in this sport. I think she will help or be more than willing to point you in the right direction. Good luck!
note: I think there is even a tournament post in here about that event!

[ibrude]

Thank you for the encouragement! The good news is that I am lucky enough to play at an established course (the historic championship La Mirada courses in Southern California), surrounded by extremely experienced and knowledgable pros (Michael Williams, Dave Dunipace, Suzette Simons) and wonderfully, INNOVA has agreed to help with the tourney (they have been extremely supportive of the "Women-Only" classes we have been doing this summer). We also have a strong tournament network here thanks to the SoCal Disc Golf Association... So maybe, if I can manage to get the numbers right (reasonable entry fee with generous payouts), the So Cal ladies will agree to show up and play!

[William Gilbert]

i don't know who you are or where you are but you can make it happen. Your efforts here are a good start.
i run a womens event and more.