5 Divisons, 40 Something Teams and More Than 1,000 Players...

The 2011 USAFL Nationals are now under 2 weeks away. The USAFL board, staff and volunteers are working hard behind the scenes to bring you one of the biggest Nationals yet. As part of the preparations for the event, one of, if not the largest tasks of the tournament is setting up the schedule and seeding's.

To give clubs and participants a behind the scenes look at what goes on in preparations for such a large tournament, we have provided for you an overview of what goes on during the selection process.

STEP 1 – Nationals Team Nominations
Teams must submit their Team Registration and request for division six weeks prior to the tournament.

STEP 2 – Nationals Seeding Committee Meet
The Nationals Seeding Committee is comprised of the three USAFL Vice Presidents (East, Central & West). They talk with all clubs to understand why each has requested its division and confirm their nomination requests leading up to the tournament. They also collect from each nominating team their participation numbers to establish what combinations of teams could be established for Division 4. Team updates are taken right until the Tuesday prior to Nationals as last minute player withdrawals and travel numbers change daily.

STEP 3 – Player Exemption Form Submission
Teams are able to submit Player Exemption forms for individual players, which are due September 30. The Exemption Committee will meet to discuss and make rulings on players who have applied for exemptions. The intent of this rule is to ensure that clubs are truly represented by their local members in an effort to grow the sport here in the USA and also to discourage the "stacking" of teams with players from outside North America.

STEP 4 – Final Scheduling Meeting
The Nationals Seeding Committee meets about one week prior to the tournament to determine 1) the Divisions; 2) the Pools and Seedings; and 3) the Schedule of games. When working out the game schedule the committee also takes into account clubs with multiple teams to ensure that they do not have game clashes where possible and they also consider time zone changes and team travel so that teams arriving late Friday evening aren’t scheduled for early morning games on the Saturday.

STEP 5 – Division & Seeding Announced
About a week out from Nationals, the divisions and seedings are released.

STEP 6 – Umpiring Duties Assigned
Once the final schedule is in place, the Umpire Committee is able to assign USAFL field umpires and club umpire duties, which generally takes place the week of the tournament.

So, as well as organizing those 1,400 plus hotels rooms, 40 something teams, more than 1,000 players, umpires, medical staff, bar staff, volunteers, 2,000 meat pies, 5,000 Coopers beers, Boomerang Vodkas, Jack Daniels, Australian Wines, marking out five Footy fields, setting up marquees, port-a-loos, water stations, and umpiring all those games...  there is whole lot more that has to happen to make this tournament a success.