"OK, alright, mirai~!" Report

I must say this tournament was fun.

I got at LaFortune Park around 10:00. About a minute or two after I got there it started pouring. About ten minutes later ShinobuXD, along with Slasher11, Transfat, Phoenic817, and Draciel615. At about 10:30 Saintblader and Hawkeye arrived. During this time period it was pouring rain, and the shelter floor was flooded with water. We waited until 11 for a maybe to show up. Once we decided they weren't going to come ShinobuXD's dad suggested we move to their garage for the tournament because the shelter floor was flooded and the 'Williams' had a party from 11-2. Luckily there were only three cars that had participants, do we all caravaned to ShinobuXD's house, which was about 3 miles away. Once we got there I proceeded to set up the stadiums and the tournament bracket on Challonge. We got started around 11:30 IIRC. From there the tournament ran very smoothly thanks to challonge. During round 4 I announced the current standings. After the last regular round my dad arrived with pizza for everyone. After I had a slice I began making the finals bracket. We had a 4 person final because we had a four way tie for first place at the end of the regular tourney with ShinobuXD, myself, Hawkeye, and Transfat going 5-2. After the finals all of us went 1-1 except for Hawkeye who went 0-3. So I proceeded to make a tiebreaker bracket because I didn't want to make a new challonge round robin tourney. After these 3 battles Transfat came out on top going 2-0, myself second going 1-1, and ShinobuXD at third going 0-2. For prizes we each chose one, and we had a Thermal Lacerta left over. ShinobuXD had a drawing for everyone who didn't place for that bey. I decided to donate my mint Archer Killerken for another drawing as well. In the end everyone seemed happy including the parents, so that was good. We ended around 1:45.

It was really fun overall, and there were some awesome battles.
My only piece of advice would be to consider cutting the compulsory post-battle-handshake that I recall this tournament had in place. Shaking hands with kids is generally a bad idea from a hygiene standpoint, and perhaps more relevant to the point of it, enforcing handshakes doesn't encourage good sportsmanship, it only encourages handshakes. There are probably better ways to encourage good sportsmanship, which other people in this subforum might be able to suggest - I never had any trouble with it in my area, so I've never given it that much thought.
Really? We always do it in MD, it is almost second nature.
There's a big difference between shaking hands out of good sportsmanship and forcing someone to shake hands with another person.

If you have to, you could just say 'good match' or something along those lines. It hardly ought to be forced lol
It didn't have to be forced honestly. People generally did it.

I can see where you both are coming from, and upon reflection you guys are right.
Generally if the person doesn't want a handshake simply say good game or good match.

If he/she willing to give one (if you won) go for it.

Sounds like everything went OK.
(Sep. 29, 2013  11:39 PM)*Ginga* Wrote: Really? We always do it in MD, it is almost second nature.

If that's the case, then I guess that's nice to hear, but I'd still suggest not making it a rule, haha.
It's more of an unwritten rule.

Saying that "enforcing handshakes doesn't encourage good sportsmanship, it only encourages handshakes" is true since the handshake doesn't inherently mean anything, but it is a generally accepted sign of mutual respect. You could argue that saying "good match" doesn't promote good sportsmanship either and that is just encourages "meaningless sound" since language also has no inherent meaning. But like the handshake, those words are generally accepted to have a particular meaning, which is why people say them. That meaning can be twisted by body language, intonation, and circumstance, but I think it's important that at least one side conveys something that implies they respect their opponent.

To me, the sign of a great Blader is someone who can see past the fleeting emotion of disappointment–and perhaps anger–due to a loss and reach out their hand as a sign of respect for their opponent, but that being said ... you can't force someone into doing it. And I don't necessarily blame those who can't do it because it can be tough to accept that you've failed and you might even be blaming yourself more than you are your opponent. The most recent personal example I can give is my third consecutive loss at BEYBLADE REVOLUTION; that has almost never happened to me, and given that it was the North American Championship, it was a devastating loss because I knew that there was no chance of me advancing at that point and I just wanted to get out of there. Yet despite that, I shook my opponents hand because I was able to see past that emotion.

However, if someone decides to not shake your hand, the only thing that can be done in that situation is be certain that your respect has been conveyed, despite their rejection–whether motivated by malice or disappointment–of you. That's enough, in my opinion.
I love this tourney. Great job on your first tournament. Looking forward to more tourneys. Also a question. We're you visiting OK or have you moved? Great epic tournament! I knew Ginga won awesome tourney, but now he's making tourneys! (Lol)
Thanks haha.

No I was visiting for a wedding.