Hosting a Skirmish is Hard Work!

by Mike Kendra on August 30, 2010

I just got home from helping my team host a skirmish at Middletown, New York (and boy are my arms tired!) and I’m worn out.

It was a good skirmish, we had some classic team events you don’t see too often anymore, a good turnout, and great weather. I helped run individual target sales, and the tower during team events, and I enjoyed the whole weekend.

Notes to myself (and anyone else who runs a skirmish) based on my experiences these last two days:

  • Remember the N-SSA Rule book before you pull out of the driveway at 5:30am!
  • Make sure the person collecting money and tallying target sales can hear the competitors, has good handwriting, and can tally information accurately.
  • Running the tower is challenging for one man, there are buttons/triggers to press to sound the horn (at the correct time), microphones to turn on and off, people to watch, commands to give, and a schedule to keep.
  • The guy running the tower, if he’s not the skirmish director, needs to listen to the team commanders meeting. I got side tracked prepping the opening ceremonies and missed two important points of information! Bad me!
  • The skirmish director “should” always be available near the tower during non-standard team events to answer tower and participant questions. I should have been so lucky….
  • Don’t let your team-mates play with the medals before it’s time to distribute them. One missing medal can drive a man crazy!
  • Don’t dump the tub (or drum) of water for the water-filled cups event **before** you’ve completed the event!

The good parts of the weekend included: Everyone had fun, it was a good skirmish. The medals were different and interesting, and they didn’t kill our budget. Our “old time” events, a volley fire at paper plates, and a “break the wooden post” event were liked by many.

Look for a video review of our event later in the week!

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