06/01/2026
A note regarding tournament directors and scorekeepers from Leslie Currier -
These people are volunteers. Please be considerate of what they are doing to create a good experience for horseshoe players.
Tournament Directors will often skip playing in order to manage a tournament. Whether they are working at the computer adjusting to last minute changes, entering scores or finagling an uncooperative printer, please give them the space and quiet they need. Some days all goes well, and it is easy to respond to requests or socialize while managing the event. Everyone wants correct results - appreciate it takes concentration to make that happen. Read the situation! If the TD indicates they are busy, please step away unless there is an immediate issue holding up the tournament.
Scorekeepers are individuals that oftentimes have been pressed into service. I actually started out at tournaments just sitting in the sun and reading. (Those were the days.) However, as an infrequent player I realized it sucks to keep your own score and there are not always people willing to score. Now I find myself scoring, generally two games at a time. If scoreboards are even available, it can be difficult to keep up with two scoresheets and two scoreboards and the scoreboard is neglected. I realize this makes it difficult for people to know what is happening in a game. I don't have a fix for that. You are welcome to look over my shoulder but please do not ask for scores as I am doing all I can to keep the scores. The noise level increases as players complete their games and that makes it difficult to hear the scores being called. In my case, I cannot always read the hand signals at the other end of the court, if people even use them. At the end of each game, there is a summary to be completed and then there are the glorious individual sheets to be filled out. This happens while the next players are handing me their scoresheets for the upcoming game. I can end up with eight individual sheets while trying to finish up on the previous game for the stat room.
This post has moved from general TD and volunteer experiences to my own. although I know others have had similar experiences. Three times this year I have had really crappy experiences with scoring. Each time I have said I am not going to score again, but that only is as detriment to the players that are playing and it would just slow down the whole process. I can and will try to move to a quieter spot to keep score, but that is not always possible. Moving forward, I am simply going to ask people to be quiet or step back and I am hopeful that people will respect that. I would ask all players to be considerate of everyone trying to keep a tournament moving. Please consider scoring a game and if that is not something you will do, at least be respectful of the people doing so.
Edited to add: Thank you to the many players and observers that are always respectful and there are many of you - the others are just getting a bit louder.
