2016 SONC Summer Games
Evaluation
Team:
Joyce Chambliss, Fall Tournament Director
Ron Henries, SONC Board member
Lewis McLean – Basketball SDT
Overall Games
Although high temperatures & humidity and late night thunderstorms presented their usual challenges during the weekend, we commend the GMT in its handling of the natural circumstances. On top of that, with the addition of three sports to the event and new venues for athletics, powerlifting, and the dance/Olympic Town, we commend the GMT for taking on so many new aspects for Summer Games. Quota for the event seemed to be discussed more than usual so we recommend continued education about the quota process for state-level events. More communication needs to be emphasized among GMT, SONC staff and general volunteers.
Medical stations were visible at all venues. There seemed to be some medical volunteers who did not understand the inventory of the medical bags. In other words, some volunteers reported medical supply items missing from the bags when in fact the items were in the bag.
In general concerning the coaches meetings, all were held using webinars the week prior to Summer Games. Comments seemed positive about the process and meetings with the exception of athletics. The athletics meeting seemed to have had technical issues and it ran very long.
Final Games Management Team meeting (June 1)
Venue seemed nice and centrally located. It was challenging space for breakouts but a good venue for a change in atmosphere for the final meeting. The air conditioning in the theater should be used with so many in the facility. The last minute lack of access to the stage made the presentations from the floor seem awkward.
Public Relations
The souvenir program was excellent. The content with athlete rosters, schedules, sports facts, and sponsor recognition was well presented. Media relations were evident for the event. The CBS affiliate (WNCN) and News & Observer did not provide coverage locally. During the Final GMT meeting, everyone should be reminded about the process for handling media who arrive at their venue and about the official spokesperson status.
Information Services & Souvenir Sales
This is an area that seemed to be lacking. There was no real consistency from venue to venue. The merging of information services and souvenir sales needs to be revisited to ensure both are adequately managed.
Feedback on what sells - bright-colors were most popular, Velcro watches, plastic water bottles, small notebooks with the snaps and credential holders. Not so popular – sport watches. The lower price point items sell best ($1-$3). Some added familiarity with the items was needed for volunteers (what are those cooling towels? Light-up balls light up!). Price table tents for each item should be provided. The price list has been reformatted for easier use.
Volunteers
There were varied reports on venues having sufficient numbers of volunteers while other venues were in need of volunteers. This assessment should be reviewed with the leadership from each venue to determine the actual basis of these observations.
Medical
Although we appreciate the donation of the sun screen dispensers, there were reports that many of them did not work properly. Medical stations seemed to well identifiable at venues and were well staffed by volunteers.
Equipment
Some cases of water need to be sent out with initial equipment to meet needs first thing in the morning for GMT, officials and volunteers. Overall better education needs to be done about hydration and the expectation of bottled water being provided since there is no way to provide bottled water for everyone on the venue.
The recycle bins were visible but their use still needs to be monitored to ensure they are properly utilized.
Meals
The meal operation worked well and was on time at all venues. Food orders needed for gluten free and vegetarian requests should be made much earlier so there is time to secure donated items. Historical numbers can be used to base an order.
The water pick up process from the Charlotte Coca Cola Bottling Consolidated needs to be confirmed much sooner than the week of pick up.
A separate volunteer group should be recruited to manage the sorting of Sunday lunches since this is such a large process now. The food managers did an excellent job of handling but they needed additional help.
Sunday lunch counts could be tightened up next year to more accurately reflect the true needs with teams leaving early on Sunday, cheerleaders visiting other venues, etc.
Dorms/Delegation Check-In
All seemed organized; flow was very good. Great to have a packet with the sports with the athlete names to correspond with room keys. Bragaw parking lot where dropoff for Sullivan was occurring was bottle-necked with drop offs. More attention should be given to that area.
Powerlifting weigh-in sign at Bragaw pointed in wrong direction for Witherspoon. Need more volunteers for rush hour at 4 pm arrivals. Keep volunteers until at least 5 pm.
Dorm beds were too high. NCSU Housing failed to lower the beds. At Avent Ferry, NCSU Housing staff did not know the building designations of A or B. Add physical addresses of all dorms should be added to all info for HODs. There were no medical bags at Avent Ferry Dorm.
Opening Ceremonies
Ken Smith of WRAL TV continues to be an excellent emcee for the ceremonies. Staggered march-in worked fine for the first year but was still lopsided with most delegations being on the east side. For 2017, we recommend to have east and west region programs report to their respective sides since some delegations indicated they were confused as to where to march from. A process was put in place to match Honored guests with their delegations but there was still some confusion and this process would help with that. Pace of introducing programs should be slowed so the athletes have time to get to their seats.
During the entertainment, the music was not well-known so many indicated the choice of music was boring. Cloggers and drumline were great. Young vocalist and Green Hope High School ensemble at the President’s dinner were great.
Final Leg and Circle of Honor was fantastic; use of motorcycles and mounted patrols was great. Having three Chiefs of Police attend was fantastic! The sound system did not project to rear of seating area. Front row was blasted with sound. There were lags in the overall program such as with the presentation of the Flame of Hope that seemed awkward.
Better place the light towers for audience exiting the amphitheater. Some indicated it was hard to get to the water stations on the sides of the amphitheater. For parking, entering and exiting was easier than previous years. Great police presence for entering traffic; no police presence for exiting. Need a primary contact with Raleigh Police on the night for traffic control.
Olympic Town
There was lots of great variety of entertainment. We recommend more water stations throughout the venue. Be sure that doors are adequately secured by volunteers who can prevent athletes from exiting without coaches. More space is needed for the souvenir sales operation. The space under the stairwell was not adequate nor was it in a very visible area to maximize sells. At least one volunteer should be present to use SQUARE on their smart phone. No credit card transactions were processed electronically meaning everything had to be written on paper for processing later in the week.
Dance
Security access control was lacking. Consider more water stations. Only one water station was set up for the entire multi-floor venue. There was great variety of activity and entertainment. Healthy Athletes folks had to move furniture and then facility staff made them move the furniture back. Onsite NCSU facility coordinator did not communicate with her staff well about our event. Signage will be needed to help with the venue layout. Outside area was nice but bad weather prevented the use of the outside activities. Healthy Athletes area and operation was fantastic! Credit Suisse employee volunteers were great. Really appreciated LETR and security support from NCSU Campus Police led by Bill Davis. Medical station was obvious on first floor of Tally Center but one on the second level was not evident. Make use of a public address system for the entire building operated by the center if available so SONC could use to make announcements for the entire venue to hear.
Aquatics
Info Services need to be set up before delegations arrive on Saturday to help with questions. Parking was an issue this year at aquatics due to the use of the mall function. At 10:45 am Sat, there were no traffic control volunteers. Overall, there appeared to be a shortage of volunteers. Saturday: the day was delayed due to volunteer shortage. By not having qualifiers, honest effort rule was implemented and 70 DQs were given. Many coaches did not seem to understand the rule. Properly publicize the mobile meet app. Seating was/seemed less crowded due to two-day event. DQ’s need to be properly communicated to coaches in a timely manner. Awards prep area may need to be permanently located indoors.
Athletics
SONC is appreciative of the use of the new venue by St. Augustine’s University. It’s a great venue and we look forward to the further development of the facility. Venue was organized very tightly since it was smaller than other venues. Some observed that it was difficult to know who among the competition leadership team was “in charge” so that questions could be asked or information shared.
An incorrect PA announcement on Sunday was made that no lunches were available. Lunches were available. Awards area seemed a long way out of the way. Some coaches were found on track in areas where they should not be. One coach was found looking through results at the awards table to get her athlete his medal with a wrong division. Another coach was seen looking through results to justify a DQ decision on his athlete. Volunteers need to use their credentials properly so that they can be identified.
Heat numbers were not announced. Divisions were announced with the Heats. Track official interfered with a walking event and stopped two athletes before the finish line. The athletes never finished the race because of the official so both athletes were awarded a gold medal.
Access to the facility was smooth but the signage internally was not good. Use of Food Trucks was good. Flow of awards seemed awkward due to staging of other events. Awards folks did not understand disqualifications. No coffee was available to volunteers.
Cloth towels or paper towels were hard to find for clean-up use. There seemed to have been a shortage of volunteers for various roles. Startup of venue among officials seemed confused and slow. Coaches did not know who to talk to in terms of authority/chain of command at the venue.
Competition Info sign was not used. It sat on the ground as a rug. Security access control was lacking.
More water stations/access was needed.
Bowling
Recap sheets were lacking, according to the Competition Director. A sign in sheet was unavailable. Competition was changed to open format from league format which was a change from the SONC position on the competition. A vote was held with coaches to change the format. Info Services was not staffed until after 11 am Saturday. Power outage on Sunday on six lanes caused a delay. There was positive feedback about the event being a multi-day event. The shifts each day may need to be flip-flopped to bring singles in for the afternoon.
Put a mini Health Promotions station at bowling to deal with the high volume of smokers in this sport in the parking lot.
Cheerleading
On Saturday, there no water available other than lunch water bottles. A correction to parking lot drop off was made after the day started. Venue set up on Friday lacked volunteer support. Wish one facility existed for warm ups to competition. Split venue nature worked ok but not ideal. Parking lot volunteers were great. The awards timing and flow seemed to work very well.
Cycling
Saturday was hot. Venue was great as a competition site. A concern was voiced about the timing of some events with heat temperatures. Medical suggested longer races be started earlier in the day such as 7 am to avoid conflict with heat. More medical supplies were needed on site due to dealing with multiple situations at one time. Dixie cups are not big enough for water. Friday afternoon heat was really bad.
Course marshals need umbrellas. Medical had no medical shirts on Friday or Saturday (morning). More tents are needed (possibly ask Garner P&R Dept to loan tents for the venue). Venue Manager did a great job; very organized.
The location for souvenir sales at cycling may need to be changed to bring them closer to the “action”.
Misting stations need to be added.
Gymnastics
Parking control needs to be put in place to direct parking across the street from the gymnastics venue; neighboring lots are off limits and cars could be towed.
Powerlifting
Great venue; All seemed to operate smoothly considering this was a new venue. Need to check minimum age of participants; reportedly an athlete was entered too young.
Softball Skills
Saturday the competition ended early. Splitting schedule into two days is great. Need an individual competition manager to work with field managers and ensure consistency among fields at the venue.
Softball Team
The experience of the venue team was evident with a well-run venue. Friday check-in needs to be better managed to eliminate confusion. Sunday was a rain out due to field conditions. More tents needed due to Sat storm damage. Start on Sat was slow due to scheduling confusion. Umpires were not informed of schedule changes; need to add them to mass text distribution. One umpire had to drive all the way in from Cary and had to return home without calling a game Sunday. Medical kits were not stocked enough. Games were being played during thunder; the procedure on this should be revisited. There were some great announcers on the fields. The venue team did a good job of adjusting to a new venue for awards; this can be planned beforehand for future use.