Discussion New League Professor, would love some tips!

[Professor Chime]

Hey all! I just got myself set up in a cards/comic shop venue and ran my first League free-play this weekend. It was great and all, but Pokemon.com doesn't really give a ton of specific tips for newcomer Professors.

I'd love to hear your tips and stories for me to learn from your experiences. I want to run this as clean and efficient as possible and avoid being known as a "Bad Professor" like some I've dealt with in the past.

Thanks everyone!

 

[AlphaVoxel]

Congratulations! As you mentioned, TCPi isn't the greatest about giving specific ideas for how to run a League (which, in all honesty, is a very, very good thing). In not leaving more specific instructions, they give you a nice bit of freedom on how you personally want to run things. I currently am a League Leader for 2 Leagues (one of which I just kind of help out, the other of which I run, and am kind of the de facto League Owner), and occasionally help out at Prereleases when I can. Here is what I would suggest doing:

• Free play isn't the greatest. I have played at 2 Leagues that do a more "battle whoever you want" kind of thing (still play at 1), and there tends to be a fairly big divide between the older, more experienced players, and the younger, less experienced players.
• Small, weekly tournaments are awesome! This is how I run my League, and it definitely keeps things a bit more lively. It works best when the people with actually good decks (or those among the younger players that have good decks) are placed in kind of their own bracket, and the younger players in their own. This generally makes it so that the same person/few people aren't winning every single week.
• Make sure to get in there and play! I play every week in the small tournaments I run (not official, just a free, local tournament), and it's definitely worth doing.

Here's a few more things I would suggest in general:

• Get to know the employees at the store, especially those who work when you are running your League. This makes things run so much smoother, and it's nice to get to know people. I am currently at the point where I (along with the guy who runs the Yugioh Tournaments) are almost considered Honorary Employees (we're allowed behind the counter, allowed in the storage rooms, etc.), and are fairly well known by the employees. Also, see if you can get one or more of the employees to help you run things. One of the employees at my League helps take care of running things for the kids (he loves it, and the kids love him), and some of the other employees help out on occasion.
• Get to know the players. This helps liven things up quite a bit, and encourages players to keep coming back. It also helps to take interest in the things the players enjoy (I can thank some of the players at various leagues for helping me get back into Yugioh, and getting into Magic recently).
• Be prepared to deal with kids/inexperienced players. They often do not know the rules very well, even if they think they do (I have had an 8yo kid try to argue with me about how the Burned Condition works, and basically had to fix a game state because neither player was keeping track of damage/status conditions/whatever). They, much to the dismay of the employees, also break things on occasion, and are somewhat petty at times. It's important to know how to deal with them, but at the same time, make sure to be nice about things.
• Please, do not forget your responsibilities! A moment ago, I mentioned that I am pretty much the de facto League Owner for the League I run. This is because the actual League Owner hasn't really done the things he's responsible for in several months (only now is he starting to have some level of involvement). Please make sure to get Reports in on time, and order the Promos as soon as you can! Being consistent with reporting will make it so your League is eligible to run League Challenges and Cups, which attract quite a large amount of players. Also, make sure to at least run tournaments every now and again, as it helps the store quite a bit.
• Make sure players have activated their Player IDs. This may not sound like it's super important or anything, but it's kind of a big deal. The number of players with Active Pokemon Accounts greatly influences the amount of Promos you receive. My League currently has about 36 registered players, but only about 10-11 have active Player IDs, which means we only get about half the Promos we are supposed to.
• Take the other Certifications if you haven't already (TCG Judge, VG Judge, etc.). I don't often use the TCG Judge part, and rarely use the VG Judge certification, but it does open up a lot of opportunities for you and your players.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask! I love helping out other Professors when I can (I'm not exactly experienced by any means, but at least have some idea of what I'm doing). Many of the other people here also greatly enjoy helping out, and I think there are at least 2+ other active Professors here on the forums, as well as like 1-2 de facto League Leaders as well. As I said, if you have any other questions, feel free to PM me, post it here, or find me on the Discord server.

Thanks, and good luck!
-Prof. Rosewood (Alpha)

 

[Professor Chime]

Congratulations! As you mentioned, TCPi isn't the greatest about giving specific ideas for how to run a League (which, in all honesty, is a very, very good thing). In not leaving more specific instructions, they give you a nice bit of freedom on how you personally want to run things. I currently am a League Leader for 2 Leagues (one of which I just kind of help out, the other of which I run, and am kind of the de facto League Owner), and occasionally help out at Prereleases when I can. Here is what I would suggest doing:

• Free play isn't the greatest. I have played at 2 Leagues that do a more "battle whoever you want" kind of thing (still play at 1), and there tends to be a fairly big divide between the older, more experienced players, and the younger, less experienced players.
• Small, weekly tournaments are awesome! This is how I run my League, and it definitely keeps things a bit more lively. It works best when the people with actually good decks (or those among the younger players that have good decks) are placed in kind of their own bracket, and the younger players in their own. This generally makes it so that the same person/few people aren't winning every single week.
• Make sure to get in there and play! I play every week in the small tournaments I run (not official, just a free, local tournament), and it's definitely worth doing.

Here's a few more things I would suggest in general:

• Get to know the employees at the store, especially those who work when you are running your League. This makes things run so much smoother, and it's nice to get to know people. I am currently at the point where I (along with the guy who runs the Yugioh Tournaments) are almost considered Honorary Employees (we're allowed behind the counter, allowed in the storage rooms, etc.), and are fairly well known by the employees. Also, see if you can get one or more of the employees to help you run things. One of the employees at my League helps take care of running things for the kids (he loves it, and the kids love him), and some of the other employees help out on occasion.
• Get to know the players. This helps liven things up quite a bit, and encourages players to keep coming back. It also helps to take interest in the things the players enjoy (I can thank some of the players at various leagues for helping me get back into Yugioh, and getting into Magic recently).
• Be prepared to deal with kids/inexperienced players. They often do not know the rules very well, even if they think they do (I have had an 8yo kid try to argue with me about how the Burned Condition works, and basically had to fix a game state because neither player was keeping track of damage/status conditions/whatever). They, much to the dismay of the employees, also break things on occasion, and are somewhat petty at times. It's important to know how to deal with them, but at the same time, make sure to be nice about things.
• Please, do not forget your responsibilities! A moment ago, I mentioned that I am pretty much the de facto League Owner for the League I run. This is because the actual League Owner hasn't really done the things he's responsible for in several months (only now is he starting to have some level of involvement). Please make sure to get Reports in on time, and order the Promos as soon as you can! Being consistent with reporting will make it so your League is eligible to run League Challenges and Cups, which attract quite a large amount of players. Also, make sure to at least run tournaments every now and again, as it helps the store quite a bit.
• Make sure players have activated their Player IDs. This may not sound like it's super important or anything, but it's kind of a big deal. The number of players with Active Pokemon Accounts greatly influences the amount of Promos you receive. My League currently has about 36 registered players, but only about 10-11 have active Player IDs, which means we only get about half the Promos we are supposed to.
• Take the other Certifications if you haven't already (TCG Judge, VG Judge, etc.). I don't often use the TCG Judge part, and rarely use the VG Judge certification, but it does open up a lot of opportunities for you and your players.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask! I love helping out other Professors when I can (I'm not exactly experienced by any means, but at least have some idea of what I'm doing). Many of the other people here also greatly enjoy helping out, and I think there are at least 2+ other active Professors here on the forums, as well as like 1-2 de facto League Leaders as well. As I said, if you have any other questions, feel free to PM me, post it here, or find me on the Discord server.

Thanks, and good luck!
-Prof. Rosewood (Alpha)

Amazing! Thanks so much for the tips. A lot of it was "I assumed this to the true, but it's good to hear someone else says it as well". My league has mostly experienced players at the moment (We got 3 participants on our first time!)


Now, you say "Active Player ID". Does that just mean the account is set to a user name online? Speaking of: Do I add myself to that Player list? There's nothing saying yes or no anywhere.


And this is my first month of reporting. I know I'm supposed to get an email for the reporting, but I'm not sure exactly will be asked for the report. Do you happen to have a copy of what that looks like for my knowledge?


Thanks!
Jesse

 

[AlphaVoxel]

Yeah, I can help you with that when I get done with class in about an hour and a half.

 

[PokeMedic]

Welcome! Organized Play doesn't really give a whole lot of information to professors in how to perform any duties. Actually, they never have. Outside of being an organizer or judge you actually have freedom to do a lot of what you want. They've started to do these 'Professor Seminars' for us to improve on some skill set, but those are few and far between. I became a professor in 2010. I'd like to think that means something, so I use what I know to help my players in the area. I do my own Professor Seminars as methods to teach players different things: draw power, format change, and game theory to name a few.

Before you can become a good professor you ought to know some history about the role. Years ago the Professor role was no where near as easy to attain like it is today. There was no tier system to it at all, either -it was all or nothing. We all had to take a very detailed 75 question exam within 45 minutes. That exam had essay-questions with multiple essay-answers. To even pass the exam in the first place you had to have a certain command of the game from playing it for quite some time. I had to take it 3 times before I finally passed it. Once you entered the program more opportunities would become available to you. You'd be eligible to judge for your areas Premiere Tournament Organizer or to judge at the National or World Championship. A professor was considered a true expert in the game. Tournament organizers were an entirely different role and you didn't have to be a professor to be one. You were strictly a TCG rules, game play, and operations expert. That expertise wasn't automatic though! You still had to practice your trade to get good at it. The real test was in the field.

As far as things I've learned or advice I can share?

• Know your market. What do your players want? What can make the game better in your area? Where I'm at people just want to play Pokemon and they really don't care as long as they get to play. A lot of us are adults who work full-time and look forward to our 4 hours a week of Pokemon. Instead of just offering some tables I've given them a structure to play within to make that time worth it
• Things don't have to go exactly as they're put forth in the League Rules and Guidance document. Think of that document as a fence. You're not supposed go outside it, but you can build an awful lot within it
• Free play is valuable if you do it right. I run my league like leagues were run in the past: you seek out an opponent, battle it out, and receive points on a score card. Get so many points and you earn a promo. That way play is incentivized. Myself and another league leader buy other cards to use as promos as well. The league is run like an event with table markers and everything. You're supposed to come and play, not goof around. We have a rule that specifically states that. Again, this is dependent on your market of players. Maybe most of your players are golden top table competitors who won't play with the unclean
• I also run seminars for other players to learn about decks, cards, and techniques. The league here runs on the principals and philosophies of self-improvement. I clearly remember the words "you teach me and I'll teach you" in the original Pokemon theme song, so I stuck with that ever since.
• We don't have the time for tournaments outside of Challenges. Lots of stores like the idea of tournaments because it gets product moving, but our league moves more packs and singles than tournaments do. Besides, Pokemon isn't MTG
• If your league is run by a store you'll need to make a relationship with your venue and its employees. Use all your well-learned politesse. My league is so old that it isn't owned by the store but by the organizers instead. We keep a very good relationship with the venue. though. They're actually really grateful for that. They don't have the extra time to run those events and they don't know the knowledge of the game or it's intricacies
• When I get junior players I don't let them onto the field until I know they know how to play the game correctly. I always get a hard time from them when I do this, but the parents understand. Little kids always show up at this venue with a deck made of old cards, Japanese cards, 62 cards, Charizard with no basic or stage 1 to evolve from, -you name it. They all want to be Ash Ketchum but don't know that Ash has never even won a league yet
• Believe in and work on improving your conflict resolution skills. I've seen a lot of people ask for advice on how to handle players who gripe and complain only to see veteran organizers chime in and advise them on how to get rid of the person. If you can't handle a player at your venue getting uppity then good luck to you when you have one at a cup or regional, because you're stuck with them
• If you want your league to be a good place for people to play then you have to control the culture. Set standards for behavior and activity. Make it known what is and isn't acceptable. TPCi doesn't even control the culture of the TCG and it's their product! This is why you see all the garbage from 'competitive' players in places like Virbank City or HeyFonte. The patients are running the asylum
• People are going to say you should take all the certifications, but focus on one thing for a while. Get good at it. Branch off into something else only after you've gotten some command of what you're doing already. I'm both an organizer and TCG judge because I've done both for almost a decade. I have very little interest in the VG as far as OP goes
• Long ago, when I played at or worked at premier events, I was appalled by the behaviors of some of the other professors I'd have to interact or work with. Some had a God Complex, some where just pricks, and others wouldn't give me the time of day. Exposure to those kinds of people is one of the things that made me strive to be Professor in the first place. Once I did I found that having a good personality made me more of an asset than my knowledge alone

 

[Professor Chime]

Welcome! Organized Play doesn't really give a whole lot of information to professors in how to perform any duties. Actually, they never have. Outside of being an organizer or judge you actually have freedom to do a lot of what you want. They've started to do these 'Professor Seminars' for us to improve on some skill set, but those are few and far between. I became a professor in 2010. I'd like to think that means something, so I use what I know to help my players in the area. I do my own Professor Seminars as methods to teach players different things: draw power, format change, and game theory to name a few.

Before you can become a good professor you ought to know some history about the role. Years ago the Professor role was no where near as easy to attain like it is today. There was no tier system to it at all, either -it was all or nothing. We all had to take a very detailed 75 question exam within 45 minutes. That exam had essay-questions with multiple essay-answers. To even pass the exam in the first place you had to have a certain command of the game from playing it for quite some time. I had to take it 3 times before I finally passed it. Once you entered the program more opportunities would become available to you. You'd be eligible to judge for your areas Premiere Tournament Organizer or to judge at the National or World Championship. A professor was considered a true expert in the game. Tournament organizers were an entirely different role and you didn't have to be a professor to be one. You were strictly a TCG rules, game play, and operations expert. That expertise wasn't automatic though! You still had to practice your trade to get good at it. The real test was in the field.

As far as things I've learned or advice I can share?

• Know your market. What do your players want? What can make the game better in your area? Where I'm at people just want to play Pokemon and they really don't care as long as they get to play. A lot of us are adults who work full-time and look forward to our 4 hours a week of Pokemon. Instead of just offering some tables I've given them a structure to play within to make that time worth it
• Things don't have to go exactly as they're put forth in the League Rules and Guidance document. Think of that document as a fence. You're not supposed go outside it, but you can build an awful lot within it
• Free play is valuable if you do it right. I run my league like leagues were run in the past: you seek out an opponent, battle it out, and receive points on a score card. Get so many points and you earn a promo. That way play is incentivized. Myself and another league leader buy other cards to use as promos as well. The league is run like an event with table markers and everything. You're supposed to come and play, not goof around. We have a rule that specifically states that. Again, this is dependent on your market of players. Maybe most of your players are golden top table competitors who won't play with the unclean
• I also run seminars for other players to learn about decks, cards, and techniques. The league here runs on the principals and philosophies of self-improvement. I clearly remember the words "you teach me and I'll teach you" in the original Pokemon theme song, so I stuck with that ever since.
• We don't have the time for tournaments outside of Challenges. Lots of stores like the idea of tournaments because it gets product moving, but our league moves more packs and singles than tournaments do. Besides, Pokemon isn't MTG
• If your league is run by a store you'll need to make a relationship with your venue and its employees. Use all your well-learned politesse. My league is so old that it isn't owned by the store but by the organizers instead. We keep a very good relationship with the venue. though. They're actually really grateful for that. They don't have the extra time to run those events and they don't know the knowledge of the game or it's intricacies
• When I get junior players I don't let them onto the field until I know they know how to play the game correctly. I always get a hard time from them when I do this, but the parents understand. Little kids always show up at this venue with a deck made of old cards, Japanese cards, 62 cards, Charizard with no basic or stage 1 to evolve from, -you name it. They all want to be Ash Ketchum but don't know that Ash has never even won a league yet
• Believe in and work on improving your conflict resolution skills. I've seen a lot of people ask for advice on how to handle players who gripe and complain only to see veteran organizers chime in and advise them on how to get rid of the person. If you can't handle a player at your venue getting uppity then good luck to you when you have one at a cup or regional, because you're stuck with them
• If you want your league to be a good place for people to play then you have to control the culture. Set standards for behavior and activity. Make it known what is and isn't acceptable. TPCi doesn't even control the culture of the TCG and it's their product! This is why you see all the garbage from 'competitive' players in places like Virbank City or HeyFonte. The patients are running the asylum
• People are going to say you should take all the certifications, but focus on one thing for a while. Get good at it. Branch off into something else only after you've gotten some command of what you're doing already. I'm both an organizer and TCG judge because I've done both for almost a decade. I have very little interest in the VG as far as OP goes
• Long ago, when I played at or worked at premier events, I was appalled by the behaviors of some of the other professors I'd have to interact or work with. Some had a God Complex, some where just pricks, and others wouldn't give me the time of day. Exposure to those kinds of people is one of the things that made me strive to be Professor in the first place. Once I did I found that having a good personality made me more of an asset than my knowledge alone

Amazing! These are all awesome tips. Once the League gets bigger here, then a lot of this will make way more sense to me. Right now? I had 3 players because we're out in the middle of no where. I set up and am the primary contact for the League on pokemon.com, so it's all done by me. They just welcome me to be there and I handle the rest for them, it seems.

I hadn't found a good league in many years due to living so far away from them. We had one and I went twice, but the woman running it never bothered to show up, so it didn't actually "count" and people were just there to trade since no one actually "ran" the league. Her 12 year old nephew was in charge and that went about as well as it sounds. It made me strike to become a Prof and do more for the players.

I've been collecting for nearly 20 years myself, so I have a lot of old duplicate promos that I brought with me for extra prizes and such and the players loved the idea. Thinking of doing drafts every so often, as well, especially with Lost Thunder coming next month, but the players just enjoyed the Free Play for now. The employee at the store (it's family run, so he's the owner's son in law) wanted to learn it and we each bought a theme deck and I taught him how to play the basics while the others had hardcore GX decks.

Seminars would be cool too. I'd consider doing them "for free", but to join, they need to purchase a recent theme deck to learn on from the shop itself. Any thoughts on that? That means their decks are pre-made to learn from and it's got a set deck list that can be monitored, so they learn to crawl before they run head first into a much more advanced player.

Also, Steven's Resolve (the promos) and TCGO codes. I understand that they assume you'll give away 4 each to a single person, meaning it's for 10 players in a 40 pack. Any particular way you utilize them yourself?

 

[AlphaVoxel]

Welcome! Organized Play doesn't really give a whole lot of information to professors in how to perform any duties. Actually, they never have. Outside of being an organizer or judge you actually have freedom to do a lot of what you want. They've started to do these 'Professor Seminars' for us to improve on some skill set, but those are few and far between. I became a professor in 2010. I'd like to think that means something, so I use what I know to help my players in the area. I do my own Professor Seminars as methods to teach players different things: draw power, format change, and game theory to name a few.

Before you can become a good professor you ought to know some history about the role. Years ago the Professor role was no where near as easy to attain like it is today. There was no tier system to it at all, either -it was all or nothing. We all had to take a very detailed 75 question exam within 45 minutes. That exam had essay-questions with multiple essay-answers. To even pass the exam in the first place you had to have a certain command of the game from playing it for quite some time. I had to take it 3 times before I finally passed it. Once you entered the program more opportunities would become available to you. You'd be eligible to judge for your areas Premiere Tournament Organizer or to judge at the National or World Championship. A professor was considered a true expert in the game. Tournament organizers were an entirely different role and you didn't have to be a professor to be one. You were strictly a TCG rules, game play, and operations expert. That expertise wasn't automatic though! You still had to practice your trade to get good at it. The real test was in the field.

As far as things I've learned or advice I can share?

• Know your market. What do your players want? What can make the game better in your area? Where I'm at people just want to play Pokemon and they really don't care as long as they get to play. A lot of us are adults who work full-time and look forward to our 4 hours a week of Pokemon. Instead of just offering some tables I've given them a structure to play within to make that time worth it
• Things don't have to go exactly as they're put forth in the League Rules and Guidance document. Think of that document as a fence. You're not supposed go outside it, but you can build an awful lot within it
• Free play is valuable if you do it right. I run my league like leagues were run in the past: you seek out an opponent, battle it out, and receive points on a score card. Get so many points and you earn a promo. That way play is incentivized. Myself and another league leader buy other cards to use as promos as well. The league is run like an event with table markers and everything. You're supposed to come and play, not goof around. We have a rule that specifically states that. Again, this is dependent on your market of players. Maybe most of your players are golden top table competitors who won't play with the unclean
• I also run seminars for other players to learn about decks, cards, and techniques. The league here runs on the principals and philosophies of self-improvement. I clearly remember the words "you teach me and I'll teach you" in the original Pokemon theme song, so I stuck with that ever since.
• We don't have the time for tournaments outside of Challenges. Lots of stores like the idea of tournaments because it gets product moving, but our league moves more packs and singles than tournaments do. Besides, Pokemon isn't MTG
• If your league is run by a store you'll need to make a relationship with your venue and its employees. Use all your well-learned politesse. My league is so old that it isn't owned by the store but by the organizers instead. We keep a very good relationship with the venue. though. They're actually really grateful for that. They don't have the extra time to run those events and they don't know the knowledge of the game or it's intricacies
• When I get junior players I don't let them onto the field until I know they know how to play the game correctly. I always get a hard time from them when I do this, but the parents understand. Little kids always show up at this venue with a deck made of old cards, Japanese cards, 62 cards, Charizard with no basic or stage 1 to evolve from, -you name it. They all want to be Ash Ketchum but don't know that Ash has never even won a league yet
• Believe in and work on improving your conflict resolution skills. I've seen a lot of people ask for advice on how to handle players who gripe and complain only to see veteran organizers chime in and advise them on how to get rid of the person. If you can't handle a player at your venue getting uppity then good luck to you when you have one at a cup or regional, because you're stuck with them
• If you want your league to be a good place for people to play then you have to control the culture. Set standards for behavior and activity. Make it known what is and isn't acceptable. TPCi doesn't even control the culture of the TCG and it's their product! This is why you see all the garbage from 'competitive' players in places like Virbank City or HeyFonte. The patients are running the asylum
• People are going to say you should take all the certifications, but focus on one thing for a while. Get good at it. Branch off into something else only after you've gotten some command of what you're doing already. I'm both an organizer and TCG judge because I've done both for almost a decade. I have very little interest in the VG as far as OP goes
• Long ago, when I played at or worked at premier events, I was appalled by the behaviors of some of the other professors I'd have to interact or work with. Some had a God Complex, some where just pricks, and others wouldn't give me the time of day. Exposure to those kinds of people is one of the things that made me strive to be Professor in the first place. Once I did I found that having a good personality made me more of an asset than my knowledge alone

These are some very valid points, some of which I should probably start doing a bit more... Funny you should mention the Theme Song. I've been thinking a bit about the Johto Theme lately, which I know has some similar themes.

Amazing! Thanks so much for the tips. A lot of it was "I assumed this to the true, but it's good to hear someone else says it as well". My league has mostly experienced players at the moment (We got 3 participants on our first time!)


Now, you say "Active Player ID". Does that just mean the account is set to a user name online? Speaking of: Do I add myself to that Player list? There's nothing saying yes or no anywhere.


And this is my first month of reporting. I know I'm supposed to get an email for the reporting, but I'm not sure exactly will be asked for the report. Do you happen to have a copy of what that looks like for my knowledge?


Thanks!
Jesse

So, what I mean by Active Player IDs are players that have set up a Pokemon Trainer Club Account that is linked to their player ID. You will often have to print out Player IDs for new players, especially younger kids. If kids' parents are there, I would probably recommend handing the IDs to the parents to fill out/set up, as most of the kids at my League don't have any idea what a player ID is, even though I personally gave them one.

As far as reporting goes, at the end of the month, a button will appear on your League Event Listing that says something not unlike "Add Report" or something. You click on that, and can confirm the roster. After that (usually a day or two later) you will be able to order promos. As far as adding yourself on the League Roster, I always add myself in (I am a player, in addition to being the League Leader), ans I know the League Owner at the other League I help run adds himself as well.

Also, what exactly do you mean when you say "utilize" the promos?

 

[Professor Chime]

These are some very valid points, some of which I should probably start doing a bit more... Funny you should mention the Theme Song. I've been thinking a bit about the Johto Theme lately, which I know has some similar themes.


So, what I mean by Active Player IDs are players that have set up a Pokemon Trainer Club Account that is linked to their player ID. You will often have to print out Player IDs for new players, especially younger kids. If kids' parents are there, I would probably recommend handing the IDs to the parents to fill out/set up, as most of the kids at my League don't have any idea what a player ID is, even though I personally gave them one.

As far as reporting goes, at the end of the month, a button will appear on your League Event Listing that says something not unlike "Add Report" or something. You click on that, and can confirm the roster. After that (usually a day or two later) you will be able to order promos. As far as adding yourself on the League Roster, I always add myself in (I am a player, in addition to being the League Leader), ans I know the League Owner at the other League I help run adds himself as well.

Also, what exactly do you mean when you say "utilize" the promos?

Aha! All three of my participants had Pokemon accounts already, so that was smooth on my end.

Ah, so reporting is just basic confirmation? Or do I need to report specifics?

For "utilize", I mean... What do you do give them out for? Prizes? Just showing up? In the handbook, it says it's for each week, but we don't meet every week due to the fact that I work 60 hour weeks. We're likely to only meet like twice a month until we get a rhythm (because it's still nearly an hour drive for me to get there) and I'm bound to have extras of the card when this season ends since I just got them.

You all have points systems in place, so I was wondering how you use the extra League promos.

 

[GamePhoenix]

For "utilize", I mean... What do you do give them out for? Prizes? Just showing up? In the handbook, it says it's for each week, but we don't meet every week due to the fact that I work 60 hour weeks. We're likely to only meet like twice a month until we get a rhythm (because it's still nearly an hour drive for me to get there) and I'm bound to have extras of the card when this season ends since I just got them.

You all have points systems in place, so I was wondering how you use the extra League promos.

Not a professor, but at my local league, we just get the promos for showing up and playing a game.

 

[PokeMedic]

Reporting is done to prove you have players worth OP sending you resources for. Having them with active Trainer Club accounts shows them that the players actually exist. In the past organizers would over-report to get more promo material, which was costly. In 2010 OP began only sending out enough supplies for the amount of reported players who had registered PIDs rounded up to the nearest 10th. If you have 3, and they're all registered, you'll get enough stuff for 10 players. That'll cover you as you grow, too. When you do report you need their names, their DOBs, and their PIDs. They'll also need PIDs to play in sanctioned tournaments.

The document says give them out, but it doesn't give specific instructions. I've gone to leagues where they hand you a promo each time you show up. At my league you play and earn points for the promo just like how it used to be. OP doesn't provide leagues a lot of resources anymore and diverts that to other things. We used to get score cards and other promo stuff, but that seems like it was forever ago. To make up for what's lost I went ahead and made my own score sheets. Here's an example of an old score card and promos.

Spoiler

That wasn't too long ago, but it's how it was done for over a decade. Now I'm nostalgic. How you choose to award promos is up to you. You only have 3 players now and you only meet twice a month. You really couldn't run it like I do since people would never get any cool stuff, you know? There's flexibility for a reason. When in doubt with any league just do as much as you can.

 

[Professor Chime]

Amazing! Now that it's established, they (the store and the 3 players) plan to help market more to their fellow trainers. So, I expect 5 to 10 next time we meet up at least.

Right now, I'm just having fun chatting with the few that are there, playing a couple rounds with them, learning some of the deeper meta that they know, etc. "You teach me, I'll teach you", right?

It makes me feel a ton better that I'm not screwing it up this early though. haha

 

[Merovingian]

Been running a League since April. For transparency purposes, I've had ALL Juniors and 2 Masters. One of which builds competitive and shoots for regionals, one just wants to do Challenges, and the Juniors were all new to the game. I only run a Pokemon League with no intention of starting Challenges (between, schedule, anxiety, and stress). I'll throw my hat in the ring:

- Learn how to build decks from the contents of boosters

This is by far the hardest 'format' to build off of. Best advice I can give is to pick out as many colorless attackers you can and keep it to at most 2 colors, if possible. Which brings me to the next point.

- Make a deck or two for new players to use

Kids are going to come to you with all sorts of nutty stuff. Old cards from older siblings, theme decks, 18 booster-palooza. It's difficult, especially when they don't have any cards or have nothing to work with. It's best to have something pre-made and ready to go. I've been working on THIS for the last several months. Despite that its Legacy, as it has about 90% of the games current game mechanics (I know it doesn't use a Stage 2, EX, Megas, or Prism Stars at the moment). Its best to teach them with a deck that goes along the lines of how something SHOULD be built, and not like how (most) theme decks teach ("Hau is best draw power!"). That said, if you want better theme decks, Mach Strike and the new Sceptile deck aren't shabby.

- Get ready to having to unlearn bad deck building habits

Kids and new players want to win with their builds, but they don't know what they don't know. And worse if they learn "playground rules". The hardest things to explain to kids is that they need Energy cards to do virtually anything (you can't play like its "Yugioh" and have all Trainers and Pokemon). Another is to correct the "20/20/20" deckbuilding mentality. It's a pain because it's close to decent deckbuilding, but not good enough (aggro decks = 50% of the deck is trainers). If you do get to the point to where you are explaining proper deckbuilding, also explain the 3 archetypes:
- aggro
- combo
- control

We won't get a good example of a combo deck until Unown DAMAGE is in English, but you can explain how aggro decks are properly built. I have a budget Wailord EX deck and a Sylveon GX control deck and I use them to explain that control builds are not built on the same "rule of thumb" as aggro decks go. Also, kids to not like facing AGAINST control decks, and understandably so. But they do like using them, which is pretty funny.

- Parents

From what I have seen, parents who ask questions and get involved will have their kids doing better as well. We had a kid and his two parents come by every week for a couple months and they got a full set of the Buzzwole and Beast Ring promos. The kid and his dad asked a lot of questions about deckbuilding and what to look for. Told him everything I knew, and now the kid cleans shop every time he shows up. Some parents just bring their kid(s) and don't pay much attention to whats going on and it feels like you're a glorified babysitter. It sucks when these kids want to do better, but they need their parents to help them and you're kind of stuck.

- Reporting

Reporting begins the last week of the month. It seems like the sooner you report, the sooner you get your League promos. If you don't report at the end of the month, you will lose your League status and it's painful trying to get it back quickly, especially because since Pokemon Support is really slow. Also, expect your League Promos to show up near the end of the next month. So there will be a gap between your first order and when you receive your 1st month promos.

- Scorecards

Your League may have a mix between competitive, casual, and newer players. The scorecards are by no means mandatory, but are neat tools to incentivize players.

- Extra mile

You may need to go out of pocket to help some players out. You don't need to do this, but there's some CHEAP stuff that can certainly help keep some players interested. I picked up a LOT of Jirachi Prism Stars for kids at the League. It gives them a way to earn a Prism Star card, and it can be splashed into nearly ANYTHING. I'd recomend that if you have a lot of new players/kids.


That's all I have at the moment, I feel like I forgot a few things, I'll keep checking back in.

 

[Shikageru]

Three things:
1. This thread gives me hope, as I'm actually a relatively new and slightly experienced player and professor (read: judge, not T.O.) myself. And boy howdy do I have a boatload of questions.

2. Really solid advice thus far. These guys definitely know their stuff, and I've very little to add. As I believe PokeMedic said, flexibility and learning what your players want is key. Beyond that, the only advice I feel I can personally offer at this time is if you're a judge, learn your rulings and card interactions as much as possible, but also be willing to say, " I don't know, but I can find out". Obviously you need to be the master of your craft, but you also need to be able to handle it when someone brings an odd interaction query to you. For the t.o. side, as its been said about store involvement, it also helps to know your site. I've been having an issue lately of players from magic and drAgon ball super coming over and either directly involving themselves in our games or indirectly, and neither has ended well. This in fact leads me to my third point.

3. To our more experienced judge/t.o. folks, you mentioned de-escalating player situations. What do you do when players from another group are upsetting your players, either directly or indirectly? Directly, I've had to talk to several players from other games that have walked over, hovered over a game their friend is in, then picked up their deck or some other piece of their board, and shuffled/slapped it back into the deck and run off. In the middle of one of our tournaments even. I've alerted the store owner about this and the insane amount of swearing going on that has gotten bad enough we may have lost a Jr player due to his mom pulling him after one round as the other non pokemon players were dropping f bombs and generally being beyond rude during our play time. To me, that should be a conversation and then a site ejection if it doesn't stop, but its not my store, so not sure, nor do I wish to escalate the problem.

I know these folks are there spending money but I feel even as a judge professor not a t.o. prof, I've got to look out for my players and make sure they have somewhere safe and fun to play.

 

[Professor Chime]

Three things:
1. This thread gives me hope, as I'm actually a relatively new and slightly experienced player and professor (read: judge, not T.O.) myself. And boy howdy do I have a boatload of questions.

2. Really solid advice thus far. These guys definitely know their stuff, and I've very little to add. As I believe PokeMedic said, flexibility and learning what your players want is key. Beyond that, the only advice I feel I can personally offer at this time is if you're a judge, learn your rulings and card interactions as much as possible, but also be willing to say, " I don't know, but I can find out". Obviously you need to be the master of your craft, but you also need to be able to handle it when someone brings an odd interaction query to you. For the t.o. side, as its been said about store involvement, it also helps to know your site. I've been having an issue lately of players from magic and drAgon ball super coming over and either directly involving themselves in our games or indirectly, and neither has ended well. This in fact leads me to my third point.

3. To our more experienced judge/t.o. folks, you mentioned de-escalating player situations. What do you do when players from another group are upsetting your players, either directly or indirectly? Directly, I've had to talk to several players from other games that have walked over, hovered over a game their friend is in, then picked up their deck or some other piece of their board, and shuffled/slapped it back into the deck and run off. In the middle of one of our tournaments even. I've alerted the store owner about this and the insane amount of swearing going on that has gotten bad enough we may have lost a Jr player due to his mom pulling him after one round as the other non pokemon players were dropping f bombs and generally being beyond rude during our play time. To me, that should be a conversation and then a site ejection if it doesn't stop, but its not my store, so not sure, nor do I wish to escalate the problem.

I know these folks are there spending money but I feel even as a judge professor not a t.o. prof, I've got to look out for my players and make sure they have somewhere safe and fun to play.

That's insane! I'd be curious how the other professors here would handle it. But, going to the shop owner would be my primary starting point. Honestly, once a shop gets a League, shop owners really wouldn't want to lose official status because that ends up blacklisting them from potential customers and money. As the professor, calmly explain that toxicity needs to be toned down. I'd even bring up official League rules and guidelines about safety and such. If you're losing people due to other games going on, maybe see if you can set a dedicated time that's just for your League that no other game is played in that time in the area?

Still would love to see Rosewood and Medic's take on this though. I'd trust them more than myself, since I am new as well, myself.

 

[The Last Shaymin]

As a player, (not league runner or whatever you call it) I would say that you definitely need a way to enforce that 20-20-20 decks are NOT good. I have had players ask me if they want to play me and then they grab a random 60 cards from their box (making sure to get them "good" ex and gx cards, of course) and proceed to lose to my meme deck that isn't supposed to win (rotobox, memecanion, primarina, etc) in around 6 turns + setup. Now this annoys me, as a player, because the only people that actually play competitively viable decks are my small group of 2 friends and my brother. And that gets boring really quickly (would you like to play against sylveon or toad/garb?) and so i have nothing to do except... talk.

And so thats a problem, and I would recommend trying to fix it. Like maybe buy a couple of the world champions decks (usually wouldn't recommend this but there really is nothing else to do) and if a kid is struggling (has random 60 card deck) let them barrow it and have a feel for the raw power of zoroark or ray or whatever.

Thats really all i can think about... yeah

 

[PokeMedic]

When you go into any game store you have to remain cognizant of the people that're in that environment. Not everyone there is going to socially adept and well-adjusted. It's not a pleasant thing to say these days, but it was true 20 years ago when I started hanging out in game stores and it's still true today. Some people just like to have fun, but others are just nuts. Folks still tend to be agreeable, though. You might be surprised how a simple question or statement can change the outcome of what's going on, so don't ever be afraid of dialog. If you give up on dialog you aren't fixing anything. No problems are being solved by ignoring them or immediately going to a higher power. That's not saying that dialog can solve all problems. Always do that to start with, though. I have this philosophy about dialog, though this is a Pokemon forum.

Dialog doesn't always work though. Trust me, I know. You could be the most polite person in the world when you ask a trouble maker to correct themselves, but they might just tell you to fug off. And they'll do it while all your players and parents are watching. The word toxic isn't in my vocabulary outside of toxicology -I just call these people what I think they are: a-holes. When words fail to defend you, you must use the sword. In this case the sword is talking to the business.You said you don't want to escalate the problem. Seems though that things escalated just by them doing what they're doing. Try talking to them first. State your purpose. If that doesn't work go to the store. And hey -if you were nice and polite to them and they were rude and crude then you just made your case that much stronger. Going to an employee of the store isn't being a chicken, it's using that persons own desires against them. They want to be in that place. They want to play their games and get all uppity. But the thing they love can turn be turned on them. Kind of twisted, but that's what it takes sometimes. No yelling, no screaming, no fighting, but right to the core of the matter.

Nobody just wakes up in the morning and decides to be a jerk for the day. Whatever they've got going on happened to them way, way before they started ruining your day. Don't ever try to fix the person, just try to fix the situation.

As a player

You seem to be in a position to teach them how to play better. You seem pretty aware of what they're thinking -maybe you can guide them in a good direction. I'm doing that at my league right now.

 

[Professor Chime]

When you go into any game store you have to remain cognizant of the people that're in that environment. Not everyone there is going to socially adept and well-adjusted. It's not a pleasant thing to say these days, but it was true 20 years ago when I started hanging out in game stores and it's still true today. Some people just like to have fun, but others are just nuts. Folks still tend to be agreeable, though. You might be surprised how a simple question or statement can change the outcome of what's going on, so don't ever be afraid of dialog. If you give up on dialog you aren't fixing anything. No problems are being solved by ignoring them or immediately going to a higher power. That's not saying that dialog can solve all problems. Always do that to start with, though. I have this philosophy about dialog, though this is a Pokemon forum.

Dialog doesn't always work though. Trust me, I know. You could be the most polite person in the world when you ask a trouble maker to correct themselves, but they might just tell you to fug off. And they'll do it while all your players and parents are watching. The word toxic isn't in my vocabulary outside of toxicology -I just call these people what I think they are: a-holes. When words fail to defend you, you must use the sword. In this case the sword is talking to the business.You said you don't want to escalate the problem. Seems though that things escalated just by them doing what they're doing. Try talking to them first. State your purpose. If that doesn't work go to the store. And hey -if you were nice and polite to them and they were rude and crude then you just made your case that much stronger. Going to an employee of the store isn't being a chicken, it's using that persons own desires against them. They want to be in that place. They want to play their games and get all uppity. But the thing they love can turn be turned on them. Kind of twisted, but that's what it takes sometimes. No yelling, no screaming, no fighting, but right to the core of the matter.

Nobody just wakes up in the morning and decides to be a jerk for the day. Whatever they've got going on happened to them way, way before they started ruining your day. Don't ever try to fix the person, just try to fix the situation.



You seem to be in a position to teach them how to play better. You seem pretty aware of what they're thinking -maybe you can guide them in a good direction. I'm doing that at my league right now.

Ruthless, but efficient. That's probably pretty close to what I was saying too. Yours is just straight to the point. haha

 

[PokeMedic]

I should've noted that non-players tended to be the troublemakers when it came to Pokemon League. The worst I've ever had to deal with inside the league were new players who didn't fit in, misfits, and kids who just thought they could wonder around the store or play whatever they wanted. These kids usually get dropped off by their parents who seem to have no interest in whats going on. We have one parent who drops their teenage son off who has a developmental disability. None of us get to see that parent or talk to them. The kid loves Pokemon and is functional enough to play it well. I never tried to chase him off. He never did anything wrong. We all just tried to teach him to play. We're not going to bend the league to cater to anyone, but we won't turn away someone enthusiastic about the game. He participants a lot more now than he did before and enjoys playing with others. He doesn't sit off in a corner with all his stuff like he used to.

Once I went after two kids who would come into the store and just take up space. They'd put all their stuff down, bags and computers and coats, and mostly just wander around the store or wander outside in the dark. At 12 years old. When they would play they'd be disruptive and play music on their school-issued laptops. This was disrespectful to all their opponents -all of whom just seemed to try and put up with it as if they had no other choice. One day those two wandered off outside and left their laptops and their Switch just lying out on the table. I took them and hid them up front with the staff as lost and found. When they came back an hour later they started to realize that their valuables were gone. When they told me about them all I responded with was "Let me get this straight -you left over a thousand dollars of electronics just lying around and left the store?".

One of them responded "No one has ever stolen from me before when I left stuff around!".
"Yeah, no one stole from me when I was a kid either until they started stealing from me". Eventually we 'found' his stuff just in time for their parents to arrive. Neither of them were pleased to learn what their kids were really up to . They were especially displeased about them losing valuables that they didn't have to pay for. I haven't seen those kids since. I was told with laughter by others that what I did was a little harsh. From my point of view it was just right. The philospher Nietzsche said "all great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity." So that's what I did. Everyone from the employees to the parents to the players now know I'm serious about running a quality Pokemon event -and they all appreciate that.

Your results may vary!

 

[AlphaVoxel]

All of the above posts have made some very valuable points to be honest. I guess it's just important to remember that you're basically the one in charge, and you are the one who has to handle situations in most cases. I have quite a few experiences in dealing with unruly or unhappy players, and each time, I (or, depending on the situation, some of the employees) have to handle the situation. A lot of the time, it's just kids getting pissed because nobody is keeping track of the game state at all, and nobody actually uses dice/damage counters to keep track of damage. Occasionally, I have to deal with people upset because someone brought Buzzwole or a Shrine deck to a $5 tournament (this actually annoys me as well), and won the whole thing. The important thing is to just stay calm, and to make sure you know how to deal with things like this.

I don't run things quite as seriously as some of the previous posters, but I do try to run things the bast I can, and I know my players appreciate that. We should be able to run League challenges next month for the first time in well over a year now, which will bring with it some new challenges.