High School National Invite 2019: What You Need To Know

All of the info you need this weekend!

The 2019 High School National Invite is less than 48 hours away! The tournament preview will be out soon, but we wanted to make sure everyone was fully up to speed on the important details of this weekend, whether you’re a player, coach, parent, or fan. Questions? Leave them in the comments and we’ll get them answered.

Here’s what you need to know about the HSNI.

The Basics

Schedule: The schedule is LIVE and is available here.

Field Address: Mercy Health SportScore Two, 8800 E Riverside Blvd, Loves Park, IL 61111

Coaches/Captains’ Meeting: We will be having two coaches/captains meetings since some teams have a first round bye: 8:15 AM for 1st round games, 10:00 AM for 2nd round games.

Spirit Captains’ Meeting: There will be a Spirit Captain’s Meeting immediately after the Captain’s Meeting.  8:25 AM for 1st round games, 10:10 AM for 2nd round games. See the “Spirit of the Game” section below for more information.

Check-In: The complex opens at 7:30 AM on Friday.  There, we will verify with you that your roster and player registrations match and give you your team pack.

Rosters & Waivers: Teams should already have submitted rosters to the HSNI event committee. Players must complete registration and waivers prior to the tournament. The roster of players must match the list of players that have registered for your team.

Messaging & Alerts: 

  1. Phone – If you need immediate assistance at your field or require an athletic trainer, call the tournament director (TD) or find your nearest tournament volunteer and they will pass on the information.  The TD’s phone number can be found on the landing page of the Google Doc Schedule.
  2. GroupMe – We will be using GroupMe as our quick tournament messaging app for the weekend. Download the app to get started!  Invites will be sent out by Friday to the phone numbers given for each team during the online registration. Updates to schedule, food scheduling, and weather delays will be communicated through this method first. Ultiworld will also communicate information via Twitter and possibly website updates.
  3. Email – Will be used to communicate details for the GroupMe notifications if needed.  This will be a slower method of communication
  4. Twitter – Is for supplemental information, competition updates, weekend highlights, etc.  Please do not use this method of communication for reaching out to the tournament staff.

Health & Safety

Athletic Trainers: We will have two to three trainers at the fields on Friday and Saturday. They will be there from one hour before games start through the final round each day. Please get to the fields early if you want to get taped before the games. Athletic trainers have a golf cart so that they can come out to injured players on the field. Call the TD or notify the nearest tournament volunteer if emergency attention is needed.

Hospital: The closest hospital is OSF St. Anthony’s, 5666 E State St, Rockford, IL 61108.

Inclement Weather Information: In the event of a severe storm, participants should seek shelter in their cars or in the SportScore indoor facility near the center of the complex. A blast of 5+ horns signifies a weather emergency. The Tournament Staff will make every attempt to provide as much advance notice as possible if a storm is approaching the area. Coaches should insure that they have their bus driver’s cell phone number (if applicable) so the buses can be summoned quickly.  Updates during a weather delay will be given first via the GroupMe and second via email (also on Ultiworld’s Twitter).  The Google Doc Schedule will be the “MASTER” version of the schedule if changes are needed.

Weather Contingency Plan: There is a possibility for storms this weekend.  If lightning is spotted 30 miles out, we will suspend games preemptively and continue the delay until 30 minutes passes with no lightning. If games are interrupted during the day, we will consider the following in making changes to the schedule:

  • Games may go until 7:30 PM on Friday evening
  • Games may start at 8 AM on Saturday morning
  • Games may be shortened to 75 or 65 minutes & 11 points
  • Time between games may be shortened to 15-20 minutes
  • Pool play or prequarters may be clipped in favor of a straight bracket
  • The last game on Saturday must finish by 7:00 PM so that teams can make flights

Spirit of the Game

Spirit Captains: In a sport that depends on fairness and sportsmanship for quality competition, we take Spirit of the Game very seriously and will help encourage all teams to have great Spirit. Each team needs to elect a “Spirit Captain” for the weekend to make sure their team upholds these values all weekend. 

More notes on SOTG:

  • Winning is important, but not at the cost of sportsmanship and respect for your opponents
  • We will be using WFDF scoring sheets and giving prizes for the #1 spirited team in each division
  • Spirit captains and spirit timeouts: Every team will have a spirit captain. That spirit captain can call spirit timeouts if games get too “chippy.” The teams meet in a circle and discuss the issues and come to a resolution to continue to play with spirit.
  • If any team demonstrates bad spirit, the Tournament Director will talk to the team and give them a warning. If bad spirit persists, repercussions are possible.

Competition

Halftime: 5 minutes.

Hard Cap (Pool & Bracket): Pool & bracket games will be straight to hard cap with no soft cap.  Hard time cap goes on at end of round time on schedule. Game is over at the end of the point in progress, unless tied. If tied, play one more point.

Soft Cap (Finals): There will be no hard cap in the finals; if the game goes to 90 minutes, add two points to the highest score and play to that—you must score to win.

Timeouts: Each team will have one time per half and one floater (for the entire tournament). You can use remaining timeouts in hard cap. Teams DO NOT get an extra timeout in overtime (12-12 in a game to 13, e.g.).

Tie Breakers: If there is a two or three-way tie in pool play, it will be resolved as follows:

  1. Head-to-head between the tied teams.
  2. Point differential between the teams that are tied using only the games in which those teams played each other. For example, if A2, A3 and A4 have equivalent records, you would only use the point differential from A2vA3, A2vA4 and A3vA4. The games against A1 would not count towards the tie breaker.
  3. If point differential is tied between two teams, then you go back to the head-to-head result of those two teams.

Score Reporting: We are trying to have scorekeepers at all the games, but if that is not possible, we will be using paper score & spirit cards.  Turn these in to either a Mailbox or Tournament Volunteer immediately after your game is completed.

Horns:

  • 1 blast – game starts
  • 2 blasts – hard cap / soft cap
  • 5+ blasts – weather emergency, get to shelter immediately

Tournament Amenities

Merchandise: Will be for sale at Tournament Central while supplies last! Any player caught stealing from the merch tent will have their team immediately disqualified from the tournament and will not be invited back in future years.

Saturday Pasta Buffet: After your last game on Saturday from 2:30-5:30pm, head up to the Skybox Grill (inside the building and up the stairs) for a pasta buffet! There will be salad, bread, meat and non-meat pasta, and cookies.

Trade Night: Bring jerseys, shorts, and other ultimate swag to trade on Saturday from 4:30 to 5:30 after games. Hang around TC and show off your wares as people come to pick up their pizza.

Water: Will be easily accessible all weekend. There will be a water station at every field.

Tents & Tables: NEW THIS YEAR, we will have a 10′ x 10′ shade tent and a 4′ table for each team at every field.

Food For Sale: SportScore Two will have concessions for sale out of the PEPSI Trailer at Tournament Central. Expect standard concessions fare like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, snacks, and sports drinks.

Food To Bring: One of the keys to a successful day of ultimate is managing your energy and food intake throughout the day.  We recommend bringing a supply of your own snacks and food to keep your body energized.  Suggestions: fruit, granola bars, nuts, fruit leather, summer sausage, apple sauce, Bugles, Goldfish crackers, trail mix, etc. 

Media

Photography:  Rudy DeSort will be providing Official Tournament Photography all weekend! Nightly highlights will be posted online, with full coverage to follow shortly afterwards.  Follow Rudy on Facebook and Twitter to be the first to know when photos are available.

Reporting & Video: Ultiworld will be reporting, live tweeting, filming (pool play and early bracket play), and streaming (late bracket play) games all weekend! Live games will be available on Ultiworld.com/live and our YouTube channel. Follow them on Twitter (@Ultiworld and @Ultiworldlive) and on Facebook. More info to come.

Twitter Accounts: @Ultiworld, @GLUEulti, @CUTCamps. Follow us on Twitter to get any scores updates and more!

Other

Public Parking: There is plenty of parking at SportScore Two. Please look at the complex map for parking locations.

Dogs: Dogs are allowed on the grass fields at SportScore Two but have to be on a leash. Dogs are not allowed on synthetic turf (showcase field only).

Sponsors: We are excited to have amazing sponsors, including the following (click below to view website for each):

  1. Charlie Eisenhood
    Charlie Eisenhood

    Charlie Eisenhood is the editor-in-chief of Ultiworld. You can reach him by email ([email protected]) or on Twitter (@ceisenhood).

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