My suggestion for trackwrestling tournaments. Have blank bout sheets at the tables - just in case the computers go down. Each table should have a match numbered offical bracket for each weight on their table.
The old fashion way does not need electricity, cables, modems. I like the track system - it just needs a paper and pencil back up plan at every tourmament. A stack of 50 blank bout sheets on each table can keep the tournament running without delay.
I know this is a bit off topic at this point of the discussion, but this quote was brought up in this post to which I am offering my $.02.
Derby ran our tournament with blank bout sheets at the tables to keep the tournament running smoothly back in December. In retrospect it was a decision that I, as the tournament director, decided to make to help things run smoother and I believe that it did just that. The only problem with it is the HUGE headache I had afterwards entering all of the blank bout sheets into the trackwrestling system since my data-entry people were not accustomed to having to think through a bracket to make sure everything is entered properly. It took me several days to find and make sure I had each and every bout sheet entered into trackwrestling correctly.
On the flip side of that with the Kansas Novice Championships, I employed a different approach. I placed 2 computers with internet access in the main gym at the head table, one to enter all bout sheets from that gym and one to print off bout sheets for that gym as they came up. Had only a few glitches in the system (mainly due to operator error in entering bout sheets). And we had another setup similar for the Aux gym in a classroom close-by. Only on the larger brackets (32 man) did we really have to wait for bout sheets at the table for no more than 5 minutes. If the manpower and resources are available, I believe that this is the way Trackwrestling is supposed to work.
