This is a detailed coach checklist.

While many of the documents on this site focus on the philosophy of Odyssey of the Mind, this list specifically focuses on the nuts and bolts of the operation. Please don't let those nuts and bolts become everything... but they are an important part of being successful.

Contents:

  1. Required Registrations and Fees
  2. Optional Orders
  3. Beginning of the Year
  4. First Few Meetings
  5. Mid Year
  6. As the Tournament Approaches
  7. At the Tournament
  8. If You Made it to State Tournament
  9. If You Made it to World Finals

Required Registrations and Fees

  • National Membership Registration ($135 per school membership)
    • Do this over the summer or at the beginning of the year.
    • Register online here
  • State Membership Fees ($65 per school membership)
    • You should receive an email from the state board giving you information about the state dues.
    • Pay these by December please. You school contact will receive an email from the state treasurer and they may be paid on the state site. If you have any questions, please contact the state treasurer Lisa Heutmaker
  • Regional Tournament Registration ($60 per team of kids)
    • Register for the tournament in January and make sure to pay by the due date listed on our tournament page.
    • Register online. Instructions are here
    • Pay online here
  • Judges Registration
    • You must find a judge for each team you are sending to the tournament.
    • Judges will be busy all day. They will not be able to see their associated team compete.
    • The judge must register on the national site. Instructions are available here.

Optional Orders

  • National Problem Pins
    • Order online from the national site.
  • Regional T-Shirts
    • Order by early January. Order online here
  • State Pins
    • Order info is given to teams advancing to state.

Beginning of the Year

  1. Read the program guide on the national site. It changes every year.
  2. Team members, and parents are welcome to join our Yahoo group. Official communications are sent, and archived, on this group.
  3. Coaches MUST join our Yahoo group. If you do not join, you will be missing critical communications. This is absolutely REQUIRED.
  4. Talk with the school administration to let them know the program is happening. Obtain their support for the program.
  5. Find someone to coach.
  6. Advertise to the students. Possible suggestions include flyers and posters. Word of mouth is often highly effective.
  7. Meet with parents. Hold a mandatory meeting at the beginning of the season. Be sure to stress the outside assistance rules. (The simplest parent rule is: Parents may not discuss the problem solution with the team at all.)
  8. Stress to everyone, parents and team members, that the team must provide a judge for the tournament. This is critical, plan ahead!

First Few Meetings

  1. Did you read the program guide on the national site? If not, do so. Encourage your team to do so as well. (You will also receive a copy of the program guide with your registration packet.) Assign a section of the program guide to each member of the team. (Spontaneous, Style, Long Term, First Half of Rules, Second Half of Rules, etc...)
  2. Talk about teamwork and do a few teamwork activities.
  3. Encourage team members to join our Yahoo group. Official communications are sent, and archived, on this group. The group is moderated, so volume is low.
  4. Talk about outside assistance. Tell the team not to discuss the problem with their parents. Read What is outside assistance? with the team.
  5. Talk about budgeting and cost. Stress that nobody should buy anything without checking with their team members.
  6. Stress that attendance at all meetings is very important.
  7. Explain the rules of spontaneous and practice some.
  8. Talk about the problems they can choose. Let the team read the full problem description, not just the synopsis.
  9. Once the problem is chosen, everyone should get a copy and averyone should read it from front to back.
  10. Let the team know they will need a judge for the tournament. This shouldn't be a parent as judges don't get to see their own children perform. Team members should starting asking teachers and adult friends.
  11. Teach creativity
    • Yes, it can be taught. Always encourage the team to think outside the box!
  12. Talk about style

Mid Year

  1. Did you pay your state dues?
    • (You should receive an email form the state association. If not, ask Paula Privitt (paula@privitt.com).
  2. Did you set a hard deadline for completion about one month before tournament?
    • Try to make this a demonstration to the student's peers... that adds an incentive to get done early and makes a huge difference.
  3. Make sure you're keeping up with the clarifications for your problem.
  4. Does the team have a judge yet? This shouldn't be a parent as judges don't get to see their own children perform. Time is running out for this, better find one quickly.
  5. The team should start working on their style form now. It's a big part of their solution.
  6. Every coach and team member should be assigned to read the entire problem again. It is easy to miss something critical.
  7. We generally hold a spontaneous day. Information will be on the Yahoo group.

As the Tournament Approaches

  1. Make sure the coach, team and parents are on the Yahoo group. Pre-tournament announcements come out to this group only.
  2. Make sure your judge registered for the tournament. Instructions are available here.
  3. Ask your team if they want to make a team team T-Shirt.
    • Have them design it.
  4. Register for the regional tournament.
    • Register in January
    • Register online. Instructions are here
    • Pay online here
  5. Ask your team if they want to order regional T-Shirts and Pins.
    • If so, be sure to get the pre-order in on time (Pre-ordering gives a significant savings.)
    • Pre-order here
    • If you miss the pre-order, you can still get them the day of the tournament, but quantities may be limited.
  6. Assign a parent to make sure lunch and snacks are available on tournament day.
    • We may also have food available for purchase at the tournament.
  7. Hold a mandatory pre-tournament meeting with parents. Be sure to discuss:
    • Outside assistance
    • Everyone is a winner
    • Arrival time (Early!) and departure time (Late - after awards ceremony)
    • Be sure to congratulate your kids (We mean real congratulations, not "It's okay honey")
    • Be thankful and appreciative of every official. Everyone running the tournament is a volunteer.
  8. Give a letter to parents (We have a sample letter online). Note that this does not replace the mandatory meeting above.
  9. Go through the 20 questions list with your team. This is important!
  10. Assign a parent to plan a post-tournament celebration sometime the week after the tournament.

At the Tournament

  1. Make sure you bring the following in a folder for each team. Be sure to keep extra copies for yourself.
    • 1 copy of the membership card
    • 4 copies of the style form
    • 4 copies of any list as described in section B and H in your problem
    • 1 copy of the material values form, filled out as specified in the program guide
    • 1 copy of the outside assistance form, signed by everyone
    • optional: any team specific clarification
  2. Bring a repair kit with tape and any tools the team may need to make repairs.
  3. Be sure that your team has everything listed in section H "The team must provide" of the problem.

If you Made it to State Tournament

  1. What you need to do right now (Immediately!)
    1. Congratulate the team! (and the coach!)
    2. Make hotel reservations for the Friday night before the tournament and the Saturday night of the tournament.
      • The tournament starts early and the awards run late. We strongly advise a hotel for both Friday and Saturday night.
  2. What you need to do soon
    1. Plan how to ge the team and props to the tournament.
    2. Schedule practices between now and the tournament.
      • Continue to practice your solution, and make improvements, based on your scores from the regional tournament.
      • Teams are allowed to change any aspect of the solution. This is your opportunity to improve upon the work you've already done. You can use your scores to guide this as well.
    3. Register your team via the "Member Area" at http://www.odysseyofthemind.com
      • If you have special schedule requests, be sure to put them in the appropriate box when you register.
    4. Be sure to use those score sheets to improve your solution!
    5. Visit the state website at http://www.calomer.org for news of the tournament and keep up with our news page. Be sure to refresh both pages to make sure you have the most up to date information.
    6. We will continue to post updates on the Yahoo group.
    7. If you want to order pins, be sure to send them in by the deadline. Pin trading helps students to meet others. See the pin order form handed out to advancing teams..
  3. Make sure you bring the following in a folder for each team. Be sure to keep extra copies for yourself.
      • 1 copy of the membership card
      • 4 copies of the style form
      • 4 copies of any list as described in section B and H in your problem
      • 1 copy of the material values form, filled out as specified in the program guide
      • 1 copy of the outside assistance form, signed by everyone
      • optional: any team specific clarification
      • Also needed for CA State Tournament: 1 copy of the media release, signed and filled out. Even if some parents don't want to sign it, you should fill it out for the rest of the team and bring it to the tournament.

If you Made it to World Finals

  1. What you need to do right now (Immediately!)
    1. Congratulate the team! (and the coach!)
  2. What you need to do soon
    1. Plan how you are going to pay.
    2. Plan how to get the team and props to the tournament.
    3. Schedule practices between now and the tournament.
      • Continue to practice your solution, and make improvements, based on your scores from the state tournament.
      • Teams are allowed to change any aspect of the solution. This is your opportunity to improve upon the work you've already done. You can use your scores to guide this as well.
    4. Register your team. World finals registration instructions are given at the meeting after State.
    5. Be sure to use those score sheets to improve your solution!
    6. Visit the world finals website news of the tournament.
    7. If we can help in any way, please contact us.
    8. Order pins. I cannot stress enough that pins are a big part of World Finals. Order them!
    9. Consider being a host to an international team. It is a wonderful experience for your team, something that shouldn't be missed.
    10. Please make sure that parents understand the following:
      • World Finals is setup for the teams. A lot of what happens there may not be all that interesting to parents.
      • Tickets for the award ceremony are sometimes hard to get. Be sure to get them as early as they are available.
    11. When going to World Finals, consider the following questions:
      • How are you going to manage your team? We suggest keeping them together as a group (builds team cohesion).
      • Which long term presentations are you going to watch?
      • When are you going to unpack your materials? Something may have broken, do this ahead of time.
      • When are you going to practice.
      • Where are parents going to stay? Get reservations early. We suggest that teams stay in the dorms at the event, this is a much more positive experience.
  3. Make sure you bring the following in a folder for each team. Be sure to keep extra copies for yourself.
      • 1 copy of the membership card
      • 4 copies of the style form
      • 4 copies of any list as described in section B and H in your problem
      • 1 copy of the material values form, filled out as specified in the program guide
      • 1 copy of the outside assistance form, signed by everyone
      • optional: any team specific clarification