High School National Invite 2017: What You Need To Know

The nitty gritty for this weekend.

The inaugural edition of the High School National Invite is presented by Spin Ultimate.

The 2017 High School National Invite is less than 48 hours away! The tournament preview will be out later today or tomorrow, 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, 10:15 AM for 2nd round games.

Spirit Captain’s Meeting: There will be a Spirit Captain’s Meeting immediately after the Captain’s Meeting. 8:25 AM for 1st round games, 10:25 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 Saturday. There, we will verify with you that your roster and player registrations match and give you your team pack.

Rosters & Waivers: Teams must submit rosters to the HSNI event committee by Thursday at Noon Central. 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:

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 – 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 GroupMe – We will be using 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, pizza deliveries, and weather delays will be communicated through this method first. Ultiworld will also communicate information 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, pizza deliveries, and weather delays will be communicated through this method first. Ultiworld will also communicate information via Twitter and possibly website updates. Email – Will be used to communicate details for the GroupMe notifications if needed. This will be a slower method of communication 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 trainers at the fields on Saturday and Sunday. They will be there from 7:30 AM through the games 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: Closest hospital is OSF St. Anthony’s, 5666 E State St, Rockford, IL 61108.

Inclement Weather Information: In the event of a severe spring 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 Saturday evening

Games may start at 8 AM on Sunday 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 Sunday must finish by 3:30 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

Game Length: All games are to 13 points and 90 minutes.

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 2 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).

Round Game To Point Cap Hard Cap Soft Cap Timeouts Pool Play 13 15 90 mins - 1/half + 1 floater Bracket Play 13 15 90 mins - 1/half + 1 floater Finals 13 15 - 90 mins 1/half + 1 floater

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

Head-to-head between the tied teams. 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. 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

Instructional Observers: For the semifinals and finals on Sunday, we may have Instructional Observers for the games to encourage spirited play and keep the games moving with respect to time. For more information on what Instructional Observers are and what they do, please read more here.

Tournament Amenities

Merchandise: Spin Ultimate is the official sponsor and merchandise provider of the 2017 High School National Invite and will be selling sweet merchandise all weekend long! 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.

Trade Night: Bring jerseys, shorts, and other ultimate swag to trade on Saturday evening 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 one water station for every two fields.

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

Sponsored Snacks: Muscle Milk, Body Armor, and Clif Bar are sponsoring the tournament with free samples, but supplies are limited

Pizza Party: After your last game on Saturday, stop by Tournament Central to pick up five large 16” pizzas for your team!

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: Mark Olsen from UltiPhotos will be providing Official Tournament Photography all weekend! Nightly highlights will be posted on UltiPhotos, with full coverage to follow shortly afterwards. Like and follow UltiPhotos on Facebook and Twitter for coverage updates.

Ultiworld: Ultiworld will be reporting, live tweeting, filming (pool play and early bracket play), and streaming (finals) games all weekend! Follow them on twitter @ulti_world 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):