Problems

[yraparla]

What about banning team members from drinking alcohol at the official hotel (parking lot, lobby, hallways, rooms) ?...If teams need to drink alcohol they could drink it at the after party or get their own rooms in another hotel...

This would be wildly unpopular and unenforceable but would also be a strong, strong message to teams. Weekends are fun, but not spring break.

You can't prevent a team from drinking in a room they paid for...but you could hold them to the contract that states they can't drink in a room that is booked in the competitions name/rate. Deposits are the best option (and this is how Boston operates). Hotels might get angry, but give them hundreds of dollars for cleanup/trouble and you'd be surprised how much they let slide. Above all, being transparent and working with the hotel is the best option

 

[Bhangra Idols]

Mostly every competition has had teams that have caused problems at the hotels, but it makes you think, why do they have the need to cause those problems? What if they used that energy in a more positive way, such as thinking, hey, we're staying here at the Hilton, lets be mature, encourage other teams to do the same, and maybe before we leave we could ask the manager on how we could apply for sponsorship from Hilton Hotels, so we could potentially stay & dine at no cost here (next time) or another city. Once a team has 1 corporate backing, then sky's the limit. Teams who are reading this, you all need to look at the bigger picture...cause problems and eventually lose it all, or be ladies and gentlemen and build an empire.

 

[JaneN]

Mostly every competition has had teams that have caused problems at the hotels, but it makes you think, why do they have the need to cause those problems? What if they used that energy in a more positive way, such as thinking, hey, we're staying here at the Hilton, lets be mature, encourage other teams to do the same, and maybe before we leave we could ask the manager on how we could apply for sponsorship from Hilton Hotels, so we could potentially stay & dine at no cost here (next time) or another city. Once a team has 1 corporate backing, then sky's the limit. Teams who are reading this, you all need to look at the bigger picture...cause problems and eventually lose it all, or be ladies and gentlemen and build an empire.

+1

Great thread…the behavior of teams has been an issue for YEARS. Disciplining teams by identifying them and not accepting them into a competition may be a solution for a particular team, but what about a team that hasn’t had a history, but engaged in inappropriate behavior after the fact? Yes, the point is that you learn from that disciplinary action that other teams are getting which in theory should deter the next team from engaging in such behaviors, but what if it that doesn’t work? You will then be left exactly where you started.

My personal opinion is that prevention of inappropriate behaviors will be most successful if ownership is taken by the team as a whole.
1. If you’re a team captain/coach enforce a no tolerance policy within your own team (why should a competition have to do this? We are all grown adults and should not be engaging in such behaviors in the first place).
2. Decide on disciplinary action as a team so that everyone clearly understands the repercussions before they engage in such behaviors.
3. Enforce that all individuals on the team are responsible for stopping escalating behaviors of their teammates and not just team captains.
4. What can an organizer do? Follow up on the above with teams (ie: 10 minute full team meeting) when they arrive at competitions, so that there is clear communication with not just the team captain but every member of the team so that everyone is on the same page.

 

[vmural2]

I can see the benefits (and agree with) the idea of holding a certain team accountable/ calling them out publicly / blacklisting them from future comps. Although if that were to happen, what would be the course of action if certain members of that team re-branded themselves under a different team name, switched up their roster a little bit and came back to the same comp?

 

[itsG]

I can see the benefits (and agree with) the idea of holding a certain team accountable/ calling them out publicly / blacklisting them from future comps. Although if that were to happen, what would be the course of action if certain members of that team re-branded themselves under a different team name, switched up their roster a little bit and came back to the same comp?

I don't see that being a huge issue because after going through that once the said team should have some fear of consequences. And word goes around, how long would they possibly be able to pull that off without anyone knowing that a said individual is now dancing on a new team? With the amount of activity that BTF gets I doubt that issue will be too big, and possibly re-branding might work in their favor and the team will carry themselves better next time around.

 

[JaneN]

The last two posts identify the same issue: which is “said individual/certain members” that have created problems.

I feel that it shouldn’t be a competition organizers job to ban a team from a competition…rather, it should be the team’s responsibility (whether captain/coach/veteran dancer/brand new dancer) to speak up and REMOVE that individual from their team so that the behavior is not displayed period and continue to enforce it strictly.

I’m not a big advocate for banning teams because there are teams out there that have caused problems at competitions but at the same time are such talented and amazing teams that have advanced Bhangra as a whole. So I feel that banning a team with such high caliber just hurts the entire community, especially based on just one individual. If we take time to prevent the behavior we won’t need to ban teams Just my opinion.

 

[Bhangra Idols]

What are the reasons of giving awards to teams?

 

[rajiv0224]

The last two posts identify the same issue: which is “said individual/certain members” that have created problems.

I feel that it shouldn’t be a competition organizers job to ban a team from a competition…rather, it should be the team’s responsibility (whether captain/coach/veteran dancer/brand new dancer) to speak up and REMOVE that individual from their team so that the behavior is not displayed period and continue to enforce it strictly.

I’m not a big advocate for banning teams because there are teams out there that have caused problems at competitions but at the same time are such talented and amazing teams that have advanced Bhangra as a whole. So I feel that banning a team with such high caliber just hurts the entire community, especially based on just one individual. If we take time to prevent the behavior we won’t need to ban teams Just my opinion.

I'm gonna disagree here. So someone can be super talented and be a total d-bag with a complete disregard for sportsmanship...and its ok just because they are talented or on a super talented team?


If they are causing problems, ban the team for a given period of time and let them learn their lesson. That should be enough incentive for individuals to display good sportsmanship. If they still cause problems, then it just shows that they must not really have their team as a high priority...then the captains have only themselves to blame for not removing them earlier.


Bottom line: sportsmanship is more important than talent. And besides, there are enough talented dancers/teams on the circuit who display good sportsmanship that banning a few bad apples for a year or two isn't that big of a deal.

 

[sgrewal30]

Leave it to the hotels to decide what they do. And if it makes you look bad, then don't reserve rooms for teams. Clearly they don't deserve the hospitality. Singling specific teams out just seems cruel and unnecessary to me. Same for singling out individuals. If a team does something wrong, just don't accept them the next year. There are plenty of other comps they can go to to redeem themselves if they feel the need to. Banning together like a btf mob to punish them or blacklist them just seems childish. The more serious you try to make this and the more punishments and rules you put on teams, the less people will remember why they started doing this in the first place. In my opinion this whole thread is a little unnecessary and a prestigious competition like idols should just ask other competition committees in private rather than making a whole thread that can easily just lead to bashing individual teams by page 4 or 5... But I hope it all works out.

 

[Bhangra Idols]

Whether the competition organization reserves the rooms for the teams or not, any member staying at a hotel due to being a participant at the competition is still representing them self in whole or part of that organization.

This thread was started to get feedback from the members of this forum of basically-how can hotel problems be prevented in the future?

Also, we have personally contacted other competition organizers and directed them to this thread for them to be aware and maybe implement some of these points so they can also prevent their own hotel problems. Any information is better than no information, and if we don't address and fix the problems at hand, then even a small hole can sink a big ship.

 

[sgrewal30]

Whether the competition organization reserves the rooms for the teams or not, any member staying at a hotel due to being a participant at the competition is still representing them self in whole or part of that organization.

Then the best bet would be to not invite that team back or accept them if they apply again. Because you're right, they're gonna be representing your competition so there really isn't anything you CAN do. I mean if a team can't appreciate what you're doing for them, then you shouldn't waste your competition's hard earned money to be so hospitable. Just don't accept them. You can't change the way people act, especially if their excuse is being "drunk". I'm sorry but I've never thought that to be an excuse for ANYTHING. You can't stop them from drinking, you can't stop anyone from acting like they were raised by wild animals, you can just make sure you're not held accountable for any of it.

It's not just embarrassing for competitions, it's embarrassing for other teams too. I think there have been 2 times that I've left the morning of a comp with my team and everyone was just ashamed because they knew when the other guests showed up during check out the fingers would be pointed at us and anyone else on a team because we all look alike and were from the same event. But I still think that if this topic is going to be discussed everyone should try to make sure they don't start pointing fingers at any specific teams.

I agree with JaneN, "If we take time to prevent the behavior we won’t need to ban teams..." and with everything swi said. You can't control what a team does, they are your responsibility until the show ends, after that you're no longer in control of anything. You can't stop them from drinking, acting like fools, trashing a place, etc.

It's simple, if you don't like it, don't accept them. There isn't a single team that could get away with trashing every comp they go to and still come out of it with a good reputation.