A highly anticipated lacrosse game between perennial power Hudson and a very good Solon squad was being held Friday night at Solon's stadium at 7 PM with the JV match beginning at 5 PM. A large crowd was expected on a beautiful Spring night. We had two off duty officers, one from Solon and one from Glen Willow along with the Athletic Director and two support staff members to handle crowd control and other situations that might occur.
The JV match ended with Solon being victorious over Hudson. The crowd for the varsity game was a little late but that was expected. By the beginning of the game, there was a line to get in with only one person in the ticket booth and two taking tickets. Mark ran over to help out and while the game begun. Some small minor incidents occurred such as some Hudson students attempted to jump the far fence to sneak into the game. Their attempts failed while one of the support staff members guided the kids to the ticket booth to purchase entry into the match. Another situation occurred when the Solon baseball players arrived from their away game and tried to stay on the opposite side of the stadium which was closed off. Mark guided them back to their the appropriate side and order was restored. The game went back and forth up to 6 minutes left in game with Solon leading 9 to 7. Then in a burst of scoring, Hudson scored 6 goals to end the game winning 16 to 9.
Crowd control was in place with the fans, parents and students being allowed to greet the Solon players after the Hudson team left the field and headed into the locker room. The Solon kids were consoled and everyone seemed to linger around on the track. Finally, one of the off duty police officers shouted and instructed everyone to leave the stadium. They quickly dispersed the area and the support staff entered into the AD's office. The financial take for the game was over $2,100 which was considered an excellent gate.
From my observations, crowd control, financial accounting, event planning and public relations are only some of the skills necessary for an Athletic Director to perform the task at hand.
The JV match ended with Solon being victorious over Hudson. The crowd for the varsity game was a little late but that was expected. By the beginning of the game, there was a line to get in with only one person in the ticket booth and two taking tickets. Mark ran over to help out and while the game begun. Some small minor incidents occurred such as some Hudson students attempted to jump the far fence to sneak into the game. Their attempts failed while one of the support staff members guided the kids to the ticket booth to purchase entry into the match. Another situation occurred when the Solon baseball players arrived from their away game and tried to stay on the opposite side of the stadium which was closed off. Mark guided them back to their the appropriate side and order was restored. The game went back and forth up to 6 minutes left in game with Solon leading 9 to 7. Then in a burst of scoring, Hudson scored 6 goals to end the game winning 16 to 9.
Crowd control was in place with the fans, parents and students being allowed to greet the Solon players after the Hudson team left the field and headed into the locker room. The Solon kids were consoled and everyone seemed to linger around on the track. Finally, one of the off duty police officers shouted and instructed everyone to leave the stadium. They quickly dispersed the area and the support staff entered into the AD's office. The financial take for the game was over $2,100 which was considered an excellent gate.
From my observations, crowd control, financial accounting, event planning and public relations are only some of the skills necessary for an Athletic Director to perform the task at hand.