Dressing Room Policy
Please remember that the departing team is obligated to leave the dressing room in the same condition they would expect it to be in for their next game. This is a large tournament and arena staff cannot clean every dressing room after every game. No team wants to prepare for a game with their dressing room littered with debris and the floor sticky or flooded with liquid, be it from from water taps, bottles, soft drinks or bottled water left by the previous team. In every room there is an extremely large garbage receptacle. We do not consider it an unusual request to expect all coaches to instruct their players to place any discarded tape, water bottles, candy wrappers and items of that nature into the garbage bin.
Therefore, we require a responsible adult be present at all times in the team dressing room before and after games. No children are to be left unsupervised in the dressing rooms under any circumstances, or for any reason. When teams register at the tournament they will be informed of our dressing room policy. The team manager will be designated as responsible for supervising the team and inspecting the dressing room after everyone departs. A tournament official wearing a Silver Stick jacket or sweater will also be making a physical inspection after most, if not, all of your games to determine if the room you are leaving is in reasonable condition for the next team to use.
We have noticed a marked increase the past few years with dressing room vandalism. At every tournament, there are a few teams (very small minority) who render the dressing room unusable for the next team with wet floors, broken glass, littering, overflowing or plugged plumbing fixtures, and soil of all manner on the floors and walls. Every investigation revealed the children were left in the dressing room alone without adult supervision.
The Whitby Silver Stick Tournament will deal with any offending team in an appropriate manner proportionate to the nature of the vandalism, and, in some instances the team will also be presented with an invoice payable to the Iroquois Park Arena (Town of Whitby) for cleaning of the dressing room floors and walls or repair of any physical damage. A report will also be submitted to the team's home association for further disciplinary action.