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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Front & Center: For Hoopfest’s Chad Smith, weekend tournament is a year-round gig

Chad Smith has been operations manager at the nonprofit Spokane Hoopfest Association since 2001. (DAN PELLE/The Spokesman-Review)
By Michael Guilfoil For The Spokesman-Review

Supervising games on the 422 temporary basketball courts blanketing downtown during Hoopfest weekend is so rewarding that more than half of this year’s 650 monitors are returnees.

They love the players’ passion and the joy of giving back to the community (not to mention the free Nike shoes, shorts, T’s and caps).

But one thing they could do without: rude parents.

“One former monitor jokingly told me he will come back to Hoopfest when I can promise him a bracket of orphans,” said Chad Smith, operations manager at the nonprofit Spokane Hoopfest Association.

There won’t be any all-orphan brackets when the world’s largest three-on-three basketball tournament begins June 24.

But a new rule this year will allow court monitors to assess a one-point penalty against any team whose fans – parents or otherwise – behave in a manner deemed offensive, aggressive or abusive.

During a recent interview, Smith discussed 20-hour workdays, rising hotel room rates and popular excuses volunteers give for not showing up.

S-R: Where were you raised?

Smith: I was born at Fairchild Air Force Base, but we moved around like a typical military family. I grew up primarily in Wenatchee, where I graduated from high school.

S-R: Any special interests?

Smith: I loved playing baseball.

S-R: What was your first job?

Smith: After my dad retired from the Air Force, he started a lawn-care business. Mowing lawns 12 hours a day when I was 13, I quickly went from a stick kid to having some muscles.

S-R: What did you do after high school?

Smith: I played baseball for a junior college in Walla Walla. After two years there, I came back to Spokane in 1993 and graduated from Eastern Washington.

S-R: What was your major?

Smith: Radio and TV broadcasting. If I couldn’t play, I was going to be a baseball announcer. But broadcast jobs are rare. So when a buddy told me the Spokane Indians were hiring, I applied and worked game days as an usher. After interning that next winter with the Spokane Chiefs, I was hired full time by the Indians in ’95 as director of stadium operations and did that until the fall of 2001.

S-R: What brought you to the Hoopfest organization?

Smith: Directing stadium operations can be all-consuming. I was the first one there and the last to leave, sometimes working from 5 in the morning until 1 the next morning, eight days in a row. When my wife saw an ad in the newspaper for Hoopfest operations manager, I applied and got the job.

S-R: What are your responsibilities?

Smith: A little bit of everything – we all do a lot. But when I took the job, we were having problems with attrition, so I’ve always focused on recruiting and training responsible volunteers, and trying to keep them coming back. We also run a three-on-three tournament for MGM in Las Vegas in September, and Spokane’s AAU (fourth through eighth grade) basketball program from November through February. And we have a four-week program in partnership with District 81 called Ignite Basketball. It’s a Saturday night three-on-three league for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in lower-income neighborhoods.

S-R: You switched careers partly because of the hours. Do you still have long days?

Smith: Yes, but at least now my 20-hour days are limited to one week a year.

S-R: How has Hoopfest evolved since you arrived?

Smith: For starters, we’ve gone from teams filling out forms by hand to now 99 percent of everything done online. We’ve added more relief monitors, and almost doubled the number of marshals, who oversee eight to 10 courts each. We also have rapid-response teams – undercover or off-duty police officers and EMTs – who help manage unruly fans and medical issues.

S-R: Anything else?

Smith: I’m really proud of our monitor training. We don’t spend much time discussing fouls and travel calls. It’s more about how to deal with people issues using what we call “verbal judo” – using the fans’ energy to help defuse situations.

S-R: Has the tournament’s size fluctuated?

Smith: Yes. When I started, we had around 6,000 teams and gradually grew to just over 7,000. Now we’ve leveled off back at 6,000.

S-R: What are Hoopfest’s main sources of income?

Smith: Sixty percent of our revenue comes from entry fees, the other 40 percent from sponsors.

S-R: Last week, your organization asked the city to cap the amount of police and firefighter overtime you pay at $67,000. Is Hoopfest’s future jeopardized by rising expenses?

Smith: Absolutely. Another thing hurting us is the fact that hotel rates can double or triple during Hoopfest weekend. Last year, we had entries from 41 states and Canada, but rising room rates discourage out-of-town teams from participating.

S-R: Did the recession impact Hoopfest?

Smith: Actually, those were some of our better years. We feel like we have an affordable product. Entry fees range from $120 (for youths) to $180 (elite), split four ways.

S-R: Do you have what you might call a business philosophy?

Smith: I try to treat our volunteers like I’m working for them instead of the other way around.

S-R: What do you like most about your job?

Smith: The number of people I’ve met doing this for 16 years – many of them now friends.

S-R: What do you like least?

Smith: The fact that we haven’t solved the problem of parents badgering our volunteers.

S-R: What are you most proud of?

Smith: The level of support we give monitors throughout the weekend and changes we’ve made in check-in procedures. When I started, 20 percent of the people who signed up to monitor just took the gear and left. That’s now down to about 1 percent.

S-R: What excuses have monitors given for not showing up?

Smith: No. 1: “I lost my shoes.” No. 2: “My dad took my car.” And No. 3: “Hoopfest is this weekend?” And although I’m not a cold person, I’ve heard the excuse that a relative died so often that I almost expect to open the newspaper the Monday after Hoopfest and find it filled with nothing but obits.

S-R: What has this job taught you about yourself?

Smith: Soon after starting out, I told my wife I thought I was in over my head. But things got better once I settled into a routine and surrounded myself with really good co-workers.

S-R: What’s a common misperception about Hoopfest?

Smith: When I tell people what I do, they usually ask, “What do you do the rest of the year?” I assure them I’m here 12 months a year.

S-R: Can people still sign up to monitor during this year’s Hoopfest?

Smith: Yes. We could use about 100 more.

S-R: Do they need officiating experience?

Smith: No. They just need to keep time, fill out some bracket sheets and be willing to step in and arbitrate if things are getting out of hand. We mainly want people who enjoy being around other people.

S-R: Which courts do monitors prefer?

Smith: Anywhere there’s shade. I get that all the time.

S-R: Clever team names are a Hoopfest staple. What have you seen so far?

Smith: One of the staff’s favorites is “Radioactive Unicorns.”

S-R: What’s your greatest virtue?

Smith: I’ve only taken one sick day in 22 years.

S-R: What, if anything, would you change about yourself?

Smith: I’d be more patient.

S-R: What’s at the top of your bucket list?

Smith: I want to get to Wrigley Field. I’m a huge Cubs fan.

S-R: Do you still imagine yourself announcing baseball games?

Smith: No, I don’t have the pipes for it anymore. (laugh)

Writer Michael Guilfoil can be contacted at mguilfoil@comcast.net.