Waterbearing Basics-Guideline for a Week-End/One Day Event

Waterbearer’s Kit

Duct tape
Bottle of steramine tablets
Multi-purpose knife {Swiss Army Knife or Leatherman Tool}
Three big plastic bowls
Long-handled stirring spoon/paddle
Paper towels {Box-of-Rags, from Home Depot or Lowe’s is best}
Garbage bags
Pop-tops
One & Two liter soda-pop bottles
Funnel
Two heavy-duty black markers
Sunscreen {especially if YOU need it}
If you are doing food-prep.-cutting up pickles & oranges & such, you may wish to pick-up Saran-Wrap brand disposable cutting sheets, and a box of medical grade rubber gloves-most CostCO/BJ’s/Sam’s Club places carry these cheaply.

Two BIG things to remember:
No knives or glass on the Field.
The Marshals are in Charge-you can remind them of the waterbearers, but don’t start arguments with them, please. If you have issues with the way they are acting, document the incident and send it to me-it is my job to deal with this.

The Site Staff should be able to provide help in running coolers to the various WBPoints.

What the Site Staff should provide:

Gatorade: powdered or bottles {Remind them-no red or clear}
Drink coolers {these are the big silver or orange round coolers for liquid}
Water {if using bottled water}
Cups
Garbage bags
One and two liter bottles {they might consider putting out a call for donations of bottles in the Event Announcement-again, bottles donated should be rinsed out, with caps/labels/neck-rings removed}.
Hoses {if possible}, hopefully long enough to reach to the WBPoint {clean hoses are good}
Possibly pickles/oranges/pretzels/etc…these can be sent out on trays or bowls

See what areas you are responsible for-
Usual is archery/thrown weapons/rapier/youth/heavy weapons

Set-up for an Event

Find out how many large drink coolers are available, or if preferred use is bottled water & Gatorade, how much the Staff is willing to provide/budget for-they should have bought these supplies by the Friday of the event, especially if it is a week-end event.

If they have coolers, try to have at least one water each at archery and thrown weapons {some sites will put these two in the same area}. Two coolers each {1W/1G} for youth, rapier, & heavy weapons. If it is a small field {tourney style, rather than melee} then the use of paper cups may be easier.

For the heavy weapon field, you will need to set up a WB Station. If possible, try to get a hose run to this point. A table is also necessary, as a place to work, & to hold the coolers. If you are using pop-bottles, make sure they have been rinsed out, with labels, caps, & plastic neck-rings removed. Clear bottles for Gatorade, coloured bottles for water-ONLY. Any bottles used for Gatorade should be marked {a piece of duct tape will do-as there are folk who are allergic to Gatorade-even if it is just residue}.

Set up the three bowls; water-steramine-water; pop-tops go in the first water for a quick rinse, then sit for five minutes in the solution, then rinsed in the last water {I have two blue & one white plastic bowls-blue for water, white for steramine} before being used again. Depending on the size of the bowl, two tablets of Steramine should be enough-crush them before putting them in, to make mixing them easier. Every time a bottle comes back to the WBPoint, the pop-top should be removed & rinsed.

Using powdered Gatorade: We do not use red or clear Gatorade. Usual mix is ten scoops per large drink cooler {5 gallon}-easiest way {if no mixing spoon available-sometimes you can borrow one from the kitchen} is to fill the cooler up about 1/3, put in the Gatorade, & either mix with a smaller utensil, or put the cap tightly on and shake well. Then continue filling cooler. Always make sure which coolers are water/Gatorade-again, labeling with duct tape helps. You can add one or two scoops to the cooler if the mix seems weak.

Garbage bags & paper cups or bottles should go out to all points.

Rapier/archery/thrown weapons

Usually, with these points, as long as you make sure that their water {& Gatorade, if possible} cooler is kept full, with a goodly supply of cups {& garbage bags}, they should do OK. Just remember to check on them, to make sure that they have not run out.

Volunteers:

We can accept help of any age-here are some guidelines:
Closed-toe shoes ONLY for on the Field-though you may use some discretion depending on the shoes-in-question. Safety is the issue here-can the person safely run in these shoes? If a fighter should step on their feet {it happens!}-how badly might they be hurt?
Always check shoes!
18 & over: May go on the Field
17 & under: May serve around the perimeters of the Field, may serve Youth Combat.
10 & under: should have a parent with them-we are not a babysitting service.
The 17 & under group are wonderful for keeping bottles filled, & picking up cups & garbage. Allowing them to help with rinsing is up to your discretion: the steramine is a chemical solution, and though there is not extreme contact with it, one should always be careful with children.

Picking up after the fighting is done:

Have all the coolers brought back & rinsed out-if possible, leave them upside-down, open, on a table to dry out.

Throw out bottles, and rinse out pop-tops & bowls for use at the next event. When you get home, you may wish to rinse them again, and take them apart to dry thoroughly, before putting them away. Mold on plastic is bad-any that get moldy should be thrown out.

Make sure you get any personal equipment back.

Make sure the hose is turned off!

Any borrowed supplies, return to their owners.

Police the area, to make sure no garbage is left {try to get help with cleaning up the fighting areas}. For some reason, clean-up of the Field is left to us-it may be possible to change this attitude-something to work on.

Always make sure to thank your volunteers; if possible, might try to carry some type of small item to give out as a “Thank-you”-folk do appreciate these gestures!

Last modified: April 1, 2008