Tournament threads die in logistics. Someone finds a hotel. Someone else finds a cheaper hotel. A parent asks about dietary needs. The actual decision — go or do not go — never gets a sentence of its own.
Write the go / no-go first. Dates. Cost. Whose money. What you will do if the answer is no. Then ask one person who can own the outcome.
Facts a cold coach can use
Event name. City. Start and end dates, including the travel days. Number of people. The number you are asking them to approve, and whether that is club funds, a department code, or families paying their own way. Respect their time: if a figure is a quote, say so; if it is a guess, label the assumption.
Do not walk them through every van you priced. Do not paste the assistant's comparison table into the note. Give the option you recommend and the one you rejected, each with a reason in a line.
Write it as if they have not thought about this trip in weeks. They probably have not.
One owner, one closed ask
Ask for a decision: go on these dates at this cost, or no-go. If you need a third option — go without the exhibition game — put it on the list. Do not hide it in a paragraph.
A sufficient reply is "go" or "no-go," maybe with a cap. "Go if the total stays under the number in the brief." That is ownership. "Let's keep looking" is a meeting you did not schedule.
Set an honest deadline. Registration closes, or the rooms release, or the bus quote dies. Say what you will do when the date passes: you will decline the tournament, or you will book the cheaper option you already listed. A date without a default is how you miss both.
You approve the send
Draft with your assistant. Read the numbers. Confirm the send. A cost that goes to a coach under your name should be a number you would repeat out loud.
They do not need an account. Email and a link are enough. If they already use RelayLink, you need an accepted contact.
No attachments. The registration page and the quote live where they live. The briefing is the decision.
Nicknames stay private unless you share them. Write the name on the roster.
If they block you, you will not get an explanation. Execute the no-go default you already wrote.
When the trip fits in a briefing they can answer from the parking lot, connect your assistant and ask for the go before the rooms disappear.