Regional Coordinators - Official Resources

Sebastian Pękala
Level 3, Poland

Sebastian Pękala is the Regional Coordinator Leader, providing leadership, insight on the challenges for the Regional Coordinators, and coordination of the global efforts of this group’s goals and tasks.

Regional Coordinators lead the region they are responsible for. They coordinate judges, help with staffing events and serve as a bridge between judges, organizers, and players. They are usually the first point of contact for any judge related matter.

The Regions

To contact a Regional Coordinator, please use the Contact a Regional Coordinator form.

Tasks of Regional Coordinators

Provide an in-region judge whom other judges can contact for questions about the Judge Program.
Provide a regional resource for organizers and distributors seeking judges for events.
Provide the region with a spokesperson to the Judge Program leadership.
Provide a leader whom the Judge Program can use to communicate with judges in the region.
Provide assistance to Wizards of the Coast or distributor representatives for major tournaments within their area.
Be involved in player investigations in their region.
Be consulted on serious matters regarding judges in their area.
Be consulted about sponsorship of deserving in-region judges.
Provide support for major events and conferences.
Assist in recognition of judge efforts in their region.
Help Level 1 judges gain experience and skill to advance to Level 2.
Report on major events in their region.
Be involved in the certification process during Grand Prix.
Mediate and help in conflicts in their region involving judges and/or Tournament Organizers.
Foster acquisition of new Level 1 judges.
Cooperate and coordinate tasks with Level 3s in their region.
Provide assistance with the Level 3 Advancement process by evaluating the self-reviews provided by Level 3 candidates, and creating Level 3 Assessment Exams.

Qualities of Regional Coordinators

Regional Coordinators are evaluated during a selection process on the following qualities:

Responsiveness.
Should answer to emails and messages they receive within 1 week.
Accessibility.
Should be easily reached through at least one communication channel (emails, phone, Facebook, chat programs) known to their community.
Level 3 recommendations.
Should be able to help Level 3 candidates get recommendations, or to provide feedback on how to improve in order to get one, or to facilitate someone who can help the candidate.
Growth and improvement.
Should have a plan of action for growing their community both in quality and in quantity.
Retention and morale.
Should have a plan to avoid judge burnout and to keep the community involved and motivated.
Conferences.
Should be able to organize conferences every year as a tool for community building and improving the quality of local judges.
Recognitions.
Should motivate judges with recognitions and should lead by example participating in the Exemplar program.
Mentoring.
Should have a plan and awareness of different levels of mentoring in their region.
Performance evaluation.
Should be able to evaluate the judges in their region, provide feedback, and intervene in case of underperformance.
Demotion procedures and disciplinary measures.
Should be able to determine when misbehavior from judges in their region needs to be escalated to the appropriate channel.
Conflict resolution.
Should be able to mitigate conflicts involving a judge in a diplomatic way.
Protection of diversity.
Should be able to create and support a safe, welcoming and diverse community.
Professionalism and diplomacy.
Should be able to be respected and to have a good, diplomatic and professional relationship with their regional leadership.
Communication with the community.
Should be aware of all major changes in the Judge Program and be able to communicate with the judges in their region explaining said changes in their structure and philosophy.

Current Regional Coordinators

Below are the judges currently holding the Regional Coordinator role, and the countries, states and territories in each region.

Australia & New Zealand

Countries: Australia, New Zealand

Mark Brown
Australia

Greater China

Countries & territories: China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan

Hans Wang
Taiwan

Japan

Countries: Japan

Mitsunori Makino
Japan

South East Asia

Countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand

Wearn Chong
Malaysia

BeNeLux

Countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands

Niels Viaene
Belgium

Europe – Central

Countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic

Sebastian Pękala
Poland

Europe – East

Countries: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Kuwait, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates