Second Life Tournament Association



The Second Life Tournament Association, or SLTA for short, is a premier SL medieval games organization which was founded on the principals of the Olympic games which brings together friend and foe alike in a shared love of sport. It was established in October 2011 to manage Intra-sim (referred to as Intersim) Joust, Archery and Melee Tournaments of the Double Dragon Academy (DDA). It manages the SLTA "Cry the Tournament" Intersim Joust event which was the first Intra-sim Joust in SL offering a website and points standings for participants and annual awards for performance each June.

Website: http://www.joustingleague.com/

See website categories Jousts | SLTA Jousts for official website link.

Joust Affiliations
Currently, the SLTA is specifically affiliated with the following jousts, which are included in the SLTA Standings along with many other jousts in SL:
 * Dragons Lair, Summerwind, Duchy Of Schleswig, Darlecia, Casterly Rock, Melanthia, Nevermore, Ravenhearts, Highgarden, DarkfireJousts.
 * Double Dragon Academy Joust(s) (Manic Monday, DDA Wednesday, DDA Saturday Joust)
 * SLTA "Cry the Tournament" Inter-sim Joust

In addition, the SLTA organizes the following jousts:
 * SLTA "Cry the Tournament" Inter-sim Joust
 * SLTA/DDA Monthly Championships for Joust
 * SLTA/DDA Monthly Team Joust
 * SLTA/DDA Monthly Charity Joust

Establishment & Features
The "Cry the Tournament" Interim Joust was the first organization to rotate joust tournament events between participating Realms and offer a tournament in the Grand Tournament tradition of Medieval Jousts. The Inter-sim tournament is organized into 5 parts. 1) Presenting the Rules, Oath and Jousters; 2) Welcoming by the Tournament Host; 3) Calling the Joust; 4) Awarding the Winners; 5) Fellowship and Dance. It was established in October of 2011 to manage Double Dragon Academy (DDA) Interim Championship Tournaments for Joust, Archery and Melee.  In December of 2011 management of the "Cry The Tournament" Joust was handed over to Forester Lowenhart, a ranking member of the Medieval Interim Support group (MISS) which first established the joust in June of 2011.  MISS was dissolved, and it became a part of the SLTA's Intersim event offerings in December 2011.  By its 5th season, it had been hosted in 45 different Realms in SL.  In conjunction with the DDA, it also established the first King Phy Charity joust in December 2011, monthly organized Team Jousts in 2012, Relay4Life Charity Jousts in Spring of 2013.  Each year participants gather in June to award top honors in SL jousting based on the results of the previous season.

The primary features of the Second Life Tournament Association are:
 * One of the oldest medieval games / joust organization in SL offering points performance tracking
 * The 'Cry the Tournament' Intersim joust, the first and oldest traveling intersim joust in SL
 * Annual standings are calculated based from the Top 4 finishers in a joust with 4-3-2-1 points awarded respectfully for 1st-4th place
 * Coexistence with Double Dragon Academy, one of the oldest medieval-combat training academy in SL
 * First to offer and organized Monthly Inter-sim Team Joust with standings and annual recognition.
 * First to offer Monthly Inter-sim Championship Jousts, Archery and Melee Tournaments
 * Working and promotion of other allied roleplay sims
 * A website devoted exclusively to SLTA, DDA and SL Joust results, with a wealth of history and general information from the past 7+ years on the evolution of the virtual joust in SL
 * First to offer Inter-Sim Charity jousts from time to time
 * First to establish lane guidelines which regulated the maximum width of 45 degrees for a lance and 35 degree turns into or out from the center rail.
 * Managed by its participating hosts, using a roundtable, consultative approach of unanimous support for proposals over majority rule.

Controversy and Contention
By the end of its first year, contention arose among the SLTA managing group in June of 2011  over the tracking of points and awarding annual honors based performance, an original part of its formulation and claims of mismanagement between its original founders. The chairperson resigned from the group in protest. Two members and renters on the chairpersons lands followed, leaving the group to Forester Lowenhart and Bella Denver to manage. Headquarters for the SLTA and DDA were exiled from the land by the former chairperson shortly thereafter.

The SLTA and DDA moved to its current location on Tir Na Bridgid, and after three years, had successfully established the Joust as the premier medieval sport in SL resulting in a proliferation of new jousts and participating Realms. With the growth and success of Team Jousting, the 'Jousting League' was created in June 2013 to track points for all jousts in Second Life. Capt Blinker was asked to chair the new group but refused. In October 2013, due to silent protest and disagreement over SLTA policies and handling of past affairs, Celtic Isle and The White Rangers group left the SLTA to established the United Jousters (UJ) group. Gradually others followed due to the past involvement of Lowenhart and Denver and claims of harassment and aggression.

Controversy and contention between United Jousters and the SLTA came about almost immediately, a falling out that has yet to diminish, due to differences in individuals and organizational practices. These were exemplified in public by both group leaders. United Jousters indicated a lack of confidence in SLTA's management and direction and favored a more democratic solution. While UJ had no control over realm's schedules and preference, it became supportive among group members to not support SLTA and DDA events and to effectively schedule events over DDA and SLTA"s existing time slots. Members of United Jousters expressed concerns that the control factor of SLTA and DDA was becoming too much and momentum swung dramatically in UJ's favor. In truth, regular members of both groups could care less, leaving the committees and administration of both groups to effectively 'hash it out' and existing disagreements and contest still reign today, though on a much lower level.

Direct contest with the Intersim joust caused a diminished turnout for SLTA in favor of United Jousters. SLTA lost considerable support during this time, but remained stable, as United Jouster's influence grew. The SLTA Intersim Joust greatly diminished in numbers as the UJ Grand Joust gained more prominence, emphasizing more control led by the host rather than a formal organization as had been the case in the past with SLTA.

Revival
SLTA gradually began to work with United Jousters, alternating its Intersim Joust to biweekly in October of 2014. Considerable turmoil within the UJ group caused a rapid change in the playing field as several key committee members defected to form thei rown organizations, chiefly: the Virtual Jousting League (Nyza Stillwater, May 2014) Jousters 4 Jousting (Bandor Tyrell, June 2014) and the SL Medieval Games Association (Jotow Resident, July 2014) were formed. Gradually, the groups merged in October under the Medieval Games Fellowship, which sought to bring the community back together with the lack of a committee or organizational pressures.

After a disagreement with merging with the Medieval Games Fellowship in January of 2015, the SLTA slowly started to rebuild its numbers as several members outside of SLTA came into prominent roles. With a shift towards more open-ended discussion and debate between realms, similar to United Jousters, the SLTA continued to focus on its main product: The Intersim Joust, which it still continues to run today.

More recently, the shift has turned back to SLTA as United Jousters has effectively become disorganized and virtually non-existent. All in all though, relations are still withered and damage may be irreversible. Still, SLTA appears to have survived almost from being wiped out and is growing now into a period of rebirth thanks to adept management and closer relations with realms and other groups.

Headquarters & Organization
SLTA's continues to promote the Intersim Joust "Cry The Tournament" with possible expansion into other sports. The SLTA Headquarters is located at the Double Dragon Academy and regular meetings rotate between participating hosts.