NEW ASA POLICY ON SELECTING USA SOFTBALL JUNIOR TEAM

[AlwaysImprove]

How many of them are excluded by the new ASA policy?

All of them. They will be too old for JNT in 2013 except maybe Gabriel. Now I believe it is 16 of the 19 that would have been excluded as they did not play ASA the year they were selected.

Yep, you knew where it was going.

Let's say those 16 end would have ended up on a different team, call it PGF All Stars. 16 different girls using the new ASA only policy, let's call this the ASA All Star Team. Which one is dominant beyond question? Which team do you want representing United States as the JNT?

[jonriv]

None of those 16 teams played in an ASA event this year?

[dodgerblue]

You guy's are making such a big deal about this and to be honest most dont give a crap. We could field an ASA team and still beat up on all other countries. Some of you act like these games are competitive.

[jonriv]

You guy's are making such a big deal about this and to be honest most dont give a crap. We could field an ASA team and still beat up on all other countries. Some of you act like these games are competitive.

That's what I was saying.....


I personally do not like the the ASA's new selection policy, probably did not really like the old one either. I believe they probably have missed out on some great players over the years. Now the sections have always been made by a committee and the criteria from what I could research was always pretty much in the committee. I am sure that every time there have been many great players that did not make it even to the tryouts. Not sure of any other way (efficiently) to pick a junior national team- there are so many very good players spread all over the place. I have to concur with dodger on this.

[ontheblack]

In Canada we just lost to Japan.

Its arrogant to think that we can throw anyone one the field and be dominate. More importantly, that is not the point of the beef here.

Some of you are saying dont like it, play ASA because they make the rules. OK, lets run with that and extend it to the USA Womens National Team, also under the umbrella of ASA.

If you can justify ASA's right to do what they want, are you good with ASA applying a similar selection criteria to the Women's team? For instance, the player must have participated in previous ASA championship play in order to be eligible, or they must be ASA registered.

If the trend were to continue with the top teams in the West playing PGF over ASA, its conceivable that the West's best 2015s, 2016s and 2017s never play ASA championship play. That makes them ineligible for the JNT. What is to prevent this new JNT criteria from being a criteria for the Women"s National Team? Are you going to make the same argument then that they should have played ASA and if they didnt, tough, they are SOL?

ASA has only one defense they can make here, and that would be to argue that the JNT is not subject to the same open criteria as the Women's National Team. If they do that, they lose the argument Haning is making.

ASA will lose this battle, and the casualties are kids.

FWIW, I hate the chicken shiite attitude of "it only effects a few so big deal". What happened to just freakin doing the right thing? Doesnt matter whether its my kid or yours.

[Fredegar]

You guy's are making such a big deal about this and to be honest most dont give a crap. We could field an ASA team and still beat up on all other countries. Some of you act like these games are competitive.

That's what I was saying.....


I personally do not like the the ASA's new selection policy, probably did not really like the old one either. I believe they probably have missed out on some great players over the years. Now the sections have always been made by a committee and the criteria from what I could research was always pretty much in the committee. I am sure that every time there have been many great players that did not make it even to the tryouts. Not sure of any other way (efficiently) to pick a junior national team- there are so many very good players spread all over the place. I have to concur with dodger on this.

I agree to a point. Most don't give a crap. True. Someone else said it only affects 1% of the players. True. And our JNT will probably compete fine, no matter how the team is selected. True.

But that doesn't mean it's fair if some deserving kids are being excluded. It sure as hell matters to them and their families. And it's not right that they've been told they're being excluded so late into the season that it's possibly too late to fix it and become eligible. And of course the old way may have left some deserving kids off the team ... that happens with any all-star selection process. But excluding top talent before it even starts is not right. The JNT should be bigger than organizational infighting.

Last comment: As for the affecting 1%, that's like saying if racism only affects 10% of the country, it's okay because it's a pretty small percentage. Sorry ... wrong is wrong. And people should bring it to light. Even if it doesn't make a difference in how badly we ultimately run-rule Australia.

[dodgerblue]

Its ASA's team and it's their show. Not saying right or wrong because we've played ASA for years and the last couple of years been playing PGF. To be honest I think the kids miss ASA being in a hotel in another part of the country but that's another subject. I like both organizations but their fight is ultimately affecting the girls point blank. We never made it to Oklahoma City (because of PGF creation) which would've been nice to go at least once but the old timers were tired of that location.

[CULater]

PGF's invitations also exclude some kids and teams from being able to play in their National Tournament and be seen by all the top coaches in America?

By limiting the number of teams to 66 and then inviting half the field, based on secret criteria, known only to them, they reduce the number of teams that could potentially qualify. Now some kid that needs to be seen against the best competition doesn't get the chance because there are only 2 teams that earn a berth in her qualifier instead of 4 because those berths were given to a friend.

Exclusion is exclusion...

[Trophy Hunter]

The players have a choice where they elect to play. Except for this year due to the timing, going forward, eligibility is open to everyone. This only affects selection this year. Enough of the nonsense about the future of the team. And this wasn't the first time we lost to Japan.

[PDad]

PGF's invitations also exclude some kids and teams from being able to play in their National Tournament and be seen by all the top coaches in America?

By limiting the number of teams to 66 and then inviting half the field, based on secret criteria, known only to them, they reduce the number of teams that could potentially qualify. Now some kid that needs to be seen against the best competition doesn't get the chance because there are only 2 teams that earn a berth in her qualifier instead of 4 because those berths were given to a friend.

Exclusion is exclusion...

Ignoring the inaccuracy of PGF inviting half the teams, any event that requires teams to qualify inherently excludes teams - including ASA/USA Nats.

There are lots of events that offer exposure. There's only 1 national team.