ASA Gold Nationals Brackets now posted

[airbear]

Can't happen. We play high school in the fall. Practice and tryouts started August 2. High school kept us from going to Premier.

[leftfield25]

can be played on a sunday no school

[jmo]

Can't happen. We play high school in the fall. Practice and tryouts started August 2. High school kept us from going to Premier.

Wouldn't High School have kept you from ASA too?? ASA Nationals were August 2 through August 7th or 8th depending on which age group.

I think schools in Iowa are always in session during August and thus many of those players can't attend any Nationals. Bummer.

[airbear]

It wasn't softball that kept us home, the administrators were inflexible about excusing absences. AP kids were especially impacted on summer work. Many of our kids would have missed the 2nd week of school.....we couldn't get them to budge. With a year to work on it, maybe we can work out a viable solution.

Can't happen. We play high school in the fall. Practice and tryouts started August 2. High school kept us from going to Premier.

Wouldn't High School have kept you from ASA too?? ASA Nationals were August 2 through August 7th or 8th depending on which age group.

I think schools in Iowa are always in session during August and thus many of those players can't attend any Nationals. Bummer.

[ssarge]

It wasn't softball that kept us home, the administrators were inflexible about excusing absences. AP kids were especially impacted on summer work. Many of our kids would have missed the 2nd week of school.....we couldn't get them to budge. With a year to work on it, maybe we can work out a viable solution.

A problem Little League has increasingly faced with its tournaments. The 12U baseball tournament - an absolute force on ESPN and ABC - runs almost to Labor Day (through August 29). Kids sometimes miss as much as a month of school, but they are in primary or intermediate school. NOT in HS AP courses. You definitely face a tough situation.

But I'm not sure it is your BIGGEST problem. Hopefully, you actually HAVE a year to react and make plans. But I don't think that you do. If your desire is to compete for an ASA Championship, I think you are going to have to wait quite a while to even make plans.

Given that ASA is attempting to play 2011 18Gold Nationals in Irvine, and the Orange County fields are already 100% committed to Premier, something is going to have to change.

And it isn't going to be Premier.

In a ridiulously slow-out-of-the-blocks effort to actually compete with Premier, ASA has painted itself into a corner. ASA will either have to change the dates of Gold Nationals (for the second year in a row), change the fields so that the "Irvine" tournament is played in Lancaster or Bakersfield or something, or change the whole locale to somewhere else in the country. And the whole thing just seems brain dead to me, because I can't believe anyone in Irvine would have "bid" on this tournament without assurance that fields were available to play it. So how did it get "awarded" to Irvine?

The answer to that question would be interesting. But one thing seems pretty clear: the tournament isn't going to be PLAYED in Irvine during the dates promised.


All of which could be chalked up to "oops, we got beat on this one," if it wasn't so brain-dead and repeatedly predictable on the part of ASA.

But all of which would still be understandable / forgiveable if ASA reacted immediately / NOW / TODAY to the situation. But they won't. They'll react WAY too late AGAIN, thus INSURING people's plans are affected and that maximum inconvenience is provided to all.


Anyone who thought that Premier was a flash in the pan which would fade, or who believed that ASA would regain preeminence in the 18 age group was either an ASA apologist or was just not aware of the forces behind Premier (and the reasons those forces are so empowered).


In fact, ASA better watch out or the same thing that has already happened in 18Gold will happen in 16A and 14A, because Premier obviously has its sights set on those, too. The 16U schedule for Premier next year will almost certainly be expanded, and there is a stated intention to expand to 14U. If ESPN agrees to televise games in those divisions as well, watch out. And they may well, because the finals for each of the age groups could be played on the same field / stadium, meaning ESPN's additional production costs are essetially zero. This could prove hugely attractive to the network, the tournament organizers, and to potential participants.

And it is hard to root against it, even if you are loyal to ASA, because that kind of national television coverage would be a phenomenal boon to the sport. And would just serve to accentuate the point that ASA COULD have done it themselves if they had gotten off their butts and hustled like Gary / Premier did.


In fact, if Premier phases out the ridiculous invitation system and forces virtually everyone to qualify - and I suspect Gary will do this over time - then IMO it is going to be a virtually unstoppable force in whichever age groups it targets.


If I was running ASA (I shudder even WRITING that), and had any interest in remaining the dominant force in JO FP (and it is debatable whether they do, since the entire organization is increasingly geared to the more profitable slow pitch), I'd be very worried right now. I suspect they aren't, particularly, and I suspect people will respond to this post by arguing that none of what I say is going to happen, and ASA runs the "real" championships, etc.

We all have opinions. But for anyone new to the conversation, that is EXACTLY what was said over the past winter about the ASA 18Gold championship vs the Premier HS championship. The concensus seemed to be that ASA would prevail, and Premier could never pull it off. Anyone who STILL thinks that should tune into ESPN next Sunday. I believe you'll see evidence to the contrary. Unless Premier stumbles badly this week - and I don't think it will - the war in 18Gold is over.

Regards,

Scott

[ssarge]

Wouldn't High School have kept you from ASA too?? ASA Nationals were August 2 through August 7th or 8th depending on which age group.

I think schools in Iowa are always in session during August and thus many of those players can't attend any Nationals. Bummer.

Brett:

Not sure if you agree with my thoughts above, or would want to go on the record anyway. I do feel no one is more plugged into ASA, Premier, NCAA, and ESPN than you. Almost uniquely, you have great - and largely impartial - relationships in all four organizations, and your opinion is hugely credible with me (and should be with everyone). I always enjoy reading your thoughts on any of this stuff, and love the information you regularly provide on 18U, college, and womens' play. You are providing a real service to the softball community, and I greatly respect you for it. I suspect that many are unaware of how much you do behind the scenes, but for anyone who IS unaware, please believe me when I state how credible Brett's information is.

All that said, I trust you'll feel free to disagree with anything I said in the post above. You'll probably convince me.


But just a hypothetical question:

Would it be a viable strategy for ASA to schedule its three weeks of qualifiers - at least in Gold - to weeks 2-4 in June, then play nationals the week after Colorado? Then use the balance of the summer for showcase?

I understand this would be a MAJOR change, and would potentially effect tournaments like Las Vegas, potentially NJ and Fl, etc. But would also help ASA get the jump on Premier a little bit. And would solve some of the problem for regions with year-round schooling. Which will be an increasing concern, because that is absolutely a national trend.

There would be HUGE protests from many quarters at changing the summer calendar like this, as it WOULD affect many tournaments which have been on the books forever. I get that.

But I also think ASA is hemmorhaging, and they could soon be bleeding out. IMO, at least in 18U CHAMPIONSHIP play - and maybe 16U (we'll see next year) - they need some heavy triage. IMO, this kind of radical thinking (and I believes that precludes ASA from considering it, frankly), is what the organization badly needs. May not be the right idea, but they need SOME kind of idea.

Anyway, just an off-the-cuff thought. I really haven't considered it enough.

As always, I am very interested in your thoughts.

best regards,

Scott

[AlwaysImprove]

ssarge, I agree with everything except:
"In fact, if Premier phases out the ridiculous invitation system and forces virtually everyone to qualify - and I suspect Gary will do this over time - then IMO it is going to be a virtually unstoppable force in whichever age groups it targets."

The invitation system is an important part of the Premier offering. What it has done in our area has labeled certain teams as "true gold" or "Premier" teams. This is in direct contrast to the ASA system. Parents have to come to count on these "true gold" or "Premier" teams to deliver a competitive season.

In our area we have over 40 declared gold teams, but in fact only two to four will actually be able to deliver any semblance of a real gold season. The rest will make an endless litany of promises and fold up early.

Premier invitation system is an attempt to create a system where certain organizations, certain teams are designated as A/Gold teams. Teams that parents can count on to deliver a very competitive season. The qualifiers allow there to be an additional set of teams that are wannabe gold teams, that actually are able to prove on the field that they have what it takes to go to a Premier Nationals.

The major programs across the country have pushed and prodded ASA for years to create a system where certain teams were declared gold and other teams were A teams. Now that they have it, they like it. There will always be a push and a pull as to how many are declared gold versus how many should qualify and between which teams are on the invite list.

[Gone in 2.6]

The change in the quality of Gold has VERY LITTLE to do with some teams not being there. To say that is to ASSume they would have qualified, and you can not assume that.

Good point. It's not like the Worth Firecrackers, OC Batbusters, So Cal Athletics, Cal Cruisers and Corona Angles were a FIXTURE at Gold Nationals or anything. To predict if any of them would have even MADE it to the show is a crap shoot at best.

[ontheblack]

The 16U schedule for Premier next year will almost certainly be expanded, and there is a stated intention to expand to 14U.

Please let it be so with 14U next year and spare us from having to play ASA in Midland, TX.

Plus you gotta love the idea of the BatBusters telling ASA, "Thanks for the automatic berths for our 14s and 16s, but we will be playing in SoCal next August".

[Gone in 2.6]

Wouldn't High School have kept you from ASA too?? ASA Nationals were August 2 through August 7th or 8th depending on which age group.

I think schools in Iowa are always in session during August and thus many of those players can't attend any Nationals. Bummer.

Brett:

Not sure if you agree with my thoughts above, or would want to go on the record anyway. I do feel no one is more plugged into ASA, Premier, NCAA, and ESPN than you. Almost uniquely, you have great - and largely impartial - relationships in all four organizations, and your opinion is hugely credible with me (and should be with everyone). I always enjoy reading your thoughts on any of this stuff, and love the information you regularly provide on 18U, college, and womens' play. You are providing a real service to the softball community, and I greatly respect you for it. I suspect that many are unaware of how much you do behind the scenes, but for anyone who IS unaware, please believe me when I state how credible Brett's information is.


Scott

Amen. I'd be shocked if there is anyone on this board that does more good for softball players all over the country than Brett. College coaches ask for his feedback on players (not just his Explosion players but any players) and Brett will try to help any kid get noticed/signed. Now that my kid has aged out of youth ball and my knowledge of the landscape has already gotten pretty weak, I go straight to Brett when a coach asks me about a kid. He's a valuable resource for many and it all results in helping young ladies GET AN EDUCATION while playing ball.

While so many spend most of the time hyping their own dd's, Brett is always hyping everyone ELSE'S kids (Many would be surprised to learn that he has a daughter of his own playing in college).

So pardon me if I laugh my ass off when someone tells him to "STFU and stop posting because it would be better for all concerned" (paraphrasing).