12U Western Nationals What A Joke

[bucndranch]

I called the tournament director today becasue one of my parents happen to go on the site and downloand the pakect. The packet I originally downloand had a diff schedule of events. Ok I can see mistakes and changes needing to be made

We have been going to National,s whether the big ASA or Westerns, for 9 or 10 years, Opening ceremonies is the fun part. The girls get to dress for fun, throw beads, pin trade and have a blast. This usually takes place on a day where there are no games and/or plenty of time to start games in between. Oh no not in Tracy!! Opening ceremonies are at 8 am and the first elimination game starts at 10 am, what idiots.

So if you are lucky enough to draw the 10 am game, your girls will not get opening ceremonies. Unless of course you do no want to warm your team up for an elimination game. We do 1 hour 30 min pre game warm up, so if we play at 10 then our girls will get a whole 15 min for fun. Then run out, put your uniform on and start warming up. All the while the fun is going on on the next field. Great for motivation and morale!!

My girls have already made fun shirts, bought beads to throw, have crazy hats etc. This is where they are supposed to get their reward, let their hair down for a couple hours and have some fun

Not too mention opening ceremonies are after pool play anyway, whats up with that bass ackwards!!

The TD says he has been around travel for over 30 years, I had to ask since this all seemend a bit rec ballish!

Nothing will change but I feel better now!!!

[SoCalFP]

Glad you feel better. Best of luck.

[Ace]

Haha, I have never seen an oc start on time! good luck with that!

[Sftbll4ever]

Our girls are older and have no desire to sit out in the heat and watch girls walk by. Our team will not be going.

[bucndranch]

Haha, I have never seen an oc start on time! good luck with that!

That is another good point!!

[SnocatzDad]

I went to ASA Northern Nationals two years ago in Brookyln Park MN and it was a haphazardly organized as well including not finishing the pool play draw until 11 PM at night with some teams having to play at 8 AM the next morning so essentially you were trying to contact kids after you told them they had to go to bed to tell them they did/did not have to meet at the fields at 6:30am.

There are some people who have been doing tournaments for years and know how to organize and host a great event (see sparkler in Colorado, Ringneck in S.D. etc) and then there are some who are doing the best that they can with little or no experience. The nature of ASA requires that they move host sites around to keep it a true national orgnaization instead of just a Texas/California interstate rivalry.

If your priorities at Nationals are
#1 Quality of competition
#2 Quality of officiating
#3 Quality of fields
#4 Quality of amenities (non-game related experiences)
You can be pretty sure that an ASA National or Regional tournament will rank high in area #1 and #2 even if #3 and #4 can vary from great to below par.

[bucndranch]

I went to ASA Northern Nationals two years ago in Brookyln Park MN and it was a haphazardly organized as well including not finishing the pool play draw until 11 PM at night with some teams having to play at 8 AM the next morning so essentially you were trying to contact kids after you told them they had to go to bed to tell them they did/did not have to meet at the fields at 6:30am.

There are some people who have been doing tournaments for years and know how to organize and host a great event (see sparkler in Colorado, Ringneck in S.D. etc) and then there are some who are doing the best that they can with little or no experience. The nature of ASA requires that they move host sites around to keep it a true national orgnaization instead of just a Texas/California interstate rivalry.

If your priorities at Nationals are
#1 Quality of competition
#2 Quality of officiating
#3 Quality of fields
#4 Quality of amenities (non-game related experiences)
You can be pretty sure that an ASA National or Regional tournament will rank high in area #1 and #2 even if #3 and #4 can vary from great to below par.

I can assure you we will not achieve #3 in Tracy CA. The spots complex looks alright, but I cannot imagine a high ranking there. If you can't make the big show you gotta go somehwere, our girls deserve it and we are going!

[THE MAD-DOG99]

First clue should have been the website..pretty lame and simple...The website link for the Sparkler and the upcoming 16U in Phoenix was/is loaded with tons of information that has been there for quite some time...video of past years, activities, local things to see etc...

Go to the Tracy site if you want to find out who the local city council person is...

[bucndranch]

First clue should have been the website..pretty lame and simple...The website link for the Sparkler and the upcoming 16U in Phoenix was/is loaded with tons of information that has been there for quite some time...video of past years, activities, local things to see etc...

Go to the Tracy site if you want to find out who the local city council person is...

You are very right! Unfortuantley our ecisio nwas made to go before I got on the site!!

[THE MAD-DOG99]

First clue should have been the website..pretty lame and simple...The website link for the Sparkler and the upcoming 16U in Phoenix was/is loaded with tons of information that has been there for quite some time...video of past years, activities, local things to see etc...

Go to the Tracy site if you want to find out who the local city council person is...

You are very right! Unfortuantley our ecisio nwas made to go before I got on the site!!

No wouldn't have effected the fact that you just want to play and the girls to have a great experience..just the website shows to me that the planning was not "top notch" from the get go...

I am sure you will still find a way to have fun and play great..!!