NorCal
Tournament Options?
I agree,nice job Breeze. We got to get support of Sac teams. Where is the Magic,I know they watch the board over there. Show support. We need Roseville Heat in the mix, who else....comets? Lets go blue...pencil in. KG get in here! Sorcerers, Sting..... if you pencil in, they will come
- watchtonsofsoftball
- Posts: 349
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 6:31 pm
Actually, LADY MAGIC is pleased to be co-sponsoring this tournament with Gary, GSSA and the BREEZE, and will have teams participating in at least two age divisions.
- LadyMagic83
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:41 am
Good to hear, Im sure the 18s will play elsewhere. Knowing a couple guys over there they could care less about the movement
- watchtonsofsoftball
- Posts: 349
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 6:31 pm
Lets go blue...pencil in. KG get in here! Sorcerers, Sting..... if you pencil in, they will come
I will go over what is important to me and how I decide where we play, or dont play.
1) Level of competition. I will not drive extra distance to play weak teams. So level of play is number one consideration.
2) Tournament entry fee. 425 last year, likely going up this year. This to me is ridiculous. If tourneys get to 450 and above, it will definitely have me reconsidering what we do. Maybe 2 friendlies instead of tourney weekends, and possibly consider traveling to Sac, if things are looking good up north. I still prefer Stockton... but where as before there was never a decision to make, there might be reason to have a second thought now. I have never had a friendly when local tourneys are going on, as that is preferred, but costs make you reconsider what you can and cant do in everyday life...softball is no different.
3) Condition of fields. In the past, this has not been a real issue as I have always felt Louis Park was pretty good, Arnaiz is outstanding, and those were the main places we played. Now add in McNair to the mix and I start having problems, throw in regional and things get real bad.
McNair to me with no fences is unacceptable. Playing on 300 ft fences with an outfield that is FAST where any hard hit ball goes to the fence, and that is not fastpitch softball. Arch road with no fences isnt ideal, but the ball hits and slows down,..... that isnt the same at McNair.
Doesnt DF softball have fences on all fields at Freedom park??
Add in pitching circles that have pitchers pitching in 12" trenches after the first inning, and McNair becomes even more unacceptable to me. Field maintenance must be taken care of for the money we are paying.
Now specifically in regards to the R&R tourney you are speaking of.
This has grown so big that I dont know what to think.
Before I only had to worry about my one team, now I need to consider 4 teams in all age groups. 2 years ago the 14u tourney was at Rainbow fields in Modesto and there were something like 40+ teams in a SINGLE elimination bracket for Sunday. Umpires sucked, but......that will never be a factor for me, as you will get bad umps no matter where you go. So I have NO issues with that scenario. As soon as 14u goes to showcase format, we are gone. Same with 12u.
16-18g. All teams will have to decide what is important to them. Field placement will be the deciding factor for most teams IMO. Our 16u-18g teams will be playing in the R&R tourney that weekend. There is no decision to make. After the tourney, I will then sit back and evaluate if the tourney was worth it for us as far as the following years go.
So for my organization, costs are definitely a factor I will consider. But I clearly prefer playing in Stockton VS Sac if only for selfish reasons of not wanting an extra 30-40 minute drive. If for some reason I felt that extra drive was worth it for us, I would do the extra 40 minutes. But gate or no gate, driving an extra 160 miles for the weekend more than makes up for a gate fee. Money is money, whether it goes into the gas tank or gate fee, what is the difference?
Sac used to have some good tourneys a LONG time ago. Breeze used to run some good tourneys and they just kind of stopped. Not sure why, but the 2 Stockton groups jumped in to fill the void and have done a good job IMO. No reason to go elsewhere.... unless the above stated issues become to much for me to ignore.
I will go over what is important to me and how I decide where we play, or dont play.
1) Level of competition. I will not drive extra distance to play weak teams. So level of play is number one consideration.
2) Tournament entry fee. 425 last year, likely going up this year. This to me is ridiculous. If tourneys get to 450 and above, it will definitely have me reconsidering what we do. Maybe 2 friendlies instead of tourney weekends, and possibly consider traveling to Sac, if things are looking good up north. I still prefer Stockton... but where as before there was never a decision to make, there might be reason to have a second thought now. I have never had a friendly when local tourneys are going on, as that is preferred, but costs make you reconsider what you can and cant do in everyday life...softball is no different.
3) Condition of fields. In the past, this has not been a real issue as I have always felt Louis Park was pretty good, Arnaiz is outstanding, and those were the main places we played. Now add in McNair to the mix and I start having problems, throw in regional and things get real bad.
McNair to me with no fences is unacceptable. Playing on 300 ft fences with an outfield that is FAST where any hard hit ball goes to the fence, and that is not fastpitch softball. Arch road with no fences isnt ideal, but the ball hits and slows down,..... that isnt the same at McNair.
Doesnt DF softball have fences on all fields at Freedom park??
Add in pitching circles that have pitchers pitching in 12" trenches after the first inning, and McNair becomes even more unacceptable to me. Field maintenance must be taken care of for the money we are paying.
Now specifically in regards to the R&R tourney you are speaking of.
This has grown so big that I dont know what to think.
Before I only had to worry about my one team, now I need to consider 4 teams in all age groups. 2 years ago the 14u tourney was at Rainbow fields in Modesto and there were something like 40+ teams in a SINGLE elimination bracket for Sunday. Umpires sucked, but......that will never be a factor for me, as you will get bad umps no matter where you go. So I have NO issues with that scenario. As soon as 14u goes to showcase format, we are gone. Same with 12u.
16-18g. All teams will have to decide what is important to them. Field placement will be the deciding factor for most teams IMO. Our 16u-18g teams will be playing in the R&R tourney that weekend. There is no decision to make. After the tourney, I will then sit back and evaluate if the tourney was worth it for us as far as the following years go.
So for my organization, costs are definitely a factor I will consider. But I clearly prefer playing in Stockton VS Sac if only for selfish reasons of not wanting an extra 30-40 minute drive. If for some reason I felt that extra drive was worth it for us, I would do the extra 40 minutes. But gate or no gate, driving an extra 160 miles for the weekend more than makes up for a gate fee. Money is money, whether it goes into the gas tank or gate fee, what is the difference?
Sac used to have some good tourneys a LONG time ago. Breeze used to run some good tourneys and they just kind of stopped. Not sure why, but the 2 Stockton groups jumped in to fill the void and have done a good job IMO. No reason to go elsewhere.... unless the above stated issues become to much for me to ignore.
- Iluvblue
- Posts: 1525
- Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:05 pm
Blue
you are correct we ran tournaments for many years and then the fields in Sacramento started to be divide between 5 different associations/tournament directors and we lost several fields. We didn't need the funding as much as previous years so stopped hosting tournaments and started doing just friendlies and 1 tourney in March. This year a number of organization kept asking us to start hosting tournaments again so we attended the GSSA meeting.
GSSA and Gary have moved to hosting tournaments all around the Sacramento area and has started to draw some very good younger teams. Many of our teams have played in them as well as several other larger organization in NorCal. GSSA had a meeting this year to get all the tournament directors in one room and it was decided that all would combine together and support the ASA Tourney's. Having read the number of complaints about other tournaments, fields, gate charges and not allowing food that have appeared here and the conversations with many organization that wanted tournaments in Sacramento this step has been taken.
you are correct we ran tournaments for many years and then the fields in Sacramento started to be divide between 5 different associations/tournament directors and we lost several fields. We didn't need the funding as much as previous years so stopped hosting tournaments and started doing just friendlies and 1 tourney in March. This year a number of organization kept asking us to start hosting tournaments again so we attended the GSSA meeting.
GSSA and Gary have moved to hosting tournaments all around the Sacramento area and has started to draw some very good younger teams. Many of our teams have played in them as well as several other larger organization in NorCal. GSSA had a meeting this year to get all the tournament directors in one room and it was decided that all would combine together and support the ASA Tourney's. Having read the number of complaints about other tournaments, fields, gate charges and not allowing food that have appeared here and the conversations with many organization that wanted tournaments in Sacramento this step has been taken.
- demash
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:20 am
You want to see teams start coming to Sac? Charge 375 for entry fees and see what happens:)
- Iluvblue
- Posts: 1525
- Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:05 pm
I dont think the Breeze was in last years Memorial Day tournament anyways. But like Blue said, drop the entrance fee and watch what happens. 375.00 isnt bad since it isnt about the money. 
Lets play ball.................
Lets play ball.................- lookingIN
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:00 am
CA. Breeze had 4 teams play in last years Memorial Day R&R Gold Tournament. 18G - 16U - 14U - 13U
- demash
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:20 am
watchtonsofsoftball wrote:Good to hear, Im sure the 18s will play elsewhere. Knowing a couple guys over there they could care less about the movement
Actually, all 3 Lady Magic teams will be playing in this tournament.
- LadyMagic83
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:41 am
I believe if you maybe boycott a few tournaments and go to others, these TD's may get the picture. As much as I see how bad these fields are (like Oak Park, Lodi, Louis Park, even Arnaiz), we still go to these tourneys. Why? that's where the competition is, and the people holding these tourneys know it. So I believe these "conditions and fees" will NOT change... These teams holding these tourneys really don't care, because I've the parents or coaches at the gate told our team so... It's all about the $$$
- V Mot 4
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:32 am
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