16u Diamonds of the North..?

[bucketboy]

Cindy,

Thanks for taking the time to post here your insight is appreciated. I guess my point is that that coaches are doing the best they can to get the kids that want to play at the next level maximum exposure to college coaches and of course the biggest exposure event in the country is the 16u ASA natioal event bar none. With that said there are many teams that shall we call them a fringe team that have good players that are capable of playing college ball, but maybe the team as a whole is not strong enough to qualify or due to the size of the field etc...may not be able to get a berth so that coach also has to schedule some quality exposure events to get the players seen so the biggest problem I see with this year's schedule is the conflict with the state tournament weekend in 16u and 18u. If it was kept the same weekend as it was last year it would not have conflicted with the Stingray's or other good exposure events that weekend and since the entry form and money were due for the Stingray's like last November and is non refundable some teams got painted in the corner because I am sure they just assumed that the state tournament would be the same weekend it was last year.

I know you have a tough job and can't even come close to making everyone happy, but I guess my point here is the schedule seems to change from year to year and if the weekends were not changed and we all knew ok North is this weekend, South is this, State games is this etc... then it would make it alot easier for the coaches to put their schedules together so the best interest of their team and players is taken care of regardless of whether they qualify or not, but those fringe teams are still going to try to qualify in the events.

And oh by the way it is June folks time for some real softball!!!!!!!!!!!

[gunshy]

I,too, appreciate Cindy's input, especially knowing that she has taken the time to visit this site and see what others have to say. Cindy's job is not easy, given the pressures that are on the coaches, who in turn transfer those pressures to her. I do think that it is fair to say that this thread could be summarized as one that is asking for more consistency, more absolutes and more black and white from our ASA leadership in regards to 2 of the biggest problems for coaches; Qualifying for Nationals and scheduling tournaments. These issues must be addressed together, as essentially they are tied together. As tough as Cindy's job is, it could be made much easier by consistency and more established/posted guidelines for National Qualifications. As a coach, it is much easier to accept or at least plan around a process or rule, even if it is not particularly popular, IF it is openly posted up front and does not change. Consistency helps establish precedence, which will make everyone's tasks easier.

[Stratos]

So what was the outcome of the tournament? Where did Indiana finish? I heard there was a team from Colorado there.

[looking in]

Dreams(Reese) 4th Indiana Magic 5th Dreams(Leming) 7th The Colorado Quick Silver was there, lost to both Dreams teams in Bracket play! Magic had a very good run!

[jag1]

Looking In....just curious as to where you found the results to the Diamonds of the North tourney..? It was a very competitive tourney, alot of close games. The quad City Firebirds out of Iowa looked very strong. The Indy Elite had a good run going, both Dreams looked good, and the Velocity definitely showed improvement. the Colorado Quicksilver put us out Saturday night (pretty convincingly 6-1..), we were also wondering about the order of finish.

[looking in]

Jag1,
DD play's for Reese, Results not posted yet!(If ever) Leming beat and lost to the firebirds, good team,Leming didn't hit well in bracket play! Elite got beat by the Crusiers out of Illinios, also beat both Dreams team Sunday, by 1 run!(CRusiers, who went to finals) Very good tournament, should send a statement to the state! But, Who get's the berth?? Who is playing at Chuck Klien the 4th of July????