I wear many hats in the softball world. I am an assistant coach, and the team treasurer for the Ohio Storm 08, I understand coaches and teams point of view when it comes to a team's budget and money refunds for tournaments that are cancelled. For our team, I write the checks for all equipment purchases, schedule fundraisers, schedule tournaments, schedule and obtain room blocks for tournaments and Nationals for stay to play events, schedule and coordinate outside practice fields and our winter indoor practice facility, schedule and coordinate ordering trading pins for the Organization, schedule and organize multiple team's banner photos, along with a host of other duties. With that being said, there are several things I look at and READ when deciding on what tournaments to enter. (1) Refund policy, (2) Cut off date to enter, (3) GG, (4) Cost, (5 ) Location. By reading the refund policy, I understand what the risk is before I even register. I also know that, if I cancel for any reason before the cutoff date, most generally I will get a full refund. The refund policy generally states if a team cancels after the cutoff date, or if the tournament is cancelled for any unforeseen circumstance, I risk losing a portion of my registration fee. Some tournaments don't issue refunds for any reason if the event gets cancelled, or some require a non-refundable deposit months before the tournament date, but again I know this upfront before I register and send money. So, if I take that risk and lose money, that's on me because I knew the risk upfront. I have no reason to complain and can blame myself, certainly I will not complain or blame about a TD's decision to enforce his/her policy. Our team is scheduled for 3 tournaments in May, so I have 2 choices. (1) I can sit around and wait after the cutoff date to see if the TD is going to cancel the tournament because of this virus, risk losing money, or (2) I can simply pull our team out of the tournaments before the cutoff date and look for other tournaments in June or July. Those decisions fall on me, but either way I know the risk, because I read the refund policy. (If there is no cutoff date or refund policy posted, simply ask the TD what it is.)
As for our team player fees. If the season is cancelled, we will sit down with our parents and make the decision on player fees as a team. Just remember, the season started for most travel teams back in September, so most teams are 8 1/2 months into the season.
I have been the tournament director for the Pavilion Sports & Events Complex in Mt.Vernon Ohio for the past 2 years, so I also understand the TD side of softball. There are upfront costs associated with tournaments, more so with outdoor tournaments, than indoor tournaments. We also have a refund policy, which we had to cancel our last indoor tournament, on Saturday March 14th, because of this pandemic. The refund policy stated on the USA site, that if the tournament was cancelled for any unforeseen circumstances after the cutoff date, teams would receive a refund of their entry fee minus an administrative fee. This tournament was cancelled on Friday March 13th, 1 day before the tournament, because Dewine issued a ban on indoor events, which is an unforeseen circumstance. The Pavilion could have certainly enforced the refund policy, but the owner and I agreed, that the cancellation was a matter of the health and safety for all attending the event, and decided to issue full refunds to teams and not enforce the refund policy.
During this time of uncertainty, the health, safety and welfare of all TD's, coaches, players and family is the most important thing. Not only is it the responsibility of the TD to make the decision whether to host a tournament in the future during this time, but coaches are just as responsible for deciding whether to play in a tournament or not. The TD has the responsibility of posting his/her refund policy, but coaches are just as responsible for knowing what that refund policy says, whether it's a rainout, lightning storm, snow storm or any unforeseen circumstance.
Stay healthy, stay safe, be patient, and we will all live to play another day.