10 minutes of rain

[Angelo_Spadaro]

Everyone,
Its tough but I would disagree with the poorly ran statement. Maybe you have not yet had to experience a poorly ran tournament, but when you do you will know it.
I back TD and his decisions, If you look back at all the rain from Saturday night, and all the rain Sunday morning you would appreciate the fact that you even played games on Sunday.
Plus he did a Good job with keeping all of us posted of what was going on with all the games changes. Keep in mind it DID rain Sunday morning (AM)

If you remember!!
TD did tried to get all coaches together and talk about the weather, most every coach said ya lets call it a day, (I was there)
This wasn't only his DECISION it was the majority of the coaches. So all of us may have something to learn!
Finding out a true winner is tough at that point. (Coin toss, best record, RA, RS etc.... it goes on and on )
You know your team and you know the others,
Does it really matter! I would hope your coaching for improvement of the kids,

As far as not doing another Maple Leaf tournament, that would be your lost.
I have been in this for 12+ years and still coach a 18U team for fun.

Bob is in it for the love of the game. I was there on Sunday with my team,

I agree that it was too bad that once that decision was made the weather did clear up for a short period of time.
In my mind His only error my of been trying to hard to keep everyone Happy.
Its not like he has 100 ground crew members to just jump on in and fix every field.
Just think of the mess if he did get some fields playable, which age group gets to play then?
My vote would of been 16-14-18-12-10 Again everyone would have a different opinion.

Bob does goes out of his way to do his best to make sure the KIDS are playing.
That is seen by the way he works with every team with Schedule changes, Roster changes, Time slot changes, or even the ones that says we are traveling can we have a later start time.

Believe me!! You will notice a bad tournament and then you will appreciate what Bob does.

Bob thanks for everything you have done for the Fastpitch programs in NE Ohio.

Angelo Spadaro
18U Tigerlillies..

 

[Bob_Himmelein]

JG235, you wrong, plain and simple, when we called to start games at 10am, we believed we would have all nine fields. We did get some additional rain which which killed the back three fields, a fact I was not aware of right away, and they City crews said they still hoped to get one playable.

I do not respond to these posts very often, but a least get the facts straight. Also, identify yourself by name, I always do.

 

[Bob_Himmelein]

I had hoped to stay out of this, but caught myself responding to a couple, before counting 10. I want to that those who supported our event. As for the childish and boorish comments of a few, I will simply say, I write and sign my name, I do not hide behind screen names.

I could go into details, but I am simply not going to lower myself to debate with people who know everything. I thank Angelo Spadaro, who like many I know are class coaches and people who put the players first. There are many others as well. I am fighting my instinct to respond, but I was once told responding to posts is an exercise in futility and I will simply say this;

The "facts" as presented by many were at best inaccurate. I cannot tell how many times we had people come tell us field 1 or 2 were playable as they "could see." We did check these dutifully and found it was not true. Had we not gotten the last rain again, we would have finished. What you at Streetsboro did not know was Aurora fields were also washed out by the afternoon rain. We were down to two fields at Streetsboro and I would agree with Angelo that a lot of the coaches wanted to end.

As for those who use terms like money grab, if you are accusing me of cheating, please identify yourself by name and I will be happy to meet with you and show you how little money is made. I originally only was holding tournament to 44 teams, we, as always took more and rented additional fields as teams said they wanted to play. Fact, it cost me more to rent Fields in Streetsboro for 26 games than a full day in Aurora, It would have been easier for me to stick to my plan, but we prefer to see kids play. I have done this for many years and I guess it is at the point I will simply say No in the future. I will be happy to list your screen names as contacts when we turn teams away in the future. Rain makes everything hard, and no I do not know any tournament which finished Sunday afternoon, though I am sure someone will and make us all aware.

Enough is enough, I have been involved in this for many years, make little or nothing personally and if I do, it is eaten up in expenses. We fund support booster clubs, civic groups and PAL organizations. Myself and some other do this because we like the game, know many of the coaches, and as I always say, "if I was not doing this, I would have to do yard work at home on Sunday." By the way that is joke line, I am sure someone will decide it is an attack on gardening or something.

Anyone who is willing to post by name, I will be happy to meet with you if you have intelligent comments or concerns. Thanks

 

[coachjwb]

I was not at this tournament, so can't speak to what did or didn't happen, but I can speak to the fact that Bob is an upstanding guy. No one hates rain on tourney weekends more than TD's ... it takes an already very stress-filled weekend and turns it into pure chaos.

 

[DanMaz]

i am sure most of the complaining are probably from newbies! Give it time young kids parents.... you will soon see how a BAD tournament is ran and then you will be wishing Bob was running it instead and you will look back at this said weekend and laugh about how critical you are when it is not necessary! wait until you drive to Tennessee or Atlanta just to play 1 game and have it rain the rest of the weekend... living out of your car and hotel room. will you blame the TD there too? lol just enjoy and appreciate the people involved in this great sport that really work their butts off and are at the fields all day long dealing with all the headaches and complaining people that expect everything to be perfect. lol not in this world!

 

[wvanalmsick]

A TD's biggest worry is rain. There is some prior planning that can be done but in the end, Mother Nature decides when teams can return to playing softball after a rain delay.

Rain Delay Primer for New Parents.

1. The TD and staff cannot make any sort of solid decision on when to resume play until AFTER the rain stops (or if radar says there will not be an end) and then the fields have been evaluated.

2. A tournament's Rain Delay "Contingency" plan cannot be set in stone before a tournament starts. You have to play it on the fly. You have to see where are you at in the tournament (Pool Play, Bracket Play, Semi's, Championship???). If the tournament is Double elimination and there is a lengthy delay, the Loser's Bracket will be dropped and the tournament will become Single elimination. Meaning everyone in the Loser's Bracket goes home.

3. TD's need to communicate to the COACHES who in turn communicate with the PARENTS. Lack of communication leads to increased temperament from the everyone. Please do not crowd the Tournament HQ trying to "get the scoop". Everyone in the HQ will be close to being stressed-out to the max and temperament could be short.

4. Once it has been determined that play will resume, there could be some miscommunication about field assignment/time. Murphy will always pop-up at the most inopportune time. Please remember that the TD is coordinating teams and umpires. There are always 10% that don't get the word. It happens in every facet of life.

5. Please remember that if a delay occurs on Sunday, teams that have traveled a great distance need to leave at a reasonable time to return home and this will play into the decision.

These little "Pearls of Wisdom" have come from been part of running a very big tournament and we have experienced rain-outs/delays numerous years. Rain happens, just roll with it.

About 3 or 4 years ago, it rained for the 4 weekends prior to our tournament. There were rain-outs left and right. The masses were ready to rebel. We were blessed that weekend with gorgeous weather. I commented to the TD that we could screw-up just about everything and no one would care because the girls were playing softball.

 

[AnotherSoftballDad]

Not sure I get why the assumption is anyone that had a bad experience with the tournament is new to tournaments. Most aren't attacking the TD (Bob), just stating some things they were not happy with. Some of us aren't "newbies" and have had bad experiences at tournaments. Reading Bob's comments, there might be some perceptions that are not true. I know Bob said he wouldn't go into details, but I believe that if he could shed some light on the issues some had, it might help them understand better. But I respect his decision if he feels like that would be debating people.

There have been far worse tournaments we have experienced no question. But I think if some are questioning some decisions at the end, they should be able to without attacking or accusing the TD of different things. The end of the tournament at Streetsboro was chaotic and confusing and the perceptions could be wrong. Hearing the other side of the story would help for some I am sure. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Bob_Himmelein]

AnotherSoftballDad,

Your comments are appreciated and the vast majority of people understand what goes on and what happens when rain hits and threats of storms etc. I will just leave it as is and move on. We shall all move on and hope we have broken the Rain Weekend Cycle tis past weekend. My best to everyone this summer.

 

[AnotherSoftballDad]

AnotherSoftballDad,

Your comments are appreciated and the vast majority of people understand what goes on and what happens when rain hits and threats of storms etc. I will just leave it as is and move on. We shall all move on and hope we have broken the Rain Weekend Cycle tis past weekend. My best to everyone this summer.

It is probably best Bob, I certainly understand and I will just add one other thing. Win, lose, or draw, I have nothing but respect for the job(s) the TDs do even on a weekend without rain let alone rainy weather. So with that, "Thank you" to you and all the TDs who give these girls opportunities and options for softball in the state of Ohio.

 

[DanMaz]

A TD's biggest worry is rain. There is some prior planning that can be done but in the end, Mother Nature decides when teams can return to playing softball after a rain delay.

Rain Delay Primer for New Parents.

1. The TD and staff cannot make any sort of solid decision on when to resume play until AFTER the rain stops (or if radar says there will not be an end) and then the fields have been evaluated.

2. A tournament's Rain Delay "Contingency" plan cannot be set in stone before a tournament starts. You have to play it on the fly. You have to see where are you at in the tournament (Pool Play, Bracket Play, Semi's, Championship???). If the tournament is Double elimination and there is a lengthy delay, the Loser's Bracket will be dropped and the tournament will become Single elimination. Meaning everyone in the Loser's Bracket goes home.

3. TD's need to communicate to the COACHES who in turn communicate with the PARENTS. Lack of communication leads to increased temperament from the everyone. Please do not crowd the Tournament HQ trying to "get the scoop". Everyone in the HQ will be close to being stressed-out to the max and temperament could be short.

4. Once it has been determined that play will resume, there could be some miscommunication about field assignment/time. Murphy will always pop-up at the most inopportune time. Please remember that the TD is coordinating teams and umpires. There are always 10% that don't get the word. It happens in every facet of life.

5. Please remember that if a delay occurs on Sunday, teams that have traveled a great distance need to leave at a reasonable time to return home and this will play into the decision.

These little "Pearls of Wisdom" have come from been part of running a very big tournament and we have experienced rain-outs/delays numerous years. Rain happens, just roll with it.

About 3 or 4 years ago, it rained for the 4 weekends prior to our tournament. There were rain-outs left and right. The masses were ready to rebel. We were blessed that weekend with gorgeous weather. I commented to the TD that we could screw-up just about everything and no one would care because the girls were playing softball.

wvanalmsick - your logo says it all!! there is the TD when radar shows rain coming for the weekend!!!! lol

 

[Fairman]

I don't expect much sympathy for a TD from the initial poster, but when it rains; all bets are off. If you don't want to deal rain with you'd better start your dd in B_ball or some other indoor sport.

Ten minutes of rain shouldn't put a tourney on the shelf unless the fields are already soaked from the previous evening's rains or maybe its been a wet week before the tourney and the fields are already saturated. Perhaps there is another solid front coming thorough in a hour and any work done now will then just be washed away. Perhaps that particular field drains poorly and there are better fields that will come back quicker that are being worked on. Perhaps that field has that really sticky clay that can take water for a while but then turns to gumbo. Maybe there are work rules about who can work on the field...... There are a thousand cuts that will force a TD to call off a tourney. No one wants to call it off.

As a TD I do resent the accusation that all of us are in this for the money. The rewards of running a tournament are not financial. Sure you can do the math and figure out how much the entry fees might be. Then deduct the umpire fees, the field dry, the field rentals, the insurance, the new outfield fences, the hand rakes, the labor, the fuel costs...etc... and maybe we'll raise enough money for the sponsoring organizations to entice us to do it again next year.

If not, you'll have an open weekend for your dd to practice her hoop's skills.

 

[Bob_Himmelein]

Thanks, we have always put players first and letting them play games to me is the most important thing in the end and it sounds like you do as well!

 

[wvanalmsick]

This was my avatar last Friday when I saw that the rain was going south of Columbus and would miss us completely.