ASA Tournament 2nd Annual Metro Dayton USA/ASA National Qualifier

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What would have happened if they (Hawks) did just decide to go ahead and lime the fields? Would the city say "that's our job." OK, if it's your job then do it. It needs to be in the contract that the city will refresh the fields or the tournament committe will do it. The question that should be asked is why didn't the city do it. The same thing happens at Berliner.

 

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I agree Hammer... but it is one battle never won when dealing with a city. Union workers are there and Sunday is double time.

Like Barberton... absolutely beautiful park with 4 fields... Huge amount of parking and lights.... it's the big " Sunday pay" that is the problem there.... or TD's would DEFINATELY use that location.

In Chillicothe one Fall, I had the Uniform Blowout there. Great park.. nice fields, etc... but when paying $114.00 dollars an hour for a total of three people... it is an expense.

It's a clear understanding by all that attended this event ... that the Hawks could not control the conditions set forth as " city duties". You'll never convince me that not one Hawk would not have LOVED to get out there and reline fields, rake, or whatever. Their past tournament performances.. you'll fall over them at a tournament.

As much as anyone hates to see what happened.. the problems, etc... you have to let them know and thus the Hawks org has got "ammunition" when going to speak to the City.

Just don't give up on the tournament. The berths FINALLY came out of hiding so to say, when it comes to the Dayton Metro. And it was the Hawks org that got it done for these teams in Ohio.

Four teams are going to the National Championship out of this event. Four teams that two years ago... weren't going because an event for the Dayton Metro berths was never held.

I know some field issues are out of the Hawks control but Im sorry they knew going in what and who they were dealing with. Should have been better planning. Everything seemed disorganized from the get go. If you are going to put your name on a product better have all your bases covered. Nobody knew what was going on at check in. No 11" softballs at 10u fields. T-shirts in wrong places. Schedule changes. These were not city issues. I for one wont back till I know for sure things have changed

 

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16u: We had the same situation on Saturday. Went from one winner's bracket win to an immediate winner's bracket game, without any break. I think that if we had lost we would have had a game's break. And on Sunday, it was originally scheduled that we would play the winner's bracket finals at 10:00 am, at a time when there were still a lot of loser's bracket games that needed to be played to catch up with the winner's bracket. Not sure why that approach was taken.

 

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A lot of times Carol.. in events such as this caliber... many TD's ( metro officials) want to play that winner's bracket finals ASAP .. in case of rain.. so a winner can be truly be determined in case of rain and the tournament is cancelled.

I would have to say that is probally it.

 

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What would have happened if they (Hawks) did just decide to go ahead and lime the fields? Would the city say "that's our job." OK, if it's your job then do it. It needs to be in the contract that the city will refresh the fields or the tournament committe will do it. The question that should be asked is why didn't the city do it. The same thing happens at Berliner.

The contract for the fields is between the Dayton Metro and the City. It included lining, a refresh and champ games refresh. They were also to provide temp 200ft fences which never happened. Bower called / talked to the folks there 3 times in the past several weeks to remind them.

Yesterday morning I went onto the diamond where the workers and the person in charge of the 30 city fields had just lined a diamond and put a circle at 43'. I walked up and said, 'Hello, I am sorry that I did not catch you before you put the line down, but it needs to be at 40' w/ a rubber placed at 40. 'The response was 'no you are not'' - I said, 'actually I am, my fault, we will be glad to help, we even have a rubber right here for you to put down, do you want me to help you?' - Answer 'No, you are not permitted' - well I kept being nice and finally she started to warm up and got it done. We had several times were we needed spot work and when I asked her, she had a crew on it. I asked her and she said that only a city rec employee could do anything on the diamonds. She said they have 13 employees managing 30 parks.

I was just looking up the city managers phone, I am going to call and setup a meeting soon to arrange for next season's toureny and request adequate coverage and/or allowing us to assist. I agree that not relining the fields is unaccepatable at least once mid-day... we will have that addressed with the city next year ..

 

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What would have happened if they (Hawks) did just decide to go ahead and lime the fields? Would the city say "that's our job." OK, if it's your job then do it. It needs to be in the contract that the city will refresh the fields or the tournament committe will do it. The question that should be asked is why didn't the city do it. The same thing happens at Berliner.

And just like Kettering Fields, Berliner is run by the city with city workers. It stinks being at their mercy. I just wonder if there is any possible way around it.

 

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@quake: makes sense.

 

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How do you run out of shirts if they were pre-ordered?? Might wanna look into a different printing company.....

What happened was that we bagged several shirts by same team/diff ages in a bag - one bag had 6 extra shirts in it. In one case we had a bag for the Static (I remember seeing it) and it was handed out but perhaps to the wrong team? The parent wokring the table can't recall.

We also took in orders past the deadline that were mailed in and the 50 extra we had became 15 extra... again, we will mail everyone their shirts.. just email or pm me.

 

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Here's one for the books. We are getting ready to play the winners bracket final with the Gold, when our coach looks out at the mound and says she thought it looked more than 40 feet. So, both coaches talk and the 'crew' happens to be lining the field for that game(i know right?), so crew measures and it turns out the pitching rubber has been at 43 ft all weekend. Really!! Really??

 

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16u: We had the same situation on Saturday. Went from one winner's bracket win to an immediate winner's bracket game, without any break. I think that if we had lost we would have had a game's break. And on Sunday, it was originally scheduled that we would play the winner's bracket finals at 10:00 am, at a time when there were still a lot of loser's bracket games that needed to be played to catch up with the winner's bracket. Not sure why that approach was taken.

I spoke with Shorty and he told me they try to advance the winners bracket as deep as possible to allow the most teams to get as far along that path as possible in case rain shortens the event. In the event of a washout of 1/2 a day - if you have a ton of teams in the upper bracket - you have a big problem of not being able to at least complete the winners bracket and no one is happy. He said that usually 1 round of game back-back puts the winners far enought along that the tourney can absorb a weather hit and still have time to get all the winners bracket played out to completion.

The fields took on almost 2" of rain Sat night .. we were close to that situation ... just having those games played and in the books on Saturday allowed us to lose a little over an hour and still get everything in...

 

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I know some field issues are out of the Hawks control but Im sorry they knew going in what and who they were dealing with. Should have been better planning. Everything seemed disorganized from the get go. If you are going to put your name on a product better have all your bases covered. Nobody knew what was going on at check in. No 11" softballs at 10u fields. T-shirts in wrong places. Schedule changes. These were not city issues. I for one wont back till I know for sure things have changed

Well, when you deal with the Dayton Metro.... you have to hold it within the boundaries of that Metro... so no choice is given there to have it elsewhere. So you are forced to deal with everything that comes along with the package.

Now , personally, I would hold the 10u, 12u and 14u one weekend and the 16u and 18u the next weekend.

 

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@fastpitchrox:

Several 16u coaches are convinced that Field #4 at Kettering was set for less than 43 feet.

 

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Here's one for the books. We are getting ready to play the winners bracket final with the Gold, when our coach looks out at the mound and says she thought it looked more than 40 feet. So, both coaches talk and the 'crew' happens to be lining the field for that game(i know right?), so crew measures and it turns out the pitching rubber has been at 43 ft all weekend. Really!! Really??

That game was on Field 7 at Action, correct? We played all of our games on that field, with the exception of the pool game Friday night. That field at Kettering was also at 43 feet.

 

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That game was on Field 7 at Action, correct? We played all of our games on that field, with the exception of the pool game Friday night. That field at Kettering was also at 43 feet.

Yes, field 7 at Action.

 

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The contract for the fields is between the Dayton Metro and the City. It included lining, a refresh and champ games refresh. They were also to provide temp 200ft fences which never happened. Bower called / talked to the folks there 3 times in the past several weeks to remind them.

Yesterday morning I went onto the diamond where the workers and the person in charge of the 30 city fields had just lined a diamond and put a circle at 43'. I walked up and said, 'Hello, I am sorry that I did not catch you before you put the line down, but it needs to be at 40' w/ a rubber placed at 40. 'The response was 'no you are not'' - I said, 'actually I am, my fault, we will be glad to help, we even have a rubber right here for you to put down, do you want me to help you?' - Answer 'No, you are not permitted' - well I kept being nice and finally she started to warm up and got it done. We had several times were we needed spot work and when I asked her, she had a crew on it. I asked her and she said that only a city rec employee could do anything on the diamonds. She said they have 13 employees managing 30 parks.

I was just looking up the city managers phone, I am going to call and setup a meeting soon to arrange for next season's toureny and request adequate coverage and/or allowing us to assist. I agree that not relining the fields is unaccepatable at least once mid-day... we will have that addressed with the city next year ..

Funny how they act about someone doing a job like lining the field, like they are going to send the city worker home if a person from the host team lines a field or two. Just leave the damn field liner in the middle of the quad and go pick up some trash, I believe they get paid whether they are picking up trash or lining fields. All they had to do with the garbage cans is, start the day with several bags already in the cans, then just drive by and pull that one out and fresh bag ready to go. I wish you could make money off of plastic bottles because at Kettering fields 11-14, there most have been a thousand bottles on Saturday on the ground. A recyclers nightmare, all those bottles going in the garbage. JMHO

 

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Funniest part of weekend for me was when crews finally started dragging and lining fields once games were completed for the day.....with cigs hanging out of their mouths!!!

I do have to commend Shorty and his crew for how quick they acted to clear the park Saturday night once it was clear the storm was headed our way. Park was empty and lights were off 10 minutes after first lightning strike.

 

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Stingrays - thank you for being such good friends and coaches - look to see you guys in a couple weeks!

I have to agree. I spent some time with Mayberry and the others, as well as some of the parents from Grand Slam. Quality orgs, both. Quality coaches, quality players, quality parents.

Just wish we would have given Stingrays a better game!

 

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@Twinsdad:

Agree with that recycling point. One of our parents was especially concerned about that. How hard to subcontract with a company that would put out those cardboard receptacles and pick them up?

 

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@Twinsdad:

Agree with that recycling point. One of our parents was especially concerned about that. How hard to subcontract with a company that would put out those cardboard receptacles and pick them up?

It would be nice to see recycling receptacles at the ball parks. Definitely something for tournament venues to think about.

Have you ever heard of http://www.greenlaces.org/promise/Home.html

My dd read an article about them last year and has made good efforts to use a refillable water cooler when she practices and plays on the weekends. She was using several bottles a day--it really became evident when she had to clean the trash out of her bat bag.

This organization encourages the athletes to not buy plastic water/sports drinks bottles due to concerns for the environment.

I am not a Green fanatic by any means but I do work for an organization that promotes Green -this has made me rethink some of my choices when I purchase plastic bottles.

 

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It would be nice to see recycling receptacles at the ball parks. Definitely something for tournament venues to think about.

Have you ever heard of http://www.greenlaces.org/promise/Home.html

My dd read an article about them last year and has made good efforts to use a refillable water cooler when she practices and plays on the weekends. She was using several bottles a day--it really became evident when she had to clean the trash out of her bat bag.

This organization encourages the athletes to not buy plastic water/sports drinks bottles due to concerns for the environment.

I am not a Green fanatic by any means but I do work for an organization that promotes Green -this has made me rethink some of my choices when I purchase plastic bottles.

Agreed. I noticed the trash at our first tourney this year and decided I couldn't let myself be part of the problem. Even though the first tourney was good about clearing trash, after a couple games ended, it seemed like the cans got overfilled quickly.

This past weekend, I decided to break out my "Eco" bottled that I bought from a friend that sells Tupperware. They are 32 oz. bottles, and I filled them 3 at a time and stuck them in the cooler. In the car, I had my large cooler with gallon jugs of water on ice. We had plastic cups that we kept refilling with water, which eliminated trash (and trips to the trash can). It may not have been significantly cheaper than buying bottled water on sale, but it felt better!