What Nationals do You Play?

InSider

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With everyone at nationals, I was curious, what is the deciding factor on which nationals you attend? How do you decide which nationals to chase? Some things to think about are strength of your team, the location of the event, the costs associated with attending the event. Can you qualify for that event? Will you have enough players?

What is your decision making process on this?
 

spartansd

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The only question for us is do we want to travel to ASA/USA?
If no then we search for something closer.
Obviously we must qualify but that has not been an issue to date.
But for instance 16U is in College Station this year. That is a plane ticket. To much $$$ IMO for a tournament we have been to before. So we went to PGF Central Champ.
Next year ASA/USA 16U is in Illinois or Indiana. So we will either go there or ask parents if they want to make a goal of heading to PGF in Cali. This will be our last year so we would consider that plane ride just for the unique nature and one time chance.

A big consideration is also if we have been to that National before and does the location sound fun?
 

wpaguy

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InSider, you beat me to the punch on this topic. I was looking for feedback on the different Nationals for next year. My DD team will be a 13u team for 2017 year . This summer we went to the USSSA championship in Ocean City, MD for 12u . I have to give it an overall C grade. For second year in a row the opening ceremonies were shot with rain and no back up plan. The gate fee was very high "and did not cover the opening ceremony ", and the fields were not that great. The really should call this event the Easton Shore / Salisbury / Snow Hill / Berlin championships , as you played anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes away from OC. We did have a few very good umpires , but one very bad one that really was over the top. The one good thing I could say was the competition was better than expected.

Any recommendations for a 13u team for next year ? I see USSSA has a odd year championship ? Also I looked up info on the All sanctioned WS in Ohio . They seem to have a good deal with low fees. Has anyone gone to ASA in VA beach ?
 

Fairman

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"With everyone at nationals.....'


For all those teams that are NOT at nationals....its okay.

Not every 10u travel team or even every 18u has to attend nationals. It's okay to stay home and spend a few weeks with the family or friends or just hanging out. Maybe even doing something not related to SB, like visit a National Park or an Historic Site. School is just around the corner and the HS season is 6 months off and TB a month or two after that. Just because your 11 year old's team didn't get on a plane and spend a week in Colorado doesn't make you less of a parent.

I just want to state for the record that your dd will not suffer irreparable harm if her TB team is not spending a week at one of the numerous national tournaments and your bank account will thank you.
 

CoachTEA

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It wasn't our goal to play "nationals" (been there, done that). Our goal was showcase tournaments and 7 of our 8 tournaments were showcase events. Our final tournament was USSSA Summer Showcase & Tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The key to selecting that event was the words: "Gulf Shores, Alabama". :cool: It wasn't as competitive as last year, but there some good teams there and we represented (5-0 First Place in the "A" division). And we did the "OH-IO" cheer afterwards....
 

mike_dyer

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I just want to state for the record that your dd will not suffer irreparable harm if her TB team is not spending a week at one of the numerous national tournaments and your bank account will thank you.

Hear, hear!
 

tankerlab

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With everyone at nationals, I was curious, what is the deciding factor on which nationals you attend? How do you decide which nationals to chase? Some things to think about are strength of your team, the location of the event, the costs associated with attending the event. Can you qualify for that event? Will you have enough players?

What is your decision making process on this?
Here is another thing to think of... Not everyone IS at Nationals OR even desires to be...
We don't chase Nationals or even try to make them... We are a showcase team that prioritized getting the players college looks and offers.
Fall season is spent going a few showcase tournaments and doing invites to college scrimmages and college invite tournaments. Summer is around 7 showcase tournaments.
6 girls on the team have committed and the rest of the team players have one or more offers...
 

lewam3

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Tanker, I appreciate your approach and philosophy to attend showcase tournaments, but couldn't you throw in just one national qualifier? The competition, say, at ASA States is definitely there, and there are plenty of coaches scouting that venue. Then you know where you stand as a team competition wise. Just throwing it out there.
 

CoachTEA

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Lewam3 - yes, we could and we hope to compete at 18u ASA States at Berliner. Frankly I don't care for some of the venues for the qualifiers and if there is a showcase going on currently, I am more likely to chose the showcase. We saw college coaches at Best of the Best and GAPSS as well as really good competition. Likewise we had success with coaches at Scenic City, Capitol City and Recruitfest. This year Nashville Elite was uncharacteristically devoid of coaches except the ones we invited; I blame the change of venue.
 
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