Nationals for all sanctions

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Unless they have changed it, USSSA has it in there bylaws that teams have to play in the state tournament to attend worlds. How strongly enforced that is in Ohio is up to debate, but I know in states like PA and MD you play state or stay home.

Does anyone think that a compromise would work? Say change the structure of qualifying to where the winner gets a direct berth, the runner-up a berth contingent on participation in states, and then the remainder of berths come from state tournament placement? If this is the case, I would want to ensure that all World qualifiers used the same format as the states to ensure fairness across the board and that everyone qualifies the same way.

I do not know if a proposal like that would get entertained at the convention. I do not do this for a living, so I can be considered an outsider at times when I propose ideas.

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To my knowledge, with the exception of the 18U competition at NSA World Series and the new Premier competitions, no one other than ASA has a nation-wide final tournament that requires qualification through fairly restrictive means. There are only 9-10 teams from Ohio that can go to a USA/ASA and those teams are not artificially required to play ASA States if they have already earned a berth. Ask McMadness if they are mandated to play any required tournament after earning their berth by winning ASA Eastern Nationals.

 

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I can only speak for my team, but we would have probably gone to NSA World Series if it wasnt for the "must play in States rule" NSA States were played on July 4th weekend which was one of only 2 weekends off for my team the whole season. The parents agreed not to go to NSA States because they wanted the weekend off for Camping and family time. We had qualified at 3 NSA tournaments prior to "States". Our team decided to go to ASA Eastern instead. I can honestly tell you the "Play in States Rule" played a huge factor in our decision.

Jeff Steiner
10u Thunder Elite

 

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Jeff:

Thanks for sharing your experience. If you had the option to take a holiday week off and still attend ASA Eastern Nationals, I don't think you lost anything by deciding to forgo NSA States. A qualifier should be a qualifier. If it is simply a "pre-qualifier" dependent upon the commitment to spend a second weekend at NSA States even though you can't gain any advantage or lose any advantage by your participation at NSA States, then that is what they should call it: "a pre-qualifier with meaningless commitments".