That's a lot of negative...has anyone had a good experience?
I'll go on record with many views on this park.
Yes we've have many positive experiences. We've earned first place in around 10 tournaments there. I know most if not all umpires by there real name, their "other names", and the names the girls have made up for them. We've placed in all but one tournament in my 4 years as a head coach. Our other Static teams have also won and lost many battles there. I'd have to go on a limb (no bragging) and say our organization in the past 4 or 5 years has been one of the most successful to play there. Now, to offset that or explain my view, the wins don't make the park good or bad. I've nearly gotten tossed in every tournament due to umpires not knowing rules. And I don't work them over like Kavin does :lmao:. I really don't. I also know that when my teams show up the strike zone is tighter for me. We played league play there for 3 years and I'm not bitter, just reporting what happened. In the end it made us better. Just because we have good pitching doesn't give anyone the right to adjust anything... I'm sanctioned under the same rules the umpires make calls by.
As my team improved in depth we stopped playing there and changed our schedule(s) even in my first year at 10u. Reason being... we needed to see stronger teams. Needed better playing conditions. I knew Dave Herbert very well when he and John ran the park. Loved seeing them win the Doritos Superbowl commercial!!!!! I also know Marty fairly well and he has even had me to his office to discuss the park. I'll leave the specifics to our meeting private as they should be. Now, I work .2 miles down the street from this park. To say I'm close to the park is an understatement. Backyard it is for us! But for our team to progress and compete at the upper ASA level we can not play there and expect to get better. Now, we could play up week after week but the other factors that our team doesn't like are the field conditions and ammenitites. And let me tell you, we have veeeery low maintenance families, players, and coaches. But as we've traveled to Florida and other prestigous events across the midwest our familes have come to expect certain "things" for their $350-550 in tournament fees. And to "me", keeping the families happy will help keep the players happy. I've had the parents specifically say do not schedule anymore tournaments there due to the facility, the teams, and umpiring. If I have to yell at the ump's, tell "Sally" that she missed a short hop because the lip at the edge of field could be used for Mt Dew's X-Games... that gets old and now my ability to be a coach whom is tasked with making their daughter better now becomes compromised. Not being dramatic, I'd like to say I know how to get "there" and constant outside negative influences are not going to be in our path.
As far as competition goes, I remember when the KY Diamond Kats came up at 10u and showed us how good we weren't. We did end that season at 49-5. I had to miss the game to attend my DD's dance showcase and we got there with 10 minutes left in the game. We got beat but that team ended up winning the 10u NSA World Series. Many can remember lots of controversary around that team and their talent and lets call it "ethics". Had some battles with Doug's Hawks team there and Miami County Blaze seemed to get us everytime. So there are good teams there from time to time. We like to attend the early season warm-up tournaments just as many others do and we also attend the year end Cincy World Series. This year we don't have any Pastime Tournaments on our schedule. Pastime has mainly USSSA tournies and last year they started hosting some ASA tournies. Org's like Busto's Ultimates, EMR (veeery strong), West Side Thunder, Lil Hot Shots, Indiana Diamonds, and many others have lots of history there.
I thank Dave, John, and now Marty for the help they extended us over the years by hosting tournaments in our town. We have lots of "home plate" plaques, trophies, and memories there! We were there when Hurricane Ike came through with winds of 70mph+ watching Kavin's team dodge the sand blasting from the field dust. What a memory. Also been there with my oldest DD at 1:00a.m. and a wonderful temperature of 30 degrees. And lots of hot ones!!! I will say that with some true TLC this park could be great again. And if it gets turned around, my team will be back. Our other teams continue to frequent the park and many still play in the Spring/Summer league. We will not be in the league this year because our practices are better than the league play at this point and we don't want to burn out the girls. We also have girls coming from long distances and attending league games with 9 girls isn't practical.
Hope this helps.
OH yeah, I've even chatted with OQM! So what else can I say!?
