What makes a team an "A" team or "B" team

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I think you want to push your team... but not all the time and every tournament.

"B" teams/coaches know they are a "B" team. I don't think it is about winning so much to say... but to be able to play against "equal" competition every once in awhile would be nice as a "B" team. The kids don't need to get a clobbered weekend after weekend. I think when you get older... after 14u ( not 13u) you want to play good competition and if you are a "B" at this age level.... then go hit the National Eastern Regionals / "B" Eastern Regionals for your final event if you can financially. Then you are "READY" based on you have been playing up all year and prepared yourself for the National event just like anyone else.

 

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Yathzee says it all the time - Coaches will tell you what level they are by the tourney's they play in. There are very few 'A' teams out there that commit to sanctioning 'A' and playing 'A' .. most sanction 'B' then play 1 or 2 local 'A' tourneys and refer to themselves as an 'A' team.

We found out last season what 'A' ball is all about on our 11u team. It is tough, there are no easy games and you better come ready to play. We played in 3 tourneys that while very good ones local ones, woul not be considered to have true 'A' comp top to bottom and we went undefeated in two and lost to the Doom in the infamous pitcher leaped call game.

We never made it to the Championship of any of the 'A' tourneys we played in - LASERS, Stingrays, GAPSS, Dayton METRO, ASA State, Doom (actually we made the champ of the Doom tourney and lost the Buckeye Elite team 5-3) .. even though we had good success .600 winning in the 'A' tourneys our kids started to get beat down in July from all the tough competition week in and week out. But, they loved it and found that they could play at that level.

Financially, it is hard as well - our parents spent around $3000-$4000 last season in fees,travel/hotel ... you just don't find the 'A' tourney's local down here in SWO.

In talking to Rudy (stingrays) last season, they have it right - they want teams that have a history of playing at the ASA A level and not teams that 'want' to go to Stingrays but also play a lot local 'B' USSSA/ASA tourneys as well. We found out 2 years ago the true A teams don't want to play anything but other 'A' teams and they will travel to do so. After last season, we are seeing other teams, like Compuware, Team Indiana, Nitro, etc, contact us to play this fall and spring in friendlies to sharpen each other for the summer comp ...

Lastly - 'A' teams better practice pretty much year round .. they have to in order to maintain the edge and skills required.

 

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There is A then there is A. Each region varies, NSA A may be comparable to ASA B in certain areas, don't get hung up on labels there is no right answer, IMO you should try to play at a level where you are confident you can win between 1/4 and 3/4 of your games. If you can't win 25% of the time your probably wasting many better opponents time and there are only so many games you can play in a year, if your winning more than 75% of the time and not playing at the highest level available then it's time to move on to better competition whether that is B to A or moving from NSA to ASA or from 12U to 14U there are always bigger fish to fry.

Agreed.. we were just below .600 playing ASA A tourneys as an 11u last season. We were shooting for .500 ball, so we were pleased. Teams that post they won 80% or more of their games, and 8 tourney are only broadcasting that they did not play the schedule that they should have. 2 years ago, we won 8 of 11 10u tourneys we entered, most locally here in SWO - and yes we promoted it on OFC - and yes we did not play the schedule we should have. We went to GAPSS and came in 4th and saw for the first time the Lasers, Nitro, Pitts RRunners - and we knew it was time to make the jump ... which we did last season and it was a great experience - it motivated us to play that level of comp the next season.

You are right, true A teams don't want to play lessor teams, they want to hit the best week in and week out.. that was a big eye opener for us as well.

 

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What's the old saying: steel sharpens steel. To be able to be one of the best out there you HAVE to play the best week in and week out to achieve that goal. I tip my hat to the teams that want to get after it each week and play the BEST "A" teams they can. Not all tournaments will offer nothing but elite "A" teams. Sometimes you have to play who shows up. But you must continue to strive to be that elite team you want to be.