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Ok this is for TD's , I just wanted to know why you chose to host a certain santions tournament.
Why do you prefer A.S.A., N.S.A., PONY, I.F.A., U.S.S.S.A. tournaments, what makes you want to host one over the other.

We host A.S.A. because i like the effort they make to not be about the money, and it is the J.O. for softball. Plus i believe it is the best of the sanctions for softball. Less hassle, has the better rules....but they do need better goverening over class "A" and "B"

 

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I've hosted PONY, NSA, ASA, ASA Eastern Qualifiers, and ASA National qualifiers... We'll only do ASA ever again. Although I think PONY runs a great, family friendly National Tournament, we don't draw the same talent at our tournaments when we host them. NSA is a nightmare, its a huge paperwork hassle, we have to gethotles for umpires and when it's all done they'll give a berth to anyone anyway. Our ASA National Qualifier drew incrediable competition last year from 6 states. It was a lot of fun. The eastern qualifiers haven't haven drawn as well but w postedlate this year...

the best reason for ASA in columbus ohio is the umpiring is pretty solid and Jim Wharton works hard to keep his men (and women) where they are supposed to be. One less headache for a TD.

 

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I think David has hit it on the head--it comes down to how much the person above you supports you. I do USSSA because when I was doing youth slowpitch in the early 90s, USSSA gave me much better support than ASA did and throughout the years, the support has remained very solid. So, I feel very comfortable with everyone at the state level or below.

 

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I agree with Parma.... and no matter what association "A" and "B" is tough and confusing for some teams.

"B" in USSSA or NSA is different from ASA "B"... and it gets teams confused sometimes when entering a "B" tournament from one association to another.

In Ohio, I think the teams like a two division tournaments actually. Time will tell.

 

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I chose IFA because it is new and seems to be more about the players than the money. I have also hosted ASA and they give great support also. I will Never host N$A, or NAFA. I may consider USSSA. All of my tournaments have been successful and gotten bigger. The SpringFling will never get bigger than 16 teams, The SummerSlam3 will never get bigger than 40 teams. and the Fall out will stay at 16 also. The smaller the better

 

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any other TD's out there

 

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Until this year, I have only hosted NSA tournaments. The reason is that is all I have ever played or ran for the last 15 years. I didn't agree with a lot of the state office decisions, but still ran the best tournament that I could. If I could change some things about how they do business state-wide, I would still be hosting NSA.

Switching this year to first USSSA and now ASA, has been one giant nightmare. USSSA and Denny Rose would have been fine if the local USSSA director had not promised me the world in slow-pitch to go with my fast-pitch and then changed his mind when the tires met the pavement. I would like to eventually phaze completely out of slo-pitch but I do not want to get "kicked" out like the district U-Trip director was doing to me.

ASA has been something else also. Having the local director storm out of a meeting with myself, him, and Warren Jones was not a good start.

Who knows what the off season has in store for me. I will not take the Quaker Man approach and have positions in 4 sanctions in a calendar year. I would rather stay home with my daughter than go thru that.

 

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ASA has been something else also. Having the local director storm out of a meeting with myself, him, and Warren Jones was not a good start.

Why, what did you do or say to him.

 

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ASA.....strong umpire support in NW Ohio...... USSSA is also strong in NW Ohio to a different degree but I just have a hard time yelling "Hey Blue" to a guy in a red shirt.
The last couple of years since Warren has taken over, ASA has been more innovative and very competitive. Obviously there is room for both in NW Ohio. NSA and a few others have tried to move in but without success.
I believe that all sanctioning bodies need to work hard to improve.

 

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We chose PONY because they truly are about the kid's. They are good people from the top to the bottom. All the people in PONY internationally are volunteers except for the top three. Their rules are very good and their national tournaments are very good. I think if more teams tried PONY they may well like it.

 

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I agree Mike. I'd would stay home as well with the kids....lol

ASA has some good umpires (in certain areas) and Columbus is one of those areas.

People have asked me to speak about what happened with IFA... but at this time I cannot because of some issues that are about to come to light probally late next week.

USSSA, which I was with for 26 years as an umpire (still am) and a Men's Tournament Director.... wasn't a bad organization on the men's side of things.

NSA... Paperwork nightmare. Too costly for a TD as well with the $35.00 to $40.00 per team... then $300 plus for a UIC and then motels for the umpires, etc.... and then two years back to back at Tealtown.... when I offered up Goshen to help get the girls some games and was told no and that they would be alright at Tealtown. (Which did not happen)

ASA in Southern Ohio.... non- existant to a point (except this year when they decided to place a Rec "B" 14u in Dayton this summer and organizations who ran USSSA events for years jumped ship to hold qualifiers).


Girls fastpitch softball in Ohio is a funny thing.

So, I just started my own association (waiting on somepaperwork from the government), with a sanctioning fee of $1.00... will hold a few events.... which are in the planning stage right now for 2010.... have some great umpires on my list that can travel and willing to do so.... Find wonderful parks to play at.... have some great sponsors for 2010 lined up...... and details for the 2010 season will come out soon as we wish to get teams talking about it THIS season.