A team , B team , Gold Team , whats it all mean ?

I see folks posting about teams referring to them as an A, B, or Gold team . We just made the jump from Rec. Ball to ASA and I am not sure what it means . Can someone clue me in ?

In some places, A and B and Gold, Elite, etc reference levels of play,while in other places, they can mean whatever you want them to.

Historically, an "A" team was a team made of players from several cities or towns. A "B" team was a team from a single town or city. The idea is that "A" teams are better than "B" teams because they draw from larger areas. So, usually "A" teams did not play "B" teams.

In the mid 1990s, the ASA (the largest softball organization in the US) created a "Gold Division" for its 18U division. The Gold Division was to have the "best of the best". There was an 18U Gold national championship and an 18U A national championship.

Then, 18U teams started designating themselves as "A" or "Gold" teams. So, there would be an Tulsa Elite A Team (a team playing 18U A ball) and a Tulsa Elite Gold Team (playing 18U gold).

Some softball organizations (e.g., the Naperville Diamonds) have multiple teams at each level. In order to tell which team was "the best" at any age division, they used the "Gold" designation.

Generally, "Gold" is the best team for a particular age group from a particular softball organization. Whether the team is "good" is a whole different story.

C teams are generally rec teams that may play tournaments on weekends or after rec season is over.

B teams are lower level travel teams that may include "All Star" rec teams. They usually don't travel as far to play in tournaments. They may play in a world series at the end of the season.

A teams play against the toughest competition they can find. They usually try to qualify for ASA nationals or Premier Nationals so they travel wherever nessesary to do so. If they don't qualify, they may play at an A world series, or a regional ASA National.

Gold teams are the older age groups (18 Gold is a classification by ASA and I believe Premier) that are full of girls looking to get college scholarships. They travel wherever nessesary to get college exposure. They play as many college exposure tournaments as they can, regardless of where they are, as well as ASA or Premier nationals. The goal is to get all the girls on the team scholarships.


I am speaking from my experiance, not any Rule book, but this is generally true in my area.

Don't let all the nonsense above fool you.

According to ASA rules, "B" teams must be comprised of players belonging to a sanctioned ASA rec league or a small geographic area similar to what a rec league might pull from. "C" teams are the second teams from these organizations that already have B teams.

"A" teams are private organizations forming their own team or teams. They can have players from anywhere.

There are a LOT of daddy ball teams at the A level, many are not very good. B teams can play up in A tournaments, but A teams cannot play down. Many good B organizations compete in A tournaments and do well.

18 Gold is the only ASA "gold" division. Players in gold may not be currently playing for a college team. 18u may have college players on roster. 18 gold is basically the ASA showcase division whose purpose is to prep kids for college ball and provide venues to college coaches to observe and recruit. (debatable on if this works given all the showcase leagues outside ASA).

-W

The descriptions on here are correct, for the most part. But keep in mind that just because a team calls themselves "Gold" teams doesn't necessarily mean anything other than they call themselves that.

And then there are teams who actually use "Gold" as part of their name, i.e. Yourtown Gold, or Yourtown Blue, etc.

starsnuffer,... You may be correct in what you say pertaining to ASA, but ASA B and C are pretty much nonexistant in GA., as are ASA Rec leagues. ASA Nationals is only the goal of A teams around here. USFA, USSSA, NSA, and all the others, have no requirements for A, B, or even C, as in your post. The "nonsense" posted above applies to pretty much all A B and C teams goals, regardless of any restrictions imposed by ASA, or any other Rule set.

In retrospect, my earlier post wasn't that helpful, sorry. What I would like to point out is that while the terms have meaning in a strict ASA classification sense, outside of ASA often times a team will brand itself as something that it may not be as a matter of trying to distinguish it from its competitors or to justify exorbitant fees. A little homework or first-hand observation of a team will quickly verify the truth of the matter.

The teams can be classified monetarily as well
'B' is normally less expensive plays locally, 'A' travels and plays regionally,
"GOLD' travels nationally. They could be called Bronze,Silver and Gold
for argument sake.

On a serious note, ASA 'A' is much better than USSSA 'A' in my experience