* Name of the tournament - The Howling (NSA Sanctioned) 10U-18U
* Location - Kankakee, IL
* Quality of teams - B to high B
* Field quality overall - below average
* Field quality for games -- lined and raked in the morning only
* Communication from tournament director - Poor numerous last-minute changes and delays
* Facilities - Filthy bathrooms (need to be hosed down) and two overused porta potty's
* Number of umpires per game - Two NSA umps (no issues with the overworked umpires)
* Concessions - concessions are amazingly good and reasonable, although I'm not sure if the local health department is involved or if sanitation is satisfactory
* Comments - 10/21/2023 - We had a 45-minute drive and were expected to be at the field by 7 a.m. - We were notified at 5:52 am our 8 a.m. start time was being pushed back one hour to 9 a.m. (no, it didn't rain all night) - we suffered with numerous schedule changes and delays throughout the day - originally scheduled for three Saturday games, but the tournament expected our girls to play 5 games spread out over 14 hours (pool play to bracket and not for the championship)- after a 12 hour day, our fourth game was completed (a loss) around 8:15 pm, at this point most of our team was crying in the dugout while moving out to wait to start our fifth game at scheduled for 10 pm - (the temperatures throughout the day had ranged from 45-65 degrees with high winds most of the day and at this point our girls were exhausted). Finally, when given the opportunity, the girls voted to walk, and forfeit the last game along with the tournament. Most were still crying because they didn't want to quit, as these are all tough and competitive 14 and 15-year-old girls, but they had nothing left.
To me expecting a 16U team to play a schedule like this is borderline child abuse!
* Location - Kankakee, IL
* Quality of teams - B to high B
* Field quality overall - below average
* Field quality for games -- lined and raked in the morning only
* Communication from tournament director - Poor numerous last-minute changes and delays
* Facilities - Filthy bathrooms (need to be hosed down) and two overused porta potty's
* Number of umpires per game - Two NSA umps (no issues with the overworked umpires)
* Concessions - concessions are amazingly good and reasonable, although I'm not sure if the local health department is involved or if sanitation is satisfactory
* Comments - 10/21/2023 - We had a 45-minute drive and were expected to be at the field by 7 a.m. - We were notified at 5:52 am our 8 a.m. start time was being pushed back one hour to 9 a.m. (no, it didn't rain all night) - we suffered with numerous schedule changes and delays throughout the day - originally scheduled for three Saturday games, but the tournament expected our girls to play 5 games spread out over 14 hours (pool play to bracket and not for the championship)- after a 12 hour day, our fourth game was completed (a loss) around 8:15 pm, at this point most of our team was crying in the dugout while moving out to wait to start our fifth game at scheduled for 10 pm - (the temperatures throughout the day had ranged from 45-65 degrees with high winds most of the day and at this point our girls were exhausted). Finally, when given the opportunity, the girls voted to walk, and forfeit the last game along with the tournament. Most were still crying because they didn't want to quit, as these are all tough and competitive 14 and 15-year-old girls, but they had nothing left.
To me expecting a 16U team to play a schedule like this is borderline child abuse!