TCS tourneys

DDs team is signed up to play pretty much all TCS tourneys this season. is this how TB typically works? you kind of choose one type of tourney (TCS, PGF, USSSA) etc. and play several tourneys within one organization? Or do teams more typically float around to different tournament organizations? Also, is their a relative competition level? like PGF is where all the great teams play, USSSA is where the lower level teams play? It all seems so random and chaotic I am just trying to develop some sort of understanding of how this whole thing works.

Depends on age group and what coach wants to do... at gold level we play all the big tourneys I.E. Independence Day in Colorado, TCS world series, PGF qualifiers and nationals and we have a few tuneups for Memorial Day etc. but younger teams will play a lot of TCS etc. just depends a lot on the skill level your team can be competitive at

At 12U,14U, most of our teams have tried to play mostly ASA tourneys, with a few PGF and TCS qualifiers. Ideally they will go to a TCS world series event in August as a warmup prior to going to PGF or ASA Nationals/Regionals.

Most SoCal teams play more than 1 sanction along with some unsanctioned events. Teams, especially younger ones like your DD's, should have an end-of-season goal (e.g. PGF Nats, ASA/USA Nats, ASA Westerns, TCS World Series) and qualifying for that would be the first priority for their schedule. After that, the rest of the schedule should be geared towards developing the team and preparing them for their goal.

- PGF is the goal for almost all the top SoCal teams and it is very challenging for the next tier teams to qualify due to supply/demand here for berths. Quite a few SoCal teams will travel to AZ, NorCal, Las Vegas and/or OR chasing a berth. IMHO, if a team has to chase a berth at multiple qualifiers, they don't really belong in it.

- It is extremely easy to qualify for ASA here because there are often more berths than teams wanting them - playing in the SoCal State tournament will qualify you for ASA Western Nats and almost quarantees you a berth to ASA/USA Nats. 14U will be more competitive this year as ASA/USA 14U Nats is in San Diego and it does not conflict with PGF 14U Nats.

- TCS puts on a lot of regular tourneys because teams don't have to qualify for their World Series. Their WS usually consists of a wide range of teams and it is a good tourney for all because TCS places teams into different brackets based on pool play results.

- Other sanctions (e.g. USSSA and AFA) are usually lower level.

- There are some unsanctioned events run by travel orgs/teams that draw top teams (e.g. Mothers Day Classic, OCBB's Best of the West and some of the Toys for Tots tourneys).

You can get a good feel for events by looking at which teams are entered.