We played in this tournament last weekend, and there was a mix of good and bad. Good news is it's double elimination, so if you don't come ready to play in the morning you still have a chance to do better later and come back. It's just a long road.
Competition level was pretty good. Not a lot of teams, but those who were there were all competent so there were some good games.
But there were a lot of negatives too. First off is that Elgin Sports Complex. I really don't care for it much, which is a shame because it could be a great place to play. On Saturday, per usual out there, the fields were lined and dragged once, for the first game, and then that was it. A couple of guys came out between games and raked the field by hand, which is better than nothing but not really acceptable in my opinion when you're paying $400 or so for a tournament. On Sunday, they did drag and reline the field for the semi-final game, and no doubt for the final game. But come on guys -- chalk is cheap.
The tournament took place on five fields, and for those five fields they had two portable toilets. Not a good ratio. True, the center building was open, with indoor toilets, but if you're in the middle of a game and a player has to go, it's a long hike to the indoor toilets. At some point on Saturday, someone dropped something nasty in the urinal in one of them, so that took it down to one toilet. Come Sunday morning both portable toilets were duct taped shut. If you were playing back-to-back games through the loser's bracket that meant going to the indoor building. Try hustling a team through that with an umpire anxious to keep things moving. There should've been more portable toilets, and they should've been cleaned before Sunday morning.
Umpiring was erratic in some areas. First of all, it was one umpire all the way through the semi-finals at 14U. I did see two umpires on other fields, where 16U and 12U were playing, although I'm not sure where they were in their tournament since both of those fields consisted of four teams. Maybe they were already in the finals.
The worst, though, was the lack of understanding of basic rules. We had not one but two umpires tell us there were no courtesy runners allowed, despite this being an ASA Northern National Qualifier. After being told this the second time I chased down the UIC, who set the plate umpire straight. But again, unacceptable that a tournament being run by an umpire's association should have any doubt on something that is in the ASA rulebook.
So I'd say they definitely have some work to do to upgrade this tournament. The potential is there, but they have to take a good, hard look at what they're offering, especially in terms of facilities and playing fields.
Competition level was pretty good. Not a lot of teams, but those who were there were all competent so there were some good games.
But there were a lot of negatives too. First off is that Elgin Sports Complex. I really don't care for it much, which is a shame because it could be a great place to play. On Saturday, per usual out there, the fields were lined and dragged once, for the first game, and then that was it. A couple of guys came out between games and raked the field by hand, which is better than nothing but not really acceptable in my opinion when you're paying $400 or so for a tournament. On Sunday, they did drag and reline the field for the semi-final game, and no doubt for the final game. But come on guys -- chalk is cheap.
The tournament took place on five fields, and for those five fields they had two portable toilets. Not a good ratio. True, the center building was open, with indoor toilets, but if you're in the middle of a game and a player has to go, it's a long hike to the indoor toilets. At some point on Saturday, someone dropped something nasty in the urinal in one of them, so that took it down to one toilet. Come Sunday morning both portable toilets were duct taped shut. If you were playing back-to-back games through the loser's bracket that meant going to the indoor building. Try hustling a team through that with an umpire anxious to keep things moving. There should've been more portable toilets, and they should've been cleaned before Sunday morning.
Umpiring was erratic in some areas. First of all, it was one umpire all the way through the semi-finals at 14U. I did see two umpires on other fields, where 16U and 12U were playing, although I'm not sure where they were in their tournament since both of those fields consisted of four teams. Maybe they were already in the finals.
The worst, though, was the lack of understanding of basic rules. We had not one but two umpires tell us there were no courtesy runners allowed, despite this being an ASA Northern National Qualifier. After being told this the second time I chased down the UIC, who set the plate umpire straight. But again, unacceptable that a tournament being run by an umpire's association should have any doubt on something that is in the ASA rulebook.
So I'd say they definitely have some work to do to upgrade this tournament. The potential is there, but they have to take a good, hard look at what they're offering, especially in terms of facilities and playing fields.
