A Teams only Doing a few Fall tourneys

[MTR]

I don't think anyone is saying the costs are different. What is being said is you can have 4 teams come and play on two fields, 3 games each for cheaper than it would cost for you to enter a tourney.

I don't know what part of the country you reside MTR but most of the teams in NJ have fields that they either have year long permits to or they play out of a complex. No extra fees to use the fields. The snack shack is money that goes to the home teams and fields. Umps cost the same spring, summer or fall. However, during fall friendlies it's not uncommon to see only one ump. There are no trophies, no MVP, just 3 games and they are over in about 6 hours. Parents take care of the fields, raking, dragging mats, filling in holes and relining the RT and LT field lines and batters box.

So 4 teams play 12 games costing approx $600. We play several of these and host one or two. The snack shack will take in about 3-400 and everyone has a good time.

Why do you care if people have friendly tournaments instead of spending the extra money for Elimination days and plastic shelf candy.

I live in the Midatlantic area and the counties permit fields by dates, 365 days a year and if you want it guaranteed, you are sitting in the P&R Dept on the first business day after Jan 1st. Weekends can be grandfathered from year to year, but the org must still make their claim as early as possible, often the first week in January. Some of the youth softball org. have their own fields (leased county property) and that is where many of these tournaments are held, but there are no lights and minimal, if any, facilities other than a snack bar and Johnny-on-the-Spot. For a larger tournament, they need to use permitted county fields and they cost money above field maintenance.

But even the tournaments on the "private" fields are fund raisers, so there is always going to be a cost involved. Umpires are at a premium because youth organizations rarely cooperate and never coordinate in scheduling and compete for the same group of umpires. And that group is often limited because many officials are working football or other sports on fall weekends or just enjoy spending time with the family they haven't been with on a weekend for the previous six months. If there are not enough available, there is the expense of importing and housing umpires from another area. And yes, I'm still talking about fall ball.

I agree, it SHOULDN'T be about the money, it should be about fun and a work-out playing a sport you like. But in today's world, the dollar is king and no one is about to overthrow that monarchy. It is also still a "keep up with the Joneses" society and god forbid someone have something else you don't have. And, like it or not, you still have people chasing that carrot.

Even with a limited number of teams, it can still be an expensive proposition unless you want it to be more of a scrimmage and not worry about winning or scores, but it seems some people have a problem with that.

BTW, I should note that some umpires do work these tournaments for less, but their enticement is often time limits and limited number of games because, it isn't supposed to be a tooth-and-nail type of fight on the field, it is supposed to be part of the enjoyable softball experience.

 

[MsDinosaur]

The B and C teams here are doing more tourneys that A teams, in the multiple vowel org. ASA here canceled most fall tourneys due to bad weather and low participation.

Showcases more prominent but there is no winner there...I went to a so-called showcase and 80% of the playing in games was awful.

What secrets do the A teams have? Better practices with bonding/communication over bad playing in lower-level fall tourneys?

I really do wonder how they can be good in spring without more fall games.

My DD is on a B team, so I wouldn't know about A team secrets, lol. However, IMO, her team was at their best when they first started playing fall tournaments and their performance level started dropping as fall ball went on. They went from two practices every week (1 week night and 1 weekend) down to usually having only the single week night practice (which of course gets progressively shorter as we lose daylight). The tournament games are fun, but I don't think they do as much for their skill levels as a good thorough practice session.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't skip the weekend practice session on a tournament weekend unless we made the finals. The girls are all in one place with all their gear and there's daylight left--so a lot of the logistics problems are removed. As soon as we're eliminated, I'd have everyone drive to the closest spot with an empty field or patch of grass and practice for an hour or two. Not as punishment, but as a chance to squeeze a little more softball into the day and to work on whatever needs work. I do realize that I'm nuts and I'm not the coach, so I keep my mouth shut, but I just hate to see opportunities for practice go unused.

 

[Ken Krause]

I remember playing fall ball several years ago when it was a sort of pseudo-league. We'd play a double header every Sunday in September and October, weather permitting. My experience was like MsDinosaur's. We'd start out playing pretty well, because we were only a month removed from the season. No practices during the week, though, so by the time October came around it looked like someone had replaced the teams with pod people from a planet where they didn't play softball.

 

[MTR]

We'd start out playing pretty well, because we were only a month removed from the season. No practices during the week, though, so by the time October came around it looked like someone had replaced the teams with pod people from a planet where they didn't play softball.

Just out of curiosity, were they still being coached in the same manner as during the summer or was that eased up for fall?

 

[livingontheroad]

As someone else said, HS girls are often busy with other sports. Some schools play ball in the fall, not spring too. Colleges have camps, girls have to take their ACT and SAT tests, they all have homecoming at their schools, and their boyfriends schools, and they ARE NOT going to miss those. They are all on different weekends too. At 16U and up, its VERY hard to get them all together . Also teams need to do fundraising too sometimes if they want to play.

Play a few friendlys, practice a few times to see what you have, maybe play a major exposure event, and then wait till summer.

Now at 14U and below its a different story. They can play all year round, use pickup players for their HS players that cant play, and come roaring out the gate in summer with a well oiled team that already has 15 tournaments under their belt.