Interesting changes in IL ASA

[mkral]

Quake, been there done that last year at 10U state!! I still never ceases to amaze me. Now that being said we knew it would be this way and we still went. We did the 13U USSSA state last year with my oldest DD and I was happier with that other then one team came down from 14U to get into our bracket because they did not like their seating in the 14U bracket. They juggled some kids from one of their other teams and in they came. They were a lot better then everyone else. We were the only team to score a run on them and it was only one run. Oh yeah this was in Iowa by the way.

 

[Bishop]

Actually, ASA is not "self-declared" as code provides for specific standards to be met by "B" teams. And before anyone says something about it, I acknowledge that ASA, from the top down, somewhat ignore this portion of the code, which allows sandbagging teams to thrive. OTOH, if they followed the code strictly as written, participation in championship play would probably severely decline.

Thanks for reminding me of that MTR. I checked my 2010 rule book and it really reads that any team that plays outside thier municipal league would be concidered a travel team and should be registering A. The description of B sounds like the folks that have pulled a bunch of rec or municipal league players together to play travel ball. That team would only be considered B for that first year and expected to move to A the following.

Getting reclasification to B from A would take consistent finishes in the bottom 25% of A tournaments and/or going 0 - 3 at the state tournament. If that happened you could apply for consideration to move to B.

Certainly looks nothing like the way things really work. A quick check shows 52 teams registered A and 202 teams registered B when combining IL ASA and Chicago Metro.

Anyone care to speculate on the chances that ASA will use the finishes at the state tournament to set the classifications for next year? That could be an interesting development.

 

[Bishop]

I am glad to hear the ASA in Illinois is making an attempt to make things competitive at the state tournament. I wish they would do the same in Iowa. It is even worse in Iowa, which has A, B and C tournaments. I never understood why have three different tournaments if you weren't going to regulate who could participate in them. If you are going to let A teams play in a C tournament, then just have one state tournament and then no one could complain. We were at the C tournament at 10U a couple of years back and the team that won was clearly an A team but were allowed to enter. That same team went on in the fall and won every 12U tournament they played in. Absolutely ridiculous.

The USSSA has a fairly decent job of "ranking" teams through the year and place them in the correct class. I don't understand why the ASA can't develope the same program.

That's exactly what the IL ASA guys are trying to prevent. Seems they have been getting a fair amount of pressure from some of the B teams that have been getting thier heads kicked in on a regular basis to start a C class. Fortunately they know coaches as well as we seem to an knew that if they opened a C class then a big chunck of the B teams would register C and in a couple years have people asking for a D class. Before you know it youth fastpitch would look like adult slow pitch classifications.

Thier solution looks to be kick 75% of the teams up to A and make them argue thier way down to B classification if they are an experienced team and/or organization. Regardless of how it plays out it should be interesting to watch from the sidelines.

 

[MTR]

Anyone who has been involved in the adult slow pitch side of softball knows what a Pandora's Box subjective classification can be.

You think you have sandbagging teams now playing down because the present system is not enforced, just wait. Of course, the present system is not enforced because of the fear of losing teams who can go to XYZ softball and play wherever they please. Its much like carry-on luggage in an airport. They've had size restrictions and rules for years, but no one would TELL a customer "no" because they didn't want to anger them. Only recently have some airlines decided to put their foot down.

If ASA would just enforce what is there, many of the concerns would just evaporate. Of course, that will not stop people from lying which, unfortunately, seems to be an acceptable method to circumvent the system by some.

Local ASA associations can do what is necessary to accommodate their local teams and leagues, but those teams need to understand that when they go away, the ASA Code and eligibility rules apply, not the local assns.

And to answer the question concerning whether ASA would pursue this avenue of classification, it could not happen until 2012 at the earliest. However, from experience in SP, it would take a few years to set up, iron out any kinks and have completely operational. Oh, and then there is the part about the time and expense of maintaining such a database.