Travel team

[bruinfan76]

I 'm looking into starting a 16 u travel team in southern california I got a group of 8 girls already and planned on using eteamz to fill out the rest of my roster. I'm looking for some advice on how to get insurance and fields. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mksoftball759]

If you register your team ASA you will be required to purchase their insurance, but it also covers your team no matter what sanction you play under. If you are not registering ASA I have used a company called Chappell, they were very reasonable for team insurance.
Good Luck

 

[bruinfan76]

Would you suggest registering with ASA or going a different rout?

 

[Coachmom]

You only need to register with ASA if you plan on playing ASA, which means competing in the state tourney followed by either Nationals or Western Nationals.
If you are not going that route you do not need to register with ASA.
If you plan on trying to do the Triple Crown then you need to register with Triple Crown and qualify in a Triple Crown Tournament.
The same goes for other associations like USSSA.
You can purchase insurance through ASA, USSSA, USFA and or NFSA.
It just depends on what your goals are.

 

[mudbug]

You need to register in every organization that you expect to play under. At least 4 most likely to give a choice of tournaments to play, and a 1st and 2nd choice of end-of-season tournament to attend. The fee is nominal for most.

As far as fields, you should have that nailed down before you start a team. Many travel teams use HS fields if they have an association with the coach, or if they act as a feeder organization for that HS district. Some use rec fields. Some own their own fields.

 

[bruinfan76]

Travel Team

Thanks for all the help. I got fields nailed down, now just trying to figure out registration, tournamnets, etc. Any other advice would be great, thanks again.

 

[sluggers]

Make sure you have enough girls. At that age group, you are likely to need 14 girls.

 

[Coachmom]

Thanks for all the help. I got fields nailed down, now just trying to figure out registration, tournamnets, etc. Any other advice would be great, thanks again.

You can go to the websites of each of the fastpitch associations and they will have a list of scheduled tournaments for your area along with their "Nationals" dates and locations. If you're a Southern California team you're getting a late start in developing a team that would be ready to compete in any of the top nationals tournaments for the summer. You may want to compete in friendlies this summer to gage what you need to work on for the next season in which case you do not need to register for any association. You would just need to purchase insurance.
Also, unless you have a sponsor, don't spend a lot of money on uniforms. Get printed T-shirts and have them buy their own pants, socks, etc. In SoCal, I have seen many a start-up travel team fold within the first year after having spent a lot of money on fancy uniforms, helmets etc.