Can one of the old pros around here give a little guidance? My daughter's 14U team has a new coaching staff this year, and I offered to help with the administrative end of things, including selecting tournaments. Our team is solidly C (maybe low-B).
Our old coach believed in always playing up and avoided C level competition altogether. We played almost exclusively in open events stacked with A and B teams, which as you can imagine didn't always go terribly well. The girls held their own and didn't give up, but I still think we lost 75% of our games last year. While we don't want to shy away from competition, we also want the girls get a fair shake and have more fun.
Our organization usually sticks to USSSA and NSA events, but I'm discovering more options and I'm having some trouble discerning which might suit us best. Can someone tell me the difference, or maybe the "order" of USSSA, NSA, USA, ASA, USFA, PGF, etc? What is good, what to avoid? And then what is GameDay USA? They have a pretty website, but I can't decide if they are a real sanction? Anyone have any suggestions on how to choose events to play in? For the past few years, we always played in the same tournaments, against the same teams and we want to maybe mix it up a little.
We are in Northwest Indiana, if anyone has any specific recommendations. Thanks in advance!
Our old coach believed in always playing up and avoided C level competition altogether. We played almost exclusively in open events stacked with A and B teams, which as you can imagine didn't always go terribly well. The girls held their own and didn't give up, but I still think we lost 75% of our games last year. While we don't want to shy away from competition, we also want the girls get a fair shake and have more fun.
Our organization usually sticks to USSSA and NSA events, but I'm discovering more options and I'm having some trouble discerning which might suit us best. Can someone tell me the difference, or maybe the "order" of USSSA, NSA, USA, ASA, USFA, PGF, etc? What is good, what to avoid? And then what is GameDay USA? They have a pretty website, but I can't decide if they are a real sanction? Anyone have any suggestions on how to choose events to play in? For the past few years, we always played in the same tournaments, against the same teams and we want to maybe mix it up a little.
We are in Northwest Indiana, if anyone has any specific recommendations. Thanks in advance!