ASA Tournaments
 

Are you all seeing problems with ASA tournaments making? This weekend will be the first one I know of in Alabama that has made. NSA has been playing every weekend for a month. Lots of teams don't want to pay for the new required certifications I am told. I'm afraid that between this and the pay decrease for umpires ($30 -> $25) ASA in Alabama may be on the way out.

How is it elsewhere?

Just worked a 55 team tourney. 66 team tourney next weekend. No worries in Sugarland Texas, I promise you.

ASA for girls fastpitch is in rapid decline in the Twin Cities metro, but this is not due to anything that ASA national is doing. All local politics.

I can tell you for sure in a week or two about this year, but ASA has been the preiminant softball organization in Upstate SC for several years. WFC, NSA and ISA have been dieing out. USSSA made an attempt last year, but had very few tournaments make.

The story is different towards the coast, though.

In this part of North Texas, it seems that VTD is making its move to take over.

Has PONY been making inroads over ASA anywhere? They have in MA/RI.

PONY made inroads in VA and now NSA has taken the lead. At least in my part of VA. The state is a lot bigger than anyone outside of it wants to admit.

ASA's problem is with their web site and with the registration of teams and signing up for tournaments. They got their site working so late, pluse everyone ws just used to going to the VTD site to register. Hopefully things will be back on track soon.

the best complex in North Texas, maybe the southwest - the Forney Softball Complex - will be hurting due to their decision to go with VTD. The 50 member local ASA umpire organization has decided not to call VTD tournaments, although individual umpires can do so if they wish.

When all you have to do to become a VTD umpire is pay them $50 and buy their cap I'm sure the quality of officials will be right up there with ASA. :-)
VTD is truly all about the $ - hell they started sanctioning leagues & tournaments because of the lost $s due to losing ASA as a web site client.

In Indiana, a check of the Indiana ASA web site shows 15 tournaments listed for the year. The NSA site lists over 100 tournaments in Indiana for the year. I received an email from the NSA State UIC where she asks for help in umpiring 18 tournaments in the month of June alone.

I personally have worked 77 NSA fast pitch games so far this year (79 if you count the two rec games I did last night which use NSA rules), and six ASA slow pitch games.

At every NSA tournament I always get at least one coach who tells me his team is new to NSA because they see that they can play many more tournaments in our area. We also see teams from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Canada because the tournaments are very well run. I'm sure the ASA tournaments are well run also, there just aren't very many of them.

and its because of the web site fiasco ... ASA dropped the ball on not being prepared for 2010

In Northern VA, ASA and PONY seem to be on the way out. Most of the ASA tournaments are playing in Central and Southwestern VA.

There's been only one PONY tournament in NOVA so far this year.

USSSA has fifteen scheduled tournaments in NOVA this season and NSA has ten.

Another problem with ASA and this has been building over the last few years is their customer service! Good luck getting a hold of anyone that can help you. This even goes for people in charge of championship play tournaments.

Yes their tournament sign up process is a major problem as well as their nickle and diming of teams, i.e. ACE certification, Insurance, ID Cards. They are fading fast in North Texas.

I umpire as well as coach a team and have zero ASA tournaments on my umpiring schedule and as of this morning am working on pulling out of two tournaments for my team(due to lack of teams signed up for them as well as the above problems) and switching over to another VTD tournament.

USSSA is overtaking ASA in the Midwest.

As I read these comments, I'm wondering FP, SP or both. My comments above were aimed solely at FP.

OP was FP...I don't call SP.

I gotta drive about 2 1/2 hrs to work an ASA tournament this weekend.

Guys, help out the clueless (me), VTD???
Thnx

Virtual Tournament Director

I understand that the ASA online systems utilized this software until they decided to change directions last year. Apparently, VTD decided that if ASA could replace them, they could replace ASA.

VTD provided a nice on-line service for a long time. It started as centralized communications for North Texas softball about 10 years ago and then became an exclusive ASA service that was also used by other areas of the country. VTD and ASA apparently agreed to part ways last summer or Fall. It's been kind of interesting because ASA is struggling to provide the same quality communications and tournament scheduling in place of VTD. Equally interesting is that VTD appears to not understand the difference between providing communications services and being a softball sanctioning organization. So VTD has declared themselves a replacement for ASA. All of this is combining to significantly reduce ASA activity in north Texas this year and VTD has announced their first "national" tournament.:eek:

In my area.....ASA tournaments are not so popular because of the certified equipment allowed. The teams like being able to hit 44/400's and use NSA or Utrip bats. More of a preference around here I guess you can say.

I'm working an ASA tourney in Benicia, CA this weekend. Six fields. I have four games on Saturday. ASA FP is healthy here, although U-trip has made inroads. ASA SP tourneys are dead, USSSA and NSA took that over.

The organization is only as strong as the directors.

Our association covered two ASA tournies last weekend and helped out a neighboring association by providing officials to a third. We have a seven field tournament this weekend.

Maybe 'cause when it comes down to it....coaches should coach and umires should umpire???;) :D

Ah Benicia, my old stomping grounds. That's where I worked fastpitch when I was in the Bay Area still. Is Ed F. still the UIC over there?

I have about a half dozen ASA tournaments on my schedule

Randy G.

For clarification, my OP was speaking strictly about FP tournies. This week, the PFX tour hits town. 18 fields to be covered for three days. It has previously used nothing but ASA umpires in this area. This year, they opted to go with VTD.

FWIW:

FL State Tournament this weekend
18 Gold next weekend

Holy cow, now that's a name I haven't seen in a while. We used to work baseball and softball all the time together. Ah memories.

What fields were they playing? The four at the Community Park on Rose Dr I'm guessing and the other two...at the middle school?

The mandatory Bollinger Insurance ASA implemented has caused a drop of many teams around here for championship play.

I'm trying to figure that out since individual registration carried Bollinger Insurance, so why would there be a need to purchase additional insurance. Then again, I don't think it is ASA's business what insurance teams/players have or where they buy it.

I'll do several ASA tournaments this summer - but none in district 4 of Pa!

ASA is declining in my area. A HUGE td in our area completely dumped his asa tournies and our association to provide the umpires. He basically runs his own little fiefdom of tournaments called "IFA". They are also pretty decent and well run events. They are real deal no matter what they call themselves.

ASA 18G and 18A divisions are decimated by premier. No doubt about that.

I got the ASA 18A in Hemet and some umps have already been dropped due to less teams. So far Im still hanging in there.

Fresno Force, a ASA tournament I've worked for a long time and has always been a top draw tournament in april didnt even require outside umps and for the first time no one from our area was needed to go there.

Not looking good.

Hey! What's so bad about district 4? :p

I have nothing good to say about the district 4 commissioner or his yes man uic. And neither has done much good for the game of softball.

A very uneducated or egotistical quote...... or more than likely- both.

Bingo!

Randy was out of town that weekend. John S. from Vallejo (our area UIC) was on site.

Well, since the subject came up, let's address this. AND IT APPLIES TO ALL, not just ASA and not just softball.

Rant on!

Did you ever think that the reason there are a lack of teams for some tournaments is because everyone is thinking the same as you are? Ever think that if the teams would stay put, the tournament wouldn't have a lack of teams?

When it comes down to it, many, if not most, softball teams/clubs/whatever have very little loyalty or dedication to anyone other than their own wallet.

Lots of promises, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, coaches are going to take a team to someplace which will support THEIR carrot, not necessarily the players or parents.

I cannot tell you how many times I've sat in meetings or discussions with teams/leagues/whatever and hear "you need to do this", "you need to do that", "you never have any tournaments", yada, yada, yada. Yet when asked to help with a tournament, you would think their first-born was in jeopardy. What it often comes down to is these "customers" want you to do all the work, secure the fields and umpires, pay all the fees and then, if it is convenient, they may play in the tournament THEY demanded you run. You end up cancelling the tournament, losing a few hundred dollars along the way only to hear the same complaint the following year.

I know this is not all over the place and in some cases not every one in my back yard and probably applies to a small minority.

And that is fine, but it is the teams who have forced the sanctioning bodies to handle the game as a business, yet many do little to support it.

JMO, but many a game has been ruined when people decided to turn it into a "what's in it for me?" business and that applies to the players, coaches and administrators/directors, some commissioners and officials.

Rant off!

Could not disagree with you more Irish.
The problem here with lack of teams in ASA tournaments is ASA dropping the ball in regards to their tournament software. There are plenty of teams in VTD tournaments around here as their system is much better.
ASA has also rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with their lack of customer service and the number of hoops you have to jump through just to play in their tournaments.
Lets put it this way, if the burger joint on the corner that has been in business forever- ups their prices, changes their menu, treats you like crap when you go in, never answers their phone you are going to look at what is going on with the new burger joint on the other corner and when your first meal is good and the service is good you are going back next time you need a burger.

As far as this carrot you are talking about not sure where that comes from. Having a team is expensive the only revenue coming in is from player fees. Not many sponsors running around these days.

I can only speak to how I schedule tournaments. I send out a conflict sheet to team at the beginning of each season and then check out holidays. Now I have narrowed it down to which weekends we can play and then schedule from there. It has become much harder to do because of the ASA issues in our area. So if it is two weeks out from a tournament and there are only one or two teams signed up I have to look elsewhere or I am going to have to big of a gap in the schedule.

The only time money becomes involved is if there are two tournaments the same weekend and one is less expensive and offers more games.

Without quoting your whole post.

It appears that participation is down, no matter what affiliation the tournament is sponsored by. The economy, over saturation of 'select teams' (which may have contributed to lost interest), over saturation of tournaments have contributed to this. I think it would be fair to say that registration is down in all organizations. Over the decades, I have seen these things run in cycles. I remember back in the 80s with the emergence of 'youth soccer' many of the chicken little's were alarmed and saying that this was 'beginning of the end' to softball. 30 years later, we are still around.

Let me think about that one........:rolleyes:

And VTD, while I sympathized with their disposition and the manner it was done, are part of my point. VTD is in business. The don't give any more a concern about your or your DDs than the next guy. Allen is a nice guy, but my personal interaction with him and his software was about the same as it is with ASA and I'm not happy with them, either.

And if the burger joint was being sued by everyone from the parents of a girl because she didn't make the national team to every back-alley lawyer who sees a financial opportunity with every injury, they wouldn't have much of a choice than to be extremely cautious in the manner in which business was conducted and increase revenue to cover increased costs. AFA customer service, I don't have a problem on my end. I pick up a phone and get an answer. May not be the specific one I'm seeking, but it isn't a problem. I suspect you are judging ASA based on the local association. I'm not.

You really don't know what the carrot is? Obviously, you are not one of the folks to which I am referring.

Again, I went out of my way to state my post was relatively generic, yet you seem to respond in a personal fashion. It was not directed at you, but there are three sides to every story. Many people really have no idea what local associations have to endure. There are good and bad, but every time I invite any of the habitual complainers who always have a better idea to get involved or even just show up at a meeting to vent, there is no response, but the whine keeps on coming.

I know there are organizations which are just the opposite, but I can tell you as a matter of fact, most go out of their way to make reasonable accommodations for the many concerns. Unfortunately, too may people think that isn't true if they don't get what THEY want, yet will never stop long enough to stop and have a reasonable discussion.

At the end of this month, I'll be working the world's largest 3 day SP tournament and there's more teams coming this year, than any other year in the past. Last I heard, 475 teams have entered compared to last years record of 437.:eek: It's an ASA sanctioned tournament.

All we have is ASA in North Dakota for SP and FP except high school (they do use the ASA ruleset but umpires wear blank shirts/hats).

I'm happy there is one more ASA tourney this year than last year, in this area. :D :cool:

We have a lot of ASA Tournaments in the Houston Area, no problems here.

How does umpire registration work here? From what I understand, I live in the Texas ASA Association territory. Would I be able to work tournaments in Houston Metro ASA also?

Plenty of ASA tournaments in Ohio. The Ohio ASA website lists 70 fastpitch and 50 slow pitch tournies this year.

My local ASA umpire association, in district #22, will be covering 10 fastpitch tournaments in our area. Not sure about slow pitch, as I don't get involved in that side of things. It is not unusual at all for our local group to "loan out" umpires to help with other tournaments in the region.

I will say that our state commissioner, from all of my dealings with him, seems to be a guy that really cares about the game and deals with folks in an open and honest manner.

If that's not enough, NSA and USSSA both have a fairly strong presence (though not as big as ASA) and seem destined to grow.

Personally, I have the opportunity to work an ASA tournament pretty much every weeked from the time the high school season ends through the end of July. On the only two weekends that our local unit was not covering games, I worked a good NSA tourney (they recruited me) and a non-sanctioned men's fastpitch tournament (I know the TD).

Warren's good man and does care about the game. He also let's his umpire staff do their job. Best of both worlds.

I'm working an ASA tournament in Bazetta Township, near Cortland, Ohio this weekend, that has 52 teams entered. Also, very true about Warren.

Asa Tournaments
 

Yes, I have worked with guys from other areas. My Tournament UIC/Scheduler sends us all over the Houston area for tournaments. I have a great time working with different umpires and picking up useful "tips of the trade" from senior umpires. Do you all have many tournaments in your area?

Cool, glad to hear that. It seems we have a fair amount out this way but I'm not sure how many exactly. Haven't gotten into it out here. I'm thinking I will be next spring.

Depends on how you define decline. # of tournaments/teams sanctioned definite decline. # teams attending ASA nationals may actually be on the rise.

We've usually send our full contingent at 18UA and 16UA to USA/ASA National, this will be the first year in at least the last 4 where 14UA teams are actually competing in a 14UA ASA State trying to win bids to a 14UA Nationals.

Teams attending 14UA ASA State
2010 12 (all berths will be used)
2009 5 (sent 1 team to USA/ASA Nationals)
2008 0 (cancelled for lack of interest)
2007 2 (both went to USA/ASA Nationals)

I guess you could say that ASA National has some responsibility for the decline in local ASA in our area in that they allow too much lattitude to their local ASA affiliates. Personally I'm in favor of local control, even if I don't agree with some of the local decisions that have been made.