What National Are You Going To?
 

I have seen some people mention that they will be heading to a National Tournament soon. So which one are your going to?

I will be in Salem, Va next week for 18u A. Would like to hear from any others on this board that are going.

Get to stay home and do 10U/12U B Western nationals in Phoenix. Hoping the clouds decide to show up the whole weekend and keep it overcast.

TCS 16-18 Reno Nevada last weekend
ASA 16 A Sunnyvale California Leave this Saturday
NAFA Men's Masters Carson City Nevada

ASA 16A in La Plata, MD. :)

I'll be at Sunnyvale for 16A. Hope to meet you there, Insane.

I was hoping for MD which is at least driveable for me. But happy to get an invite to CA.

Do you know how many National Umpires will be there and how many local umpires will be used?

MTD, Sr.

Look forward to it.

As of the last informtion I had, 8 are from the Phoenix Metro area, 5 more are from AZ but other cities, and 2 are out of CA. But, got an email about a week ago that 80 more teams had signed up and they were adding 16 more umpires. Have no idea what the new umpire list looks like.

I will be the Assistant UIC for this tournament. We have 40 umpires on the roster. I think the split is 24 local (Arizona) and 16 others. the others are from Southern CA (as is the UIC), Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

It should be a very interesting week......

Andy who is the UIC?

Yours.....

ASA/USA 12A Chattanooga, TN

no Arizona

check your PM....

Thanks

Men's "A" Slow pitch... Ridgeland Mississippi.

Just a tad disappointed that it's not at the HOF Stadium, but not disappointed enough to think that it won't be a good time.

should be a blast.

I'll be at the Women's C/D Northern in Watertown, SD.

I looked at the website for the Sunnyvale 16A tournament. There are 138 teams and I think the umpire roster is at 74.

I have a question on the "regional" aspect of the tournaments. There are several teams from what I'd consider outside the western region. Many from Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Michigan, Ohio.

Obviously, teams from anywhere can participate in the tournament. Does a team just need to pay the entry fee to get in, or is there a requirement that they've won a state or regional tournament somewhere along the way.

Thanx.

Can't answer your question...but On Tuesday they cut 12 umpires, including two friends of mine. Then this morning they added them back. Just a FYI.

I'll be hanging out there next Thursday.

Spent the week with some girls from PA that are playing in the 16's in Sunnyvale. They have played 18's and Gold all year except the state and qualifier. They are looking forward to the challenge and if they are 1/3 as good as their practice shows them to be, they will be contenders.

They are also hard workers when dragging and relining a field, on a completely side note.

And some of the do a great job driving umpires in a golf cart to fields that are half mile from each other.

Good to see you this week.

Nice working with you all in Newtown, PA this week. It was good to have a Nationals in my own backyard, & look forward to Sterling, VA next week with the big girls...

First and Foremost, I am jealous that you were given a ride when I had to walk everywhere.

It was great working with both of you and I look forward to working more with you in Sterling Joe. I will be taking a much more active role in Sterling as I will be assigned a complex and not have to drive to as many as I could cover each day.

Hey, at least you didn't have to get suited up...three different times...

Do you think the hotel could have been any farther from the fields?

I've just returned from the 18U Gold in Clearwater, FL.

It was a great learning experience for me, being a relative rookie compared to the vast majority of umpires who were there. Each umpire I talked to had worked many previous Nationals, to include a few Gold, and also have a number of years of NCAA ball under their belts. This was only my third National.

As expected, executing ASA's three-man mechanics was a pretty significant learning curve for me. For those not aware, every game was played with three-man. In my other qualifiers and Nationals, two-man was the norm until we got to the semifinals. I can probably count on two hands how often I've done ASA three-man. Most of my three-man experience comes from high school tournaments.

So when I wasn't on the field, I spent a lot of time watching the other crews and eavesdropping on their evaluator critiques. What I saw and heard was invaluable to me. It was an honor and pleasure to work the Gold with a terrific crew of umpires, and to learn from a tremendous UIC staff.

Listening and learning......nice job on your part.
Glad to hear that the tournament went well for you.

Way to go Manny!!!! I have a friend who was down there but I haven't had a chance to speak with him yet!

Being selected for 18U Gold's is quite the honor my man!

Just arrived today for ASA 18u class B western national in Salem, Oregon.

Just getting back from Sunnyvale had a blast. Met some real cool umpires and a few knuckle heads.
To those that got hurt and could not continue you are in my prayers and I hope you have a speedy recovery.

I think everyone learned something and came away even better umpires than when they arrived.

Shane

Finished up the final games for the 10u/12uB Western Nationals here in the Phoenix area yesterday. My first experience as a National Tournament Assistant UIC.

78 teams, 10 fields. First game started at 7:00 am each day (Thurs - Sun) and last game scheduled at 9:00 pm on Thurs, Fri Sat. Earliest we got off the fields was 11:15 pm, latest was 12:05 am.

Ernie...our ASA rep was your State JO Commish....awesome guy, loved working with him.

Shane...several umpires and our tournament UIC were from your association. Enjoyed meeting and working with them as well. Especially impressed by the guy from Lancaster.

Daytime temps as high as 106, but only lost one umpire to the heat. Went through quite a bit of the Spirits of Ammonia, most umpires had never used it and were impressed with how well it works to refresh and revitalize you in the heat.

The heat wasnt so bad when the sun was behind the clouds, but OMG when the sun was out in full force it was miserable. And I had the joy of being in that 12:05AM game after starting my first of the day at 9AM the day before.