ASA Has Priced Itself Out of the Market

[Sam]

Dwindling participation at all ages of the SoCal ASA qualifiers, 3 teams at HOF Qualifier in NoCal....what does it mean?

Are people finally tired of spending thousands of dollars chasing the ASA dream by going to NQ's at cities Indiana Jones hasn't heard of???? Are they fed up with filling the public coffers of Owensboro, Johnson City, Midland, et al?????

Or are parents stricken with the rising travel costs....period?

Maybe the east coast protectionists will finally get their wish...a Little League-esque playoff system with only one team from California at the National Championship.

On a good note, AFA 18 Gold Nationals will be held in Southern California this year.

[NumeroUno]

Sam,

How many 18Gold teams are going to a AFA national tourney? Unless you are just joking because your name and AFA just doesn't seem like it belongs in the same paragraph but with a 64 team ASA list what do the rest of the Gold teams do?

[Sam]

Sam,

How many 18Gold teams are going to a AFA national tourney? Unless you are just joking because your name and AFA just doesn't seem like it belongs in the same paragraph but with a 64 team ASA list what do the rest of the Gold teams do?

Not sure how many teams they will get....the tournament is 28 July through August 3rd. They might have quite a few.

I'm with the Riverside Rookies and we are managed by Dan Goode, the SoCal AFA State Director.

[Hitmechanic]

<Maybe the east coast protectionists will finally get their wish...a Little League-esque playoff system with only one team from California at the National Championship.>

I don't know about the east coast, but the southeast has it all locked up. We just qualify ASA, NSA, USSSA, USFA, FastNat, USL, ABA and a few more. Then we wait till the last minute to pick which National championship we want to win (the one with no Cal teams). So who needs ASA...we can brag about being NATIONAL CHAMPIONS anyway. The problem is sometimes a TEX team will sneak in, then we have to earn the title.

And if all else fails, there is a little bitty SB organization in Mobile that has the copyright to ASA South National Championship. At the end of the season, we can go there, play 2-3 games and claim the ASA National Championship ( we tend to leave off the word "South" for the press).

[anonlooker]

Going to Nats in 12u is definitely a mixed blessing. While an honor to earn the berth, playing softball in Alabama in August is punitive.

[DonnieS]

I would take Alabama in the summer over Moline Illinois or Midland Texas - I have seen all the corn stalks, oil rigs, and dust devils for a life time. The thing we kept in mind was this is supposed to be fun - my kids even though we live 17 miles from Padre Island, would always opt for a beach or waterfront option for softball.

You spoiled Californians, you already live in a friggin beautiful place, damn you, so you come out to these ASA dream spots for 7 days, then go back to san francisco, beachs, mountains, san francisco, redwoods, wineries, san francisco, san diego, and suffer through all those horrors for the other 51 weeks.

[Sam]

I would take Alabama in the summer over Moline Illinois or Midland Texas - I have seen all the corn stalks, oil rigs, and dust devils for a life time. The thing we kept in mind was this is supposed to be fun - my kids even though we live 17 miles from Padre Island, would always opt for a beach or waterfront option for softball.

You spoiled Californians, you already live in a friggin beautiful place, damn you, so you come out to these ASA dream spots for 7 days, then go back to san francisco, beachs, mountains, san francisco, redwoods, wineries, san francisco, san diego, and suffer through all those horrors for the other 51 weeks.

Hey, bring em out to AFA Nationals....I've got plenty of room at my house and would be proud to put you up for a week...

[anonlooker]

LOL Donnie, that was pretty much my point. Why in hell go to those godforsaken places? Now if TCS would only move their Championship out of Utah and closer to the surf... and somehow lose their reputation for holding just another SoCal tournament, but hundreds of miles and thousands of $$ away.

And ASA for that matter! Choose places normal people would want to go, so if you get blown out in short order you can still have a good time in the city hosting the tournament. I mean, what kind of forward thinking goes into how they choose these places?

[andy]

Sam,
Might be a smart move by AFA. With only 18 berths possible (not counting out of Territory) for Gold to be split among the entire West Coast, and so many teams registered Gold (80 plus), there will be plenty of teams looking for a place to play that will not cost too much to travel to.

[MTR]

Do any of you know how tournaments end up where they do?

Want to know why CA has no USA/ASA Nationals? Because they don't try to get them. And I'm not talking about the local ASA association. It is too expensive for a local association to host a tournament on their own without the backing of the local government and Chamber of Commerce. For 2009, only Fresno & Stockton even attempted a bid (Stockton's was pretty low). CA certainly has a large enough voting block to pretty much get whatever they want.

For the JO Westerns, there were no CA bids for any of the "A" and Lancaster placed a bid for the 16 & 18 "B". Lancaster was awarded the two JO tournaments, Fresno received only the Men's Masters (45+) FP.

In 2008, Clovis was awarded 14U Western A, Roseville the Mens 45+ SP and Lancaster has the Hooter's Mens West C SP.

You gotta play to win. If CA wants the tournaments, they need to bid.