Introducing Mr Bucket Writer

[Mr Bucket]

My friends of heybucket. I have been asked by numerous uno to write some articles for heybucket about the sport we love. Just hopefully another area that you can take some time with on heybucket.

The first article deals with many of the different Nationals.

Mr Bucket

So you Want To Go To Nationals?

Below will be your guide to what each organization’s Nationals are and the in’s and out’s of each National Tournament. How to get in. How tough is it to qualify. What’s the competition like. How do you get there. What about hotels and what to do. And food, enjoy what each has to offer. Lastly, what are the numbers of College Coaches attending which is very important.

We will start with Premier Nationals.
You want in, well you better have a pretty darn good team. Go ahead and enter a qualifier to get some experience but the best teams make it through qualifying. There is one caveat though, many very good teams are ‘Invited’ and do not have to play any qualifying tournaments. This does help for the non-invited teams as they do not have to play the sometimes better invited teams. You do have to go through the song and dance of registering your team and pay for insurance which is another topic at some point. But get that done or you cannot enter. As for the competition it is arguably the toughest out there.

As for getting there and hotels and such you can’t beat the location. Beautiful Huntington Beach, California, and surrounding areas in the coastal ‘Comfort Zone’. 70 to 80 degrees and near the beach. Plenty of great restaurants and attractions such as Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm close by. Hotels are many and very nice. But you have to stay in the hotels provided on the Premier Website so it can be a little pricey.

As for College Coaches it is the Who’s Who of Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches from every major university in the country. Mostly Division 1 schools looking for the best of the best. That means if you are a stud player you have a great chance to be seen by the best of the best universities.

One unique thing about Premier is the ability to follow Live on the web your team if you cannot make it to the tournament on their website. Very cool.

Next up will be ASA Nationals. This is the Grand Daddy of all the Nationals. ASA has been around for quite some time. It rivals Premier in talented teams that play but nowadays is much easier to get in. Again you have to go through the song and dance of registering and buying their insurance. You will find that this process of registering and buying insurance can be very painful to do and cuts into all team’s wallets. Sure would be nice if all the organizations could get together and all accept at least the same insurance. But again, another day.

You will find the qualifiers much smaller with less competition in some areas of the country and huge turnouts in other areas. This is where it gets subjective on the talent, etc…. But I am trying to stay objective here. It can be very expensive for the Midwest and Eastern teams to travel to the West Coast for Preminr Nationals. So many teams Eastern and Midwest teams play ASA as most ASA tournaments are east of the Mississippi and it is an easier travel and less expensive. Those Midwest and Eastern teams can be very good which makes for a tough tournament. The ASA tournaments are much bigger also and let many more teams in which makes it easier to qualify.

One thing very different than Premier as Premier is in SoCal every year is ASA’s National Tournament sites change to different cities and states around the country year to year. This is good and bad. The good part is it can be close to your team and makes travel and the wallet easier. The bad thing is the opposite of that in that it can be very far away and sometimes cost prohibitive.

As for food and hotels you are at the mercy of what city hosts. Most of the time ASA hosts in smaller cities so hotel costs are more reasonable. But plane flights can be expensive if you are trying to get to a smaller city without a major airport nearby. As for food this is definitely one of the best parts about ASA. Nothing like getting the local flavor of a great country BBQ or local cuisine.

College Scouts will definitely be there. From D-1 to NAIA. If you have a great team with great players the colleges will be there. And yes the big ones. Again Premier and ASA don’t all the time attract the same teams so some great talent will be at ASA Nationals and so will the college scouts.

Next up the very professionally run Triple Crown World Series. This is the best run of all the National Tournaments and it should be as Triple Crown is a business and that is what they do, run tournaments. The website is unbelievable with so many things it provides. Pocket Updates on scores and weather will be sent to your phone as the tournament progresses. Scores are updated immediately on their website. Triple Crown’s registration process and insurance purchase is by far the easiest of all the organizations running nationals.

As for competition it is still a rung below Premier and ASA. But it has made progress in the older divisions by offering some very good Nationals with many college scouts. In the younger divisions right now that is not the case. But with Triple Crown watch that change in a few years. Qualifying is much easier than any other national as well. That is because they host numerous Qualifying Tournaments throughout the year in many locations. The competition can be tough or not the best depending on the tournament. You can pick your spot and probably get a berth playing in the right tournament for your team.

Qualifying for Triple Crown Nationals and going to their Nationals can be an awesome experience as their Nationals are held in some of the most beautiful cities in the country. They do a rotation of age groups and hold nationals at Park City, Utah, The Biggest Little City in America Reno, Nevada, and San Diego, California. Plenty to do and see. They have the required stay in their hotels so hotels can be expensive. Being on the western part of the United States makes their World Series mostly a West Coast tournament.

As for College Scouts in the older divisions it is getting better. Not a whole lot at the younger divisions.

I am going to group the USSSA Nationals and the NSA Nationals as they are very similar in what they do and who they attract. Both not the Big Dogs of the softball world as they are not as nationally known. But offer another great opportunity to go play in a National. Great locations and well run tournaments. Tournaments can be hard to find in the west for the NSA and most Nationals are on the Eastern part of the United States. As for USSSA Nationals formerly called World Series their Nationals can either be in Orlando, Florida, at Disney World which is a great site or at a Field of Dreams in SoCal.
These two Nationals are highly recommended as they can give you that Nationals Experience you may need to become a better and more competitive team.

Contacts:
Premier Nationals: http://www.premiergirlsfastpitch.com/home.php
ASA Nationals: http://m.teamusa.org/USA-Softball
Triple Crown World Series: https://www.triplecrownsports.com/Home.aspx
NSA Nationals: https://www.playnsa.com
USSSA Nationals: http://www.fastpitchfirst.com/home

[eclipse09]

Welcome Mr Bucket, but numerous uno?

[fastpitchdad05]

Welcome Mr Bucket, but numerous uno?

I just took that as a joking play on words.

E pluribus unum? E unum pluribus?

[eclipse09]

Welcome Mr Bucket, but numerous uno?

I just took that as a joking play on words.

E pluribus unum? E unum pluribus?

E nationals unum? E pluribus national?

[fastpitchdad05]

Welcome Mr Bucket, but numerous uno?

I just took that as a joking play on words.

E pluribus unum? E unum pluribus?

E nationals unum? E pluribus national?

[NumeroUno]

That's a great write up.

Numerous Unosk

[jonriv]

There once was a man from the Bucket
Whose ...............................

[sunshine55]

Great Info!!!!

[NumeroUno]

Don't do it JR bahaha was he from Nantucket?


yes it is good stuff

Thanks Mr B keep them coming

[jonriv]

Don't do it JR bahaha was he from Nantucket?


yes it is good stuff

Thanks Mr B keep them coming

Just saying.......