Pool Play and Bracketing Questions

[ICMTM]

Onlooker
If I read what your saying correctly your issue with GY using ASA Tournaments as his business name is that it is more like a cornering the market.
No other TD's are able to use the name ASA Tournaments which makes it more difficult to find other tournaments and TD's.
Here are the names that some of the Nor Cal ASA TD's host under Grapettes, Cal Breeze, Bit n Bit, Capitol Sports, Dugout Wars, Hard Ball North.

Act like you are a new TB coach and try a google search for ASA Tournaments in Sacramento or Northern California and tell me what is the first thing that pops up??? How many others on this list come up??? Why is that??? The name GY uses leads people to believe GY is more than just another TD. I had a coach tell me they sign up for all of there tourneys through Gary by giving him the list of what they want to attend based on what is on his site ASA T Bit N Bit Etc... Another coach mislead by the name.

Sacramento ASA allows this for a few reasons: To corner the ASA market in Nor Cal to the Roseville / Lincoln area. Why do you think almost all ASA Tournaments events are hosted the same weekend as the Grapettes events? By allowing a TD to use the name ASA Tournaments it leads coaches to Roseville / Lincoln. As new teams trickle into Stockton, Sac, Reno and The Bay Area and try to find local tourneys a google search puts you right there. People are creatures of habit and tend to return to the same tourneys if the right teams are there, If you can get them early they will most likely stay. Great marketing strategy for GY.
I am sure many of you are unaware that the Head of Sacramento ASA and GY are both on the Board of Placer Valley Tourism together. By hosting more tourneys in Roseville Lincoln area it benefits them financially. GY gets a kick back for each hotel room booked for the weekend during ASA Tournaments events, helps answer the question on why are they always in Roseville / Lincoln. Also answers the question why out of town coaches get an email from GY prior to events stating that Placer Valley Tourism would like to know where you are staying with a form for the coach to fill out.
Don't get me wrong GY has put on pretty good events and he is not the only TD in the nation that gets kick backs and deals I think what Onlooker is upset with is the assistance given to this TD by ASA.

Unfortunately YES GY does take request for pools which can end up with some pools stacked and YES unfortunately GY has shown for over a year he will give his team the easy road if possible. This will continue and teams will just deal with it until there is a better option out there. Like Blue says though, end of the day the best teams make it through Sunday.

If he's cornering the market with a domain name why are you blasting him for that? That just sounds smart!

[Fly Out]

If he's cornering the market with a domain name why are you blasting him for that? That just sounds smart!

ICTM I was simply trying to put in words what some where not understanding with onlookers post. You may have not read my entire post as you missed a few key points I hit on. I filtered them out for you. I do not agree with many of the things that GY does with his events but I am as guilty as the next we keep signing up.

Onlooker
If I read what your saying correctly your issue with GY using ASA Tournaments as his business name is that it is more like a cornering the market.

Great marketing strategy for GY.

Don't get me wrong GY has put on pretty good events and he is not the only TD in the nation that gets kick backs and deals I think what Onlooker is upset with is the assistance given to this TD by ASA.

Unfortunately YES GY does take request for pools which can end up with some pools stacked and YES unfortunately GY has shown for over a year he will give his team the easy road if possible. This will continue and teams will just deal with it until there is a better option out there. Like Blue says though, end of the day the best teams make it through Sunday.

I will share something I live my life by:
"There is only one boss. The customer. He can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." Sam Walton.
If the customers are happy keep on keepin on If one is complaining so are others. Word of advise to GY listen to your customers.

[Turret94]

Anyone happen to see the pairings for last weeks tournament in 12u?

GY has no shame. He again put his team in the weakest pool in his own tournament.No wonder his team does not improve they always play the weakest teams.

Shame on you GY you are hurting the girls.

[noncrazynorcal]

Anyone happen to see the pairings for last weeks tournament in 12u?

GY has no shame. He again put his team in the weakest pool in his own tournament.No wonder his team does not improve they always play the weakest teams.

Shame on you GY you are hurting the girls.

It's a young team so why shouldn't they be in a young pool? If they're playing teams that are better than they are, what is there to gripe about? Maybe other teams have more talent to work with.

[Sftball Junkie]

It's a young team so why shouldn't they be in a young pool? If they're playing teams that are better than they are, what is there to gripe about? Maybe other teams have more talent to work with.

Are you kidding me with this young team crap? How do you not see the issue with a tournament director fixing their teams pool.

Why would you think it is ok that he puts the 01 teams like SJ Sting, KG Hitters, Lady Spartans, Heat and others in pools with all 00 teams or mainly 00 teams, yet he puts his own team in against anyone he thinks he has a chance at beating?

[noncrazynorcal]

It's a young team so why shouldn't they be in a young pool? If they're playing teams that are better than they are, what is there to gripe about? Maybe other teams have more talent to work with.

Are you kidding me with this young team crap? How do you not see the issue with a tournament director fixing their teams pool.

Why would you think it is ok that he puts the 01 teams like SJ Sting, KG Hitters, Lady Spartans, Heat and others in pools with all 00 teams or mainly 00 teams, yet he puts his own team in against anyone he thinks he has a chance at beating?

They're 01 too. Have you seen his team play? They were 1-2 in pool play Saturday, which meant playing Silver bracket on Sunday. If he was trying to line up these easy wins for his team, wouldn't they end up in Gold and get beaten by a much stronger opponent?

[Iluvblue]

exactly... if the team was in such an easy pool and wen t3-0 on Saturday, then had an easy road for a few games on Sunday, EVENTUALLY they would play a tough team and get ripped. Stop whining about the pools and play the games. If your team is good, the polls dont matter, and if you get all tough games on Saturday.. GREAT!!! We used to beg certain tourney directors to put all of the good team sin the same pools on Saturdays and put the weak ones together. They would never do it, as the weak teams would complain they never get to play the good teams.

It is not a big deal.

[ICMTM]

We're still talking about this?

[Sftball Junkie]

We will be talking about this for years to come because this will never stop with GY and it will strike a nerve with someone at least once or twice every season.
I agree with much of what Blue says however for an Org who consistently sends their 12u team to the ASA tourneys who do not have the strongest teams and NSA tourneys or DF I get tired of hearing the top teams will rise to the top on Sunday. This is not about the top teams its about the lower level teams to mid pack teams. Its about mixing things up. If they were not in the same easy pool every week nobody would say a word but when you can look at the list of teams and predict his pool that is sad.

Let me break this down for those of you who think there is nothing wrong with this. I will start by saying No I do not have a daughter on an 01 team.

Most of these 01 teams are not expecting to win tourneys in the first year of 12u. Most of them are learning the speed of 12u. Most of them will end up in Silver on Sunday anyhow. Most of them will not win Silver as the way the pools are done with pools getting stacked their will be at least 1 or 2 00 teams in Silver. Now please remember I said most!!

Both of these teams are bound for Silver however one road is a little easier traveled every week.

Team A: 01 Young 12u team shows up every Saturday and has to face the hardest teams in the park, takes a pounding and gets run ruled in more than 1 game every Saturday. Sometimes even managing to end the game after 2 1/2 innings. By the end of Fall the players are beaten down have forgot that the game should be fun, the parents are upset because they have spent 3 months losing by double digits and their daughter are not having any fun. The players have lost their confidence and do not believe they can compete or win.

Team B: 01 Young 12u team has the tourney director as a coach. Shows up every Saturday competes against every team they play because their coach is nice enough to give himself an easier pool every tourney. They actually get to play full games and not worry about getting run ruled. They don't learn anything over the season because they play only the weak teams but they build confidence as the season goes on and at least have fun with there season as they are able to compete in some Saturday games and win here or there.

[Iluvblue]

Team A: 01 Young 12u team shows up every Saturday and has to face the hardest teams in the park, takes a pounding and gets run ruled in more than 1 game every Saturday. Sometimes even managing to end the game after 2 1/2 innings. By the end of Fall the players are beaten down have forgot that the game should be fun, the parents are upset because they have spent 3 months losing by double digits and their daughter are not having any fun. The players have lost their confidence and do not believe they can compete or win.





Team A has a dumb coach who should be putting his team in tourneys where what you described does NOT HAPPEN. Team A should be playing in weaker tournaments where they can have more experiences like team B.


Team B: 01 Young 12u team has the tourney director as a coach. Shows up every Saturday competes against every team they play because their coach is nice enough to give himself an easier pool every tourney. They actually get to play full games and not worry about getting run ruled. They don't learn anything over the season because they play only the weak teams but they build confidence as the season goes on and at least have fun with there season as they are able to compete in some Saturday games and win here or there.



Team B has a smart coach/organization head. If you arent running your own tournaments to help your team have the experience you described above, team B's head coach should be smart enough to put his team in a position to compete.

All I can do as a coach/organization head is do what is best for MY TEAMS. I can not worry about what someone else is doing. That is just one person's opinion, and I live by that and this is exactly why I started my own organization... I wanted to be 100% responsible for every aspect of my teams and do things like I wanted to do. I could care less what team x is doing.