Mc

[quote name="BWCoach" post="821533" timestamp="1280350945"] [quote author=Mc link=topic=70701.msg821528#msg821528 date=1280349508] A belated public congrats to you Shannon. You're always a pleasure to be around and great to see your hard work pay off with what you wanted. Enjoy it and watch out for the stars.... [/quote]"THE STARS" came up in a conversation this morning at practice.  In fact, it comes up almost EVERY DAY !!!!  That was just a very eventful tourney in San Antonio.  But, to get back on the subject, CONGRATS AGAIN SHANNON !!!! [/quote]Comes up about as often as my.......well, you know!

A belated public congrats to you Shannon. You're always a pleasure to be around and great to see your hard work pay off with what you wanted. Enjoy it and watch out for the stars....

I did some research (thats code for googling for shackbully, rebel and BWcoach). In 2009 the 14U Southern Nationals was held in Fort Worth and the 12U Southern Nationals was held in MS. There were about 30 teams (all but 2 from TX) in the 14U and 9 teams in the 12U. I couldn't find the number of teams registered for this year's tournament, but I imagine that the large discrepancy in entrants was due to location (large market to small market). Just like every other post on this thread, there will be division on how you look at this. On the one hand there will be those who say "All of this B.S. over a potential 9 team tournament" while others (particularly those with ASA experience) will see the odds advantage of a small tournament compared to typical TX ASA qualifiers where you may have 100+ teams vying for 3 to 6 qualifications.

I'm surprised the questioning on the qualification methods for this tournament took as long as they did. But, there again, there aren't that many teams from this area that play ASA, which, depending on what you are looking for in a team, is the only result based qualification national softball tournament. For the ASA regional nationals (southern, northern, eastern & western), the only qualification for entering these tournaments is that you particpate in ASA advancement tournaments. So yes, the ASA Southern National is a participation based national tournament similar to USFA, IFA, USSSA, etc.  But the major advantage in playing in this particular tournament is that the 2 finalists from each regional national gets an automatic bid to next year's ASA National. So, kudos to YG's for the advance planning. Not much different than teams from California going to play in a New Jersey ASA Gold qualifier where the competition might not be as tough as their own state or to get as many chances as they can to qualify. It's difficult to qualify for ASA nationals, particularly from a small market like SE TX, so it's best to play every angle you can.

Go eat some catfish at the Pine Tree Lodge.

[quote name="AggiesAreWe" post="821180" timestamp="1280268021"] What happened to just having fun in youth sports? ::) [/quote]Then that question would be answered by asking no.'s 1, 5 & 6

[quote name="WeedBegone" post="821175" timestamp="1280267687"] Send them to Silsbee to let em watch them milking some chickens. Then they can go to the county jail and say hello to an old acquaintance. [/quote]The thread was deleted before you got a chance to answer the question: What cocktails (no pun intended) can you make out of chicken milk?

[quote name="AggiesAreWe" post="821152" timestamp="1280266425"] Why was the other thread deleted? [/quote]He felt it had that "not so fresh feeling."

Your team traveled here from California to play in the IFA Nationals. During the rain delay, you've already hit the highlights by visiting the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Memorial and Gladys City; Any other suggestions on what else to do until the fields are playable?

Simple compromise. High schools should schedule their 2 a days during IFA nationals. You know that week everything will be rained out.

I'll play the devil's advocate here. Suppose the AD is attempting to protect the coaches at his schools. If retainment of coaching staffs are based on performance then why not give the coaches a tool to help them strengthen their programs? That tool could blowup in their face, but a tool nonetheless. I think that most select teams work around fall HS sports to some extent. Players might lose some softball game playing time or even have someone overtake their position due to their absence, but, as a player, they should know those consequences going into to it and accept the outcome. The same should be true if the roles were reversed.

The other thread had more steam. Other than straying off between Bob Marley and milking chickens, it stayed pretty focused.

[color=red][i]What can be done and how do we fix this since I believe this has been an on going problem that needs to be addressed NOW.[/i][/color] Hasn't really been an ongoing problem. Only a handful of teams in this area play ASA and that is the only association that has their nationals this late in the summer. Not to mention ASA Nationals is result based qualification, which makes it much more difficult to get in. [color=red][i]Are any of the area schools successful at working with select softball teams when it comes to summer practice?[/i][/color] In regards to sports other than HS softball, I'd have to say no to a varying degree. But, I have no experience with pre-school practices and associated policies. [color=red][i]If so how? and how can we implement these successful tactics in other schools.[/i][/color] [color=red][i]What can we do as a select softball community to help schools understand what is happening to select softball players?[/i][/color] Do you mean something other than deleting threads that had some good discussions going on.  ;)

Congrats Katy! It's been a pleasure the past 7 years watching you grow and develop from a 9 yr old snot nosed kid into a 16 yr old snot nosed kid. I look forward to our 1 remaining year of select ball with you and Andie does as well. I'm not gonna take that last out of yall's last game together very well.  :(

Some discussion on the HS SB board prompted me to start this thread. Had one similar recently that didn't get much of a response. You're about to place a lot of time, money and effort into you're child playing select softball. What are the questions you should be asking potential teams in order to find the right fit for your daughter? I'll begin with my list and try to add to it as it goes along from your comments: [table] [tr][td]1.[/td][td] [/td][td]What level of commitment are you expecting from the players?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]1.1[/td][td] [/td][td]State your child's priorities upfront to avoid conflicts[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2.[/td][td] [/td][td]Anticipated Cost?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]3.[/td][td] [/td][td]Anticipated time requirements?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]4.[/td][td] [/td][td]Anticipated travel requirements?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]5.[/td][td] [/td][td]Level of play expected from the team?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]5.1[/td][td] [/td][td]If the highest level is expected, what are your plans to get them to that level?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]6.[/td][td] [/td][td]What will be the team's goal?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]7.[/td][td] [/td][td]Will you place individual goals on each player?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]8.[/td][td] [/td][td]How will you hold the players/team accountable for achieving those goals?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]9.[/td][td] [/td][td]Do your plans include playing in an end of year national tournament?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]9.1[/td][td] [/td][td]If yes, will you be looking for a result based qualification or participation based qualification national tournament?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]10.[/td][td] [/td][td]To what extent will you be playing in college exposure tournaments?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]10.1[/td][td] [/td][td]Name the past exposure tournaments played in and any distinguishing commentary[/td][/tr] [tr][td]11.[/td][td] [/td][td]What resources does your team/organization have to assist in recruiting?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]12.[/td][td] [/td][td]What is your past recruitment results?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]13.[/td][td] [/td][td]How do the coaching staff resume's stack up with the competition?[/td][/tr] [tr][td]14.[/td][td] [/td][td]Can you provide references?[/td][/tr] [/table]