ASAdefender

Indian: While ASA at 10U and 12U is not for everyone, as a coach we should put our kids in the best situation to help them improve every time they take the field. If you are coaching a strong younger team that is sweeping up in USFB events, you should seek out more competition for your girls. When I coached 10U, we were fortunate that ASA chose to have the 10U Nationals in Johnson City, TN that year. We qualified and attended and it was a great experience for our girls. While we did not win the tournament, we played some great games against some very strong competition, some we won, some we lost. We also had the opportunity to see teams from about 20 different states including the West Coast. A team even came from Hawaii that year. I hope more of our local coaches from all over the state will consider playing an ASA National at a younger age. It is not about being recruited at that age it is about improving their game and making sure the girls are not shell shocked when their coach wakes up at about age 14U or 16U and finally decides it is time to them to a ASA National. I also feel strongly that Tennessee teams should support those organizations that support our state. In the past 5 years, ASA has awarded 4 National Tournaments to Tennessee. Having these National tournaments in Tennessee brings much needed tax revenue to our state. NSA does the same and after the NSA Eastern National in Chattanooga this summer, NSA will have held 3 of its last 7 Eastern Nationals in Tennessee. The alphabet soup organizations are helping the state of Florida and have never held anything in Tennessee yet many in Tennessee keep blindly following the path to the Pan Handle. BTW, I am not "bashing" Panama City, I am sure they do a great job in hosting a softball event in a beach town. However, as a former teenage girl that played and loved softball, I don't believe the beach is the right place to play a serious softball event. In my opinion, the beach is the beach and softball is softball and never the twain shall meet. ok, I'm out, Kim Swafford Chattanooga ASA

Mustangs received the berth.

Mr JoeyT: I am sorry you missed the point in my other posts about Chattanooga and East Tennessee carrying ASA. Any good ole boy with some old fashioned horse sense could discern that the area of the state (middle TN) with the highest population base would have the most local teams available to play in tournaments. There is no question Nashville has more teams available to participate. So, when a tournament is held in Nashville, it would only make sense that there would be more local teams participating. My point in prior posts was that ASA rewards state associations with National berths based on the number of teams that register from each state. One berth for every 500 registered teams. For a variety of reasons, Nashville teams have stopped registering with ASA. One of those reasons is due to some very poor commissioners not performing their jobs and there were no ASA tournaments available for these teams to participate each weekend. Unfortunately, the ASA powers that be did not take action soon enough and USFA dangled the Panama City carrot and many middle Tennessee teams bit. By the time ASA got someone who knows softball (Larry Spear) in a Commissioner slot, the damage had been done and Larry has his work cut out for him in repairing ASA in Nashville. I am confident he can do it. In the meantime, East Tennessee (mainly Chattanooga) has been carrying the registration burden and keeping the ASA registrations up so those TN coaches who want their kids to earn their way to the Nationals can have that opportunity. My point was that the area that shoulders the burden of providing the ASA registrations should be rewarded with the berth tournaments. By the way, there are several Chattanooga teams that already have berths to the ASA Nationals so those teams chose not participate in the qualifier and be put in the position of potentially eliminating a team that would really like to earn a berth to the Nationals. I have no doubt that ASA "A" events will always have fewer teams participating due to the "trophy hunter" mentality of male coaches. Most male coaches would rather brag about winning a USFB or alphabet soup event than fiinishing 6th or 7th at an ASA Qualifier. This is especially true in the 10U and 12U age groups. However, once these guys realize it is about more than a $4 trophy for the girls and his garage is overrun with phallic symbols, these same guys start trying to figure out the ASA berth process and then ask their team Mom to go online and figure out how to do ASA registration. In closing, Mr. T, while we did not have a huge qualifier event in Chattanooga this past weekend, we had a great group of quality teams with quality coaches that understood the rules of the game and the importance of playing strong competition. We played real games of 7 innings rather than half games of called after 4 innings due to time. It was about hosting a quality event that benefits the girls rather than paying umpires a higher hourly rate and giving the TD a salary. There were college coaches present to watch games because college coaches understand the importance of playing strong competition. The girls played hard and three teams earned berths to the finest and most well attended fastpitch events in the country. Good luck with the rest of the season, Kim Swafford Chattanooga ASA

One team has dropped out in 16U due to injury so there is one slot available in the ASA National Qualifier this weekend in Chattanooga. If interested in playing contact Kim at (423)987-4402 or swaffordhome@bellsouth.net.

Well said KC, I agree on all fronts. As you know, I called downtown on Friday questioning that fact that softballs were not being provided in a Qualifier. Softballs will be provided on June 26th-28th at the Summit and K Masters will not be used. "Expert" - I did not have time yesterday to detail all the horrors of Drake's Creek umpires, scheduling, etc. First of all, a qualifier should not have been scheduled when the TSSAA state tournament was still being played. Many of the teams (including mine, the Cruisers, Xplosion etc.) did not have all their players present until late Sat. afternoon. Two of mine went straight home from the state tournament to study for exams and never came to Drake's Creek. As I have said before, giving the berth at this time was a decision by the Hendersonville folks even though myself and several others vigorously protested the timing. It gave a significant advantage to teams with no players participating in the high school state tournament. The game schedule should have been done on two hour increments. While I like 90 minute games, 90 minute games cannot be scheduled on 90 minute increments. Our field on Saturday at Veteran's Park was two hours behind by 3:00pm. Also, we had a 3:00pm game at Veteran's Park and a 4:30pm game at Drake's Creek. We had to pack up and drive to Drake's Creek for a back to back game. This should not happen in any tournament, much less a qualifier. All the fields at Drake's Creek were not being utilized, apparently there were youth baseball games being played on fields that could have been used for the tournament. If you are going to have an ASA Qualifier, the park should be fully dedicated to that event. On Sunday, while waiting at the park, I noticed some players on the opposing team had on steel cleats. I walked over to the coach and told him steel cleats were not allowed in ASA. He informed me that he had been told by an umpire that steel cleats were legal in ASA. I explained to him that I was present in Oklahoma City last November at the meeting when steel cleats were vigorously debated and the proposal was voted down. Umpires in a qualifier should know this rule as it is a safety concern and a liability issue for ASA and the host park. There were also some positives at Drake's Creek. It was great to see the number of Nashville teams that participated in the Qualifier. Since part of the stated goal of Tennessee ASA having a qualifier in Nashville was to get more MT teams registered with ASA, from that standpoint, it was successful. Also, Neil Kemp and the Drake's Creek staff did a great job in being patient and letting the tournament play out despite the weather on Sunday. It is never a good feeling to lose a berth by a coin toss. Hope the Nashville teams will continue to support ASA and participate in the remaining ASA qualifers. Thanks all, Kim Swafford TN ASA Dist. 10

Tennessee Fury '94

Oh so many responses, so little time. First in response to 5 Sport Dad's question about what part of the state I reside in? I reside in the Chattanooga area which is in East Tennesee. East Tennessee is part of the state that is loyal to ASA and is responsible for 3/4th of the ASA registrations in TN and thus responsible for providing the 4 berths to Tennessee teams. I don't understand your statement that maybe I should work harder. East Tennessee is already shouldering the burden for all of TN ASA. As for the "Expert" comments about umpires at the ASA Memorial. There are good and bad umpires in every softball organization. The umpires at the Drake's Creek Classic were the worst I have ever seen outside of USFA umpires in North Georgia. There were some good umpires at the Memorial and there were some bad. We had an umpire in our first game this weekend with a strike zone so large, the Goodyear Blimp could have passed through. At Hendersonville, we had an umpire with a Napoleonic complex who called a low strike that might have been a strike on him but since most of the girls were six inches taller, the ball was at their ankles. The bottom line is most umpires we see in weekend tournaments in any part of the state are not professionals. They are there to make extra cash. They do not love the game or care about the kids, it is merely a means to an end. Much like some tournament directors who don't have real jobs and are trying to make a living off the backs of the girls, softball becomes just a way to earn money. This Spring, Chattanooga has been experimenting with using 6 innings and no time limit in weekend tournaments. The coaches love it but the umpires hate it because they want the time to run out so they can get their money and get out of there. The umpires and many tournament directors don't care that softball was designed to be a game of innings and it is not a timed sport like basketball or football and time limits harm the integrity of the game. Ok, I'm out, Kim Swafford TN ASA Dist. 10 J.O. Commissioner Signal Mountain, TN

TBall: Thanks, I appreciate your input and your willingness to pass along information. We do a have a new Tennesee ASA website that lists all tournaments in Tennessee. www.tennesseeasa.org Maybe I will post that on the eteamz message board, I know you many coaches seem to use it. We are working to make the new websiet as user friendly as possible. Hopefully, Larry Spears can make a difference in Nashville and if he can get some parks, you will see more ASA tourneys in Nashville. I plan to contact as many of your Nashville 9U and 10U coaches as I can find this year to remind them that the ASA 10U Nats are in Johnson City this year and Chattanooga next year Hopefully the close proximity will encourage some of them to start playing ASA. Thanks again for any help you can provide in getting that word out. Look forward to seeing all the Middle Tennessee teams at the ASA Qualifiers. Kim Swafford

UT: I agree and I will pass this along to the folks at Hendersonville, thanks for your input. Kim Swafford /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

TBall: I agree. It is pathethic but it is also a reality that Nashville teams have become wed to every other alphabet soup organization other than ASA. These reasons for this are numerous and include, ASA commissioners in Nashville not doing their job and holding tournaments, ASA losing touch with Nashville rec leagues and a lack of understanding on the part of coaches about the ASA qualification and berth process. I understand the confusion, when I first joined ASA as a commissioner, I felt like I had followed the rabbit, fell down the hole and woke up in Wonderland. In ASA, the number of berths each state receives is based on the number of ASA registrations from that state. Right or wrong, this is how the ASA berth system works. In Tennessee, we registered just over 2000 youth teams this year and this number includes recreational leagues and individual teams. If you look at a map of Tennessee and draw a line from Bristol down thru Knoxville and on down to Chattanooga, this area accounts for about 72% of the ASA youth registrations in Tennessee. Nashville, M'boro, Columbia and Clarksville only account for 7% of the ASA youth registrations despite having more rec and travel teams participating in softball. Commissioners in east Tennessee have been increasing ASA registrations and as a result, Tennessee received an extra berth this year. Why should East Tennessee shoulder the burden of getting the registrations and then gratuitously give the berths to middle Tennessee? The truth of the matter is travel ball coaches in middle Tennessee choose to play in everything but ASA. When the kids reach about age 14-15, a lightbulb goes off and these coaches figure out they have players that need to be seen and recruited. College coaches don't come to the FL Pan Handle "world series" to recruit. Kids get recruited at exposure tourneys and at the ASA Nats. (BTW - there were college coaches in Midland, TX at the 14U ASA Nats last year including, Oklahoma, OK State and Washington) This is usually about the time the coach calls me and says "how do I qualify for ASA?" and I have to explain it is more than just a matter of playing weekend after weekend in every pervasive tournament and building points. It requires more than just paying your money and showing up at the Redneck Riviera for a softball/beach vacation. Qualifying for an ASA National means winning or placing in an ASA qualifier and college coaches know this and know competition is the whetstone that sharpens softball skills. Taking a team to an ASA Nat for the first time at age 16 is like leading the lambs to the lions. So, the answer is, if middle Tennessee wants to host more ASA qualifiers, middle Tennessee coaches need to get vested in ASA and start thinking about going to the ASA Nats at an earlier age. My goal for 2009 is to register 498 additional teams and add a 5th berth for Tennessee. However, I will never be in favor of giving a berth to Nashville until such time as middle Tennessee coaches get on board with Tennessee ASA. Sorry for the epistle - they say brevity is the soul of wit but up here on my soapbox, I have no use for brevity. Kim Swafford /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

Coach Connell: ASA is pleased your Worth team is back and chasing an ASA berth this year. However, I want to correct one part of your very humble post. Tennessee ASA did not choose to "cram the first qualifier right on top of the Spring Fling." Nashville has been whining for years about having an ASA Qualifier. So some in East Tennessee worked hard to register more teams so Tennessee could have an extra berth. We were successful this year and the powers that be at Tennessee ASA chose to give this extra berth to Hendersonville. (BTW - I voted against it) Hendersonville then chose to award this berth at the Drake's Creek Classic. Tennessee ASA had nothing to do with this decision. I know some, including myself, called Hendersonville and expressed concern about the hardship it would place on teams with players participating in the Spring Fling. Our pleas were given lip service and then ignored. So please don't slap the puppy, Tennesee ASA gave Nashville what it wanted and Nashville Michelle Kwanned it. Nevertheless, welcome back and thanks for playing ASA! Look forward to seeing you and your team this summer. Kim Swafford Tennessee ASA J.O. Vice President