Travel ball tournament question

[JimmyBuffett]

Can the tournament not be finished on Saturdays, high school tournaments do. I know the answer is the money at the gate, but is it really that much more to be made. Seems we are teaching wrong values making ball as important as church attendance.

[Indian]

Those nachos have to be sold. I've heard of some major tournaments organizing a Sunday service for teams even if they're in uniforms and will take the field a little while later.

[FridayMainEvent]

Can the tournament not be finished on Saturdays, high school tournaments do. I know the answer is the money at the gate, but is it really that much more to be made. Seems we are teaching wrong values making ball as important as church attendance.

 

I agree 100%!! It is exactly about the money! I've been in several tournaments were we were only scheduled to play 2 or 3 games on Saturday and left the field at 4:00 to turn around and come back for a 10:00 or 11:00 am game the next day. USSSA is hosting some tournaments this year which have the entry fee much higher, but aren't requiring a gate fee. Hopefully by getting their money up front, this will eliminate some Sunday play. I would like to see other sanctioning bodies follow suit.

[stlbrd]

Can the tournament not be finished on Saturdays, high school tournaments do. I know the answer is the money at the gate, but is it really that much more to be made. Seems we are teaching wrong values making ball as important as church attendance.

 

While money is a big part of it, most (if not all) high school tournaments are single elimination while most (not all) travel tournaments are double elimination. A lot of your bigger high school tournaments have use of more fields and are able to play a lot more games in a shorter amount of time. Plus, travel time to out of state tournaments prevents tournaments from starting before Friday evening in most cases.

 

The way I look at it, these girls could be doing a lot worse than playing a game they love on Sunday.

[lovemykids]

I totally agree! Why not play Friday night and Sat? If you don't let your daughter play then she loses out on the experience she needs of summer ball. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[ksgovols]

I think another way to look at it is to minister to the kids you have on Sunday regardless of the location. You can give thanks and praise God on a ball field in your softball uniform as readily as you can dressed up in a building. In this day and age I think you should minister to them where you have them. If the ball games weren't being played, would you have 100% participation in church by the teams? Probably not. If you huddle up your team before the game and have a prayer you will get 100% participation. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Pray in your own way. There are some churches where the members keep score with who's coming to church every Sunday and to catch up on the latest gossip. I wouldn't think that's what the Sunday service is supposed to be about.

 

That being said, most tournaments with Sunday games begin the games after normal church services. You could actually go to church and play softball afterwards unless it 'matters' where you attend church.

[JimmyBuffett]

I think another way to look at it is to minister to the kids you have on Sunday regardless of the location. You can give thanks and praise God on a ball field in your softball uniform as readily as you can dressed up in a building. In this day and age I think you should minister to them where you have them. If the ball games weren't being played, would you have 100% participation in church by the teams? Probably not. If you huddle up your team before the game and have a prayer you will get 100% participation. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Pray in your own way. There are some churches where the members keep score with who's coming to church every Sunday and to catch up on the latest gossip. I wouldn't think that's what the Sunday service is supposed to be about.

 

That being said, most tournaments with Sunday games begin the games after normal church services. You could actually go to church and play softball afterwards unless it 'matters' where you attend church.

 

Not agrue but most we have been involved start at 8 or 9 on Sunday mornings. I just feel that there can be different ways to run tournaments, (the way all high school tournaments are ran, still guarantees 4 games). I appreciate the discussion going on and hope the people in charge of these tournaments are open to some changes also. To me it more about the priorty we are placing on the tournament than where you actually go to church.

[Lions4ever]

I think another way to look at it is to minister to the kids you have on Sunday regardless of the location. You can give thanks and praise God on a ball field in your softball uniform as readily as you can dressed up in a building. In this day and age I think you should minister to them where you have them. If the ball games weren't being played, would you have 100% participation in church by the teams? Probably not. If you huddle up your team before the game and have a prayer you will get 100% participation. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Pray in your own way. There are some churches where the members keep score with who's coming to church every Sunday and to catch up on the latest gossip. I wouldn't think that's what the Sunday service is supposed to be about.

 

That being said, most tournaments with Sunday games begin the games after normal church services. You could actually go to church and play softball afterwards unless it 'matters' where you attend church.

 

I agree ksgovols...you don't have to be in a church to worship. Our travel team is made up of girls from other states as well as from all over this state. There is no way we could play on Friday nights. Some tournaments do wait until after noon on Sundays to start, but that is few and far between. When we know we will miss church we prepare a "Sunday School" lesson for our team and take time out between games to worship and pray. Sometimes I think the girls get more out of these "services" because we make it very personal and relevant to their age group. I'm pretty sure the good Lord hears our prayers on the softball diamond just as easily as He hears them from the church.

[tnfisher]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, what matters to me is what the Bible actually says: "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh" (Hebrews 10:24-25). I don't want this to turn into a sermon and I am not suggesting that if you miss a service or two that you are doomed. However, I feel very strongly that if I allow my kids to skip worship service often for any reason that I am sending a terrible message that other things are more important than worship.

[ksgovols]

I see your point, but I think the emphasis being on the building rather than on the content of the service is misplaced by a lot of folks. A church in Kentucky that I know of and have had the pleasure of speaking with the minister there approaches almost everything as a possible ministry. They have a Harley Ministry for instance. I don't think the message requires specific location, but that's just my opinion. 'Church' is the members, not the building.

 

I've had this discussion with a local minister who was adamantly opposed to the youth leagues having practices and make up games on Wednesday nights when they should be at church. I asked him how many of those children did he think looked forward to those Wednesday night practices because that was the one night of the week that they felt loved and appreciated by an adult. Shutting down the park isn't going to fill up the church and the league always accommodated those that wished to attend church services rather than a practice or game. In a perfect world, we might all put down everything that we're doing when the church doors are open. The world isn't perfect however and finding opportunities where they exist makes more sense to me than forcing the issue.

 

I would hope that all tournaments would be as accommodating as they can be.

[jtk]

Last year we participated in six tournaments during the summer excluding Nationals. Two of the tournament we played 10 games(two Friday, four Saturday and four Sunday), the others we played 6 to 8 games. If you play in small tournaments you should be able to finish on Saturday but if there are a lot of teams in your age bracket Sunday play is needed.

[Lions4ever]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, what matters to me is what the Bible actually says: "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh" (Hebrews 10:24-25). I don't want this to turn into a sermon and I am not suggesting that if you miss a service or two that you are doomed. However, I feel very strongly that if I allow my kids to skip worship service often for any reason that I am sending a terrible message that other things are more important than worship.

 

I also see your point...but as far as I'm concerned, we are assembling together as a team worshipping and praying to the same God that others are worshipping and praying to..we are just on the softball field instead of our church. Since we make it a point to take time out to praise the Lord I think that is sending the message that He is important and that it is something that needs to be done no matter what we are doing or where we might be. It would be great for tournaments to take that in to account but not all will (or can) so we do the best we can without jeopardizing our kid's spiritual well-being. But, I also think that everyone should do what their convictions move them to do...the only thing is not all tournament directors are moved by the same convictions.