Old Dog, New Game

[old timer]

Hello all. I’m new to this forum but not new to the game however, I have been out of the loop for about 20 years. I used to coach High School and U18 in the summer. We primarily played within the A.S.A. back then but I remember other associations (N.S.A., A.F.A., U.S.S.S.A.) making appearances in the fastpitch world when I was transitioning out of the game. Back then, the A.S.A. was the association the play for the elite teams, while the other associations gave teams at a lower level chances to play at a national level. I have absolutely no idea if this is still the case in today’s fastpitch world. Perhaps some of you can enlighten me.

That said, I’m back at it only this time, I’m starting at the U11 level. In addition to the stresses of complete organized chaos teaching kids this young opposed to high school athletes, this team is far from an “A” team. After watching a full season last year, I would put this team in a lower “B” class or perhaps even “C”. Which brings me to the reason of my post today.

Trying to find tournaments that fit our class is nowhere near as seamless as it was 20 years ago. It seems that most tournament hosts prefer an open class, which is just not productive for this group of kids I have. The A class of the softball world must be completely amazing these days too because even some of the B tournaments we attended had teams in it that I feel shouldn’t be but that’s a whole other topic. I’ve looked through the USSSA and ASA sites and the selections are very thin and of course, they will only display tournaments that are sanctioned. Are there any clubs/teams that host non-sanctioned tournaments anymore? If so, where would I find these? Is there a forum/group out there that is specific for B and C programs? Are there any weekday leagues out there anymore or is it just a free for all?
Back in the early 90’s there were weekday leagues in the Chicago suburbs. Anyone remember the West Suburban League? If memory serves me right, there were a few gentleman from Glen Ellyn that got that started (Pat, Scott were a couple) Am I bringing back any memories for anyone out there?

Any help anyone can provide with finding

 

[quincy]

I am not going to be able to help you but I know a lot of what you are asking varies by where you are located. ASA is strong here but might be weak somewhere else. If you provide the area you are located you will get better feedback.

Are you in the Chicago suburbs?

If so this might suit some of your needs:

SWS Fastpitch League - (Romeoville, IL) - powered by LeagueLineup.com

If does work, you will be able to network with the Teams in the area and find out what they are doing.

 

[old timer]

Thank you for the reply Quincy.

I am a little farther west, close to Huntley, Marengo, and Woodstock but I am not against coming into the west and northwest burbs. I’ve talked to the teams in this area (Heatwave etc,) but they all seem to be doing the same thing, which is mindless tournament selections not knowing what level of competition is there.
I guess my main focus at this point is simply finding tournaments that fit our class (low B or C). The majority of the tournaments on the association sites are “open”.

 

[FP26]

I am sure timing varies by region as well, but many of the 2015 tournaments have not been posted yet for PA. More are being added every week, but I don't expect a full schedule to be available until late January or early February. For example, USSSA is broken into 3 regions in PA; West, Central, and East. The West and Central have their tournaments posted, but the East does not. The link below is for another site I use quite often.

Welcome to Softball Tournaments .com! Softball tournament listing directory for the US and Canada.

 

[Ken Krause]

If you're looking for league play and don't mind traveling a bit, the North Suburban Fast Pitch League is probably your best bet. They'll carry you up through 14U, and they usually have several different levels. There is still a little playing around with who belongs where but for the most part they try to level out the competition. It's run by the Trevians. They're signing teams up now. You should be able to get a good number of weekday games in.

Definitely tougher on the tournament side. Like a box of chocolates you never what you're going to get. The Woodstock/Heatwave tournament is usually run well, and they do a thing on Sunday where they send the top teams from pool play in one direction and the bottom teams in another. I believe the Vernon Hills Candotti Classic in July is a B tournament at the lower levels. (In the past it was open at the 18U level.)

NSA has a couple of open tournaments in June in Kankakee, but you're not drawing the top-tier teams usually. So something to keep in mind.

Beyond that, I generally check out Active.com too (the old eTeamz). They often have listings for a number of tournaments, and you can narrow it by age and location. Find, Add and Manage Tournament Listings for Free

Welcome back to the sport!

 

[YOCOACH]

As quincy said, depending upon the geographical area you are located in or willing to travel to, the alphabet soup associations strengths vary. For example, ASA is very strong in Ohio and the PGF is making a big push. NSA, while still large in NE OHIO and other localized areas is kind of waning. USSSA tournaments here in NE Ohio are non-existent and are generally considered extremely weak by many. In Western Pa., the opposite is true. You will generally find the better teams in a NSA or USSSA tournament. That being said, IME as a generalization, the smaller tournaments that have maybe 8 or fewer teams entered, no matter the association, have weaker teams because they usually consist of local teams that don't want to travel too far such as rec league all-stars teams. At least in this area. Your team should be able to compete in these and at least get their feet wet so to speak.

Another thing that I've noticed is that many of the larger rec leagues in our and surrounding areas have tournaments that are open to all and draw lower B and quite a few C teams.

 

[old timer]

All excellent posts!

Thank you very much. This information will at least get me started.

 

[crd1998]

I put the organizations in the following order,
1. PGF
2. ASA( slight edge over USSSA due to college exposure in the area)
3. USSSA
4. NSA, Played one 14U tournament a couple of years ago, disappointed.

Sandwich holds a C level tournament every year, never been to it but heard some good things about it. Last I heard this was a USSSA tournament.

SWS is probably what you are looking for, there is a B level and In House level. Issue here would be the amount of travel to games. Both my daughters played the SWS when they were younger, 12UB. There are teams from Willowbrook, Tinley Park, Aurora/Naperville and Minooka when they played.
SWS Fastpitch League - (Romeoville, IL) - powered by LeagueLineup.com


Best of Luck to you.

 

[Lenski]

My experience was that the younger teams stayed as local as they could so they would play in every association in their general metropolitan area. Here in SW Ohio the separation occurred at 14u, where the weakest competition was in USSSA. NSA barely exists around here.