IFA, USA, USSSA in Kansas

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Mar 7, 2016
242
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Do we have any other Kansas teams on here?

Because Directors of USA softball in Kansas (not metro areas here) couldnt agree and a power struggle happened last season a new association was born in Kansas. Two of the directors decided to split from USA and form IFA. Softball in Kansas was already pretty divided as is with the central, Northern and West portions of the State playing USA ball and the metro and eastern areas playing Utrip and USA metro. Kansas isnt large enough for three associations and all that will come of this move is now tournaments will be even more diluted team wise and the umpire shortage our state faced now became even worse. We are fortunate that we played both USA and USSSA. However most teams in central Kansas do not do the same and will be forced to make a choice between the two associations in order to play locally. The problem is they both book tournaments the same weekends all summer long and chose to overlap their State level tournaments all to try and push the other out. These tournaments and associations cant survive when their entry counts are halved. There is going to be some money lost this year or tournaments canceled due to low entry numbers.

At this point in the year the past decade most tournaments have numerous teams entered. This year aside from a free tournament USA runs the most teams in any one tournament at any age level is 1 team registered. UTRIP on the other hand still has the normal entries for this time of year. Most teams I have spoken with are waiting to see what happens. Several teams that have reached out to us to get an idea of what we are doing have declared they are avoiding IFA. I know UTRIP is making a push to move more towards Salina, and Hays area and we feel this is a good move. However local rec directors are fighting it since they have an alliance to IFA. By that i mean not allowing UTRIP to host tournaments during the May/June/July time frames. Then they claim no one wants to play UTRIP when all they allow is a March tournament to be hosted by UTRIP.

THe point of this is its a sad time for softball in Kansas when disagreements between money hungry people will cause associations to fold and local area teams will lose the option of playing tournaments they have played in the past several years. We have always traveled to play UTRIP, or KC Metro USA ball and have played quite a few local USA tournaments to round out our schedule. This year aside from two USA tournaments we have decided to play the rest UTRIP and travel every weekend. It makes zero sense to play locally when tournaments in the past with one association choice could only manage 8-12 entries per age division. Add in a second association and multiple tournaments within 30 mins drive each weekend and those counts will only go down. New teams are not forming each year its going the other direction. Something will have to give and those teams that are not willing to drive will fold or be left with local leagues only.
 
Feb 18, 2014
348
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Not in Kansas, but we are struggling with the same thing. Not only is it dividing the number of teams that attend tournaments in half, but it is causing a distinct gap to form in the quality of teams as they reach 14u. The competitive teams go to one organization, or leave the state and the second organization is basically becoming accelerated rec. And it is blatant what is happening, when the state tournament is going on, the one time the girls get real 7 inning games without time limits, the other organization is running a tournament called the "Not In the State Tournament". We are about to enter high school ball, where the players that are playing in the less competitive org are about to go up against the pitchers that have been playing high level ball. And they wonder why they struggle. When my oldest was playing ball the tournaments were huge 2 to 3 times what they are now. And today they have to merge 16 and 18u to have sufficient teams to play. And it all comes do to money.
 
Jul 16, 2018
120
18
I am in Kansas (Not a coach just a parent)

I think the biggest opposition to anything UTrip related is MSP specific. Genesis Sports Complex is also "stay to play" and there brand new on-site hotel will be finished by the spring. They cut their Fast Pitch tourneys down to strictly Top Gun events.

I hate stay to play. DD coach said if we cant win here we arent leaving to go play someone else. But right now Utrip is the only way to go. Even with stay to play encroaching on us. I hate to tell anyone to give up, but at this point the directors would be better off making sure Wichita stays competitive without MSP and remaining Utrip
 
Mar 7, 2016
242
28
I am in Kansas (Not a coach just a parent)

I think the biggest opposition to anything UTrip related is MSP specific. Genesis Sports Complex is also "stay to play" and there brand new on-site hotel will be finished by the spring. They cut their Fast Pitch tourneys down to strictly Top Gun events.

I hate stay to play. DD coach said if we cant win here we arent leaving to go play someone else. But right now Utrip is the only way to go. Even with stay to play encroaching on us. I hate to tell anyone to give up, but at this point the directors would be better off making sure Wichita stays competitive without MSP and remaining Utrip

I agree, what Sean is doing is working in the Wichita area and now people are encroaching on that. Becoming a money game that is getting out of hand. The new penalty rules for stay to play are crazy. Nationals this year in Lawrence carries an $800 penalty if you dont stay with through them. Sean is the one bringing UTRIP north and west of Wichita. With all the issues with USA and IFA i hope he succeeds.
 
Feb 3, 2016
502
43
I can't even imagine how hot the fields will be at the Genesis Sports Complex in Goddard KS. No thanks, it's bad in Florida I don't need that extra heat for the players on our team.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Nov 21, 2019
4
3
Oh, and we are doing the Goddard league at the new Genesis complex. It’s going to be a long drive for us and two other girls in different leagues.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
So... and this has happened in Florida more than once... While short term it is annoying, long term this is very likely to be a good thing.

The competition will very quickly make this situation better. In general, the new group will be motivated to provide better service, better experiences and fix the things that bothered them and others enough that caused them to break away in the first place. Teams will decide with their dollars.

At that point, the incumbent org will either react and drive their customer service up to compete and all benefit or they will not react and will get run over while whining about how unfair it all is.

PGF took less than 18 months to crush USA/ASA in Florida. I don't even care how much money PGF is making - that is how good the experience is when you attend these events. USA/ASA struggle to even have a qualifier with decent teams at this point.
Our local org crushed a travel league. 2 years to bulldoze a league that got at one point 130 teams to only 10 in year 3 and into non-existence in year 4.
NSA made a push a few years ago, however USSSA reacted and invested and kept them from taking their business.
 
Mar 7, 2016
242
28
So... and this has happened in Florida more than once... While short term it is annoying, long term this is very likely to be a good thing.

The competition will very quickly make this situation better. In general, the new group will be motivated to provide better service, better experiences and fix the things that bothered them and others enough that caused them to break away in the first place. Teams will decide with their dollars.

At that point, the incumbent org will either react and drive their customer service up to compete and all benefit or they will not react and will get run over while whining about how unfair it all is.

PGF took less than 18 months to crush USA/ASA in Florida. I don't even care how much money PGF is making - that is how good the experience is when you attend these events. USA/ASA struggle to even have a qualifier with decent teams at this point.
Our local org crushed a travel league. 2 years to bulldoze a league that got at one point 130 teams to only 10 in year 3 and into non-existence in year 4.
NSA made a push a few years ago, however USSSA reacted and invested and kept them from taking their business.

1. this isnt Florida, we dont have have anywhere close to the number of people/teams to even compare. If I felt the market here could take the change then yes I agree, however people are choosing sides based on regions and who they connected with. If anything I see both USA and IFA folding due to lack of funding allowing UTRIP to take over completely.
 

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