"B" Bracket Tournaments.....

Here's a thread idea:
Apparently, there was a fall travel tournament this weekend with a "B" bracket??? And folks are proud of winning it? Yuck......

Why play travel ball if you know ahead of time that you're not good enough to compete to win the "real" tournament? If you're gonna play up, then play up....if not, stay back and play your own age.

In my opinion, the infamous "b" bracket has watered down travel ball. There was a thread earlier this month about the status of rec ball today in the state of NC. IMO, "B" bracket tournaments have destroyed rec ball. The teams playing "B" ball ought to save their money and populate their area rec leagues. Learn to play the game first....THEN migrate to TB.

What's next? "C" bracket for the teams that can't win "B" bracket???? I think they are called "Second Chance" Tournaments..... If NSA, AAU, etc. will just provide "D" and "E" bracket tournaments, then folks could just collapse down their rec leagues and be done with it.

I'll take some lumps for this topic....but thought it a decent discussion.
Any takers? I don't see too many "B" bracket discussion on the baseball side of the forum.

Braves, do you all play "B" bracket baseball?? Or, are you too embarrassed?
DDD

 

On second thought....

On second thought, "B" tournaments might be cute for 10U girls.....but 12U?
14U??? 16U?????????? C'mon folks......that's a bit much, don't ya think?

 

I agree once you get to 16u there is no need for an A and B bracket if you arent good enough then you should be playing rec ball or doing something else with your time.

 

BASEBALL RUNS 3 DIVISON

 

The only benefit I could possibly see with a "B" bracket goes along with another discussion. That would be a high school coach trying to get the girls in their school caught up by playing in something better then rec yet not having them completely embarrased in the real tournament.

 

If there was going to be a tournament with an A and B bracket this weekend, then what was the point of the "B" tournament that was held in which you had to have under a .500 record to play in. That should have been the "B" tournament and the other for "A" teams.

 

do not take what i have said the wrong way. I am all for everyone playing as much as possible. That's the only way to get better. But back when I was a tb coach you had to win to advance to win a division/trophies. I am not all about winning trophies though, the main thing is for the girls to have fun and improve as a player and human being.

 

Having the "B" level assigned to you seems a little degrading. Coaches should strive to play the best teams they can and be competitive. Usually, in most tournaments, a tournament director can create pools that will be competitive...especially in showcase ball. AAU basketball has a good way of doing something that will help the so called "B" and "C" teams. In a couple of tournaments we played in back in the day if you lost at a certain point...say your first bracket game, you would go to the Bronze "C" bracket and could only win the Bronze bracket after that. Teams that lasted a little longer would go to the Silver "B" bracket and could only win that bracket once they were sent there. Only teams that survive long enough would be in the Gold "A" bracket and only those teams that made it to the "A" bracket could win it. So, you had a Gold bracket winner, a Silver bracket winner, and and a Bronze bracket winner. I didn't like this format to start with, but the more we saw it the more I liked it.

 

I agree, no B or C bracket for me. Pool play then a single or double elimination winner(one winner) take all.

 

This past weekend

Hmm. Let's see. My coach looks online and decides this looks like a good tournament to sign up for. He adds our name to the list. The tournament is billed as a 4 game guarantee. No other mention of structure to the tournament was mentioned until game times were posted. NSA decided to format it with 2 pools which seeded into A and B brackets. Top teams after pools into A, bottom teams into B. Nobody signed up intentionally for a B bracket. This is something NSA decides to do. The teams who signed up to play were all fighting for those top spots in the A bracket. Take it up with NSA, but don't make teams who missed that bracket by a run feel like they should have not bothered to come.

Also, by having two brackets, whether A/B or just dual brackets, you can have more teams participate over the course of two days if you have the fields. a single 13 team bracket takes a lot more games where you are waiting on results and then you have to limit the number of teams.

So, before spouting off about crappy B teams screwing up your tournaments, maybe you should know what you are talking about.