GOLD TEAM

I agreee. My thought would be instead of playing gold, why not play an ASA schedule as a 16U team? By doing so, the teams that have players who are seriously pursuing softball in college will be seen much earlier. The ones who just want to play more for fun can still play the other organizations tournaments.

In speaking with college coaches this summer, I was surprised at the number of coaches who attended the ASA 16U Nationals. What the coaches are hoping for is to have the '07 recruiting almost wrapped up. By the time the Nationals begin, hopefully the '07 players they are interested in are either committed (hopefully to them) or have scheduled an official visit. This way they can begin to turn their attention to the '08 and '09 recruits.

However for this to be a sensible option for 16U teams in NC, we must provide more ASA tournaments for all ages in NC. With the leadership of NC ASA fastpitch commissioner Rick McHone, the ASA fastpitch schedule will soon offer many more tournaments to NC teams as well as teams in other states.

But to be successful in the long run, NC ASA must provide quality tournaments and the NC teams of all ages must support the ASA efforts by playing ASA. If this happens, it will only be a matter of time before NC will get more berths to the Nationals along with qualifying tournaments.

 

One big difference is the pitching distance. GOLD has gone to '43 feet for all tournaments, which 1) helps prepare them for college and 2) gives the college coaches a true visual of how they will perform at that distance. This was probably the smallest turn out for college coaches at the 18 "A" Nationals simply because they want to see players playing at college distance. I know that some showcases are allowing 18 "A" teams to throw from '43, but then some tournaments they go back to '40 which in turn affects the players.

 

43' for HS

push for 43' at HS level in NC; help the hitters for once!!

 

Nationals

I agree small amount of coaches at A's, I think part was due to location as U really had no clear way to get to the town without driving at least an hour from the nearest airport. Mound distance also may have played a part.

 

Want to see one reason to play Gold?

Go to this address:

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/robocoach/vpost?id=1036867

I don't necessarily agree with this but it is from the website that most fastpitch people pay attention to from coast to coast.