Hot Times Classic schedule

Agreed

Rock Hill, Columbia, and even Raleigh can be extremely hot. I have to agree Florence is one of hottest places in the free world, lived there and fire ants, mosquitoes, and heat were all we ever got there.
Ken is a great guy, works hard for his kids and organization and this tournament is a huge fund raiser so his kids do not have to pay so much for their trips to play Showcase and National events. Most that I have seen complaining have been there before, why keep going if things are so bad. Just don't go.
We have never had an issue getting hotels in Florence and we have been going there 6 years and the quality of teams has increased a great deal over the past three years. [/quote]

Bottom line is, Ken is a great guy and just trying to do a good thing for his organization, and Softball in general. The competition has been good for the last several years and perhaps because of the economy - there havent been as many of the FL, GA, etc., teams there - but competition still good. Perhaps it has gotten a little out of hand. Perhaps he will roll back the fees, get some help, demand better field maintenance, and make it a more enjoyable tourney... - but make no mistake - as long as the College Coaches show up, teams will go and roll the dice on the weather, hotels, etc... The coaches will continue to go there until something better comes along.
Being as great a person as Ken is - I really don't think he can control the weather though. Maybe he will move it - Myrtle Beach would be great - plenty of hotels and plenty of Quality fields - might get more interest from teams from outside the region too!
Good luck with it. I will tell you that I do believe that by playing in the Hot Times, it helped my DD get a D1 scholarship to play softball. And, if I never have to go to Florence again - i will NOT be disappointed at all!
End of story.

 

Some things out of our control

I have been coming to the Hot Times for many years. Every year we hit some of the same issues; rain, high gate fees, ect.
From a TD perspective;
1) Rain is out of our control.
2) Hotels will overbook. This could be fixed with a booking agent but then the price of the room goes up and creates another set of issues. People griping about high room prices.
3) Gate fees are normally charged by the city. They set the price.
We are attending several tournaments over the summer that have no gate fees. But the tournament entry fee is anywhere from $800.00 to $1500.00 dollars. If I want to go, I have to pay it.
4) While I don't care if a team want's to sell raffle tickets, parks may. The company I work for has a "no solicitation" policy as do many others. Raleigh gets 20% of gross revenue for anything sold on their park property. That's why we bring in no vendors there. The vendor can't afford it. A team selling raffle tickets would be considered a vendor in Raleigh.
All this said, I have two choices with my team; attend the tournament or not.
We can blame all the world's ill's on Ken Bailey, but bottom line is this, some things are out of our control as tournament directors.

 

Other than the rain all the other complaints seem to be the fault of the city.

A poster from Ohio a while back said what needed to be done was someone approaching the local Visitors Bureau and doing a little negotiating. That's something a TD should be responsible for.

If you can't get the fees down (which I doubt) at least press them to give you something better than what they're doing now.

As far as the raffle goes, nobody really cares if the kids do that; come on!

As far as the take it or leave it dilemma, it sounds like more and more are opting to leave it. Teams can find a place they are wanted!

As a side note, it's time for Raleigh parks and rec to step up! It's not all taking and no giving!! DO SOMETHING about Walnut Creek!!

 

In the 7 to 8 years that most play travel ball, is the money that you have spent equipment, hotel, gas, team fees etc. more than the ATHLETIC (not academic) money they receive to go college? If you are honest the answer to that would be yes. In most cases A LOT MORE. Some want to try and tell people that their DD got a "full ride" in softball, athletic money only...just ain't happening folks.

 

I don't believe it's all about scholarships. Of course, that's a very worthy goal. Having a great time with and for your kids is really what it's about.

I don't think people mind spending the great amount of money they spend. But they deserve to get their money's worth. It should be about more than just highways, hotel rooms and dirt fields.

Cat Osterman's park http://catsvillage.com/ is an example of what I'm talking about. And there's a park in Tennessee that's similar.

Bottom line is softball is expensive so something must be done to make it worth that expense. And it's not just scholarship money.

 

When I started in TB with my oldest, it was fun. It was more about the kids learning, playing and learning how to be a team and what team means. Now it is a business about making money, parents obsessed with DD's getting a scholarship, other coaches calling players from other teams trying to convince them the grass is greener on the other side, players hopping from team to team so much they don't know the concept of what a team means. I talked with my DD and she feels the same, the old days were the best when she knew who her teammates were going to be from week to week. Things worked out for my DD and she got a positive experience mostly from the younger years and I wouldn't change anything, but with my younger one, if it is quality time she wants I think we will spend it at the lake.

 

AMEN !!!!!!!! You can't even find local tournaments for 18u girls any more. It is all about showcase for them. Leaves a lot of older girls who don't have the money or time to play with some of the larger organzations with no place to play. I peosonally liked it better when my oldest played and no one ever worried about where the college coaches were gonna be. We were just there to play and compete. Good times back then. Funny thing my daughter went on and played in college a couple years on scholarship and we never spent a dime going to showcases. We played a lot of tournaments and never left NC.

 

Need more ground crew

The weather can not be controlled, but how many people you have on a ground crew can. For the money paid by the teams in this tourney and the money the parents are paying to get in, there should be more than one ground crew at the park.
The pitcher's mounds and batters boxes are not maintained throughout the day, and they are in terrible shape.
We run into this every year. If the city won't cooperate with ground crews, then I say move the tourney to another venue, because it is a good tourney otherwise.

 

Greenwood Park

Gate fees were ridiculous, rain is inevitable, and with that in mind, maintainence on fields should have been expected. They used sand to fill in the wet places instead of quick dry. As much as they charged they should have had that on hand. As far as concessions go, I am sure they suffered because everyone was boycotting them because of outrageous gate fees & cooler restictions. They were doing a lot of work for others to profit!!!!!

 

On another note, I only saw 2 college coaches at Greenwood Park!!!!!