World Cup or just USA Cup?

The 2010 ASA/USA Softball World Cup Dates are announced.

July 22-26 at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Or they may hold the event in the Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in OKC.

Participating National Teams are 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Japan. Silver Medalist USA and Team Canada. The fourth participating team will be a "USA futures" team.

Of course this will be an exciting event, but it is deeply saddening to know how we got to this event.

ASA/USA Softball got the dates they wanted! ESPN got the dates they wanted! The rest of the teams in the world that were interested in playing, didn't get their dates.

The fans in the USA only get to see three National Teams now in OKC. There could have been 16 teams in OKC.

There will be 16 National Teams playing in the ISF World Championship's in Venezuela.

For the Love of the game?

For the love of money?

For the love of power?

For the love of the Canada Cup which had to canceled its' event?


And still no mention of London 2012 and Softball......

 

I saw a piece on a female downhill(?)jump skier. For whatever reason they dont have this as an olympic sport for women even tho there is a world championship in the sport. The report showed how hard she had worked, the ups and downs of the appeal process; they had even saught legal redress with no luck.

I saw no logic in it especially since the same facility is going to be built for the men anyway... ergo no additional cost to have a championship for the female athletes of the same sport.

It made me realize what an uphill struggle exists to bring back softball as an olympic sport. I hate to say this but the future looks bleak.

 

As Stated

We never work together to build power in the sport! NC is a prime example, we all need to support each other, let our opinions known and make change. Easy for me to say, right!

 

Without a central governing body from top to bottom, softball will struggle as a fringe sport. There needs to be a "USA Softball" that unifies and consolidates the sport under one organization with exceptions for High School and NCAA only. As long as there a up to a dozen wildcat softball organizations pulling the sport in too many different directions it will never build the momentum it needs.

 

It can be done. You are the ones who told me why we have dead periods, so just form one governing body to encapsulate the sport within the state and enforce the rules.

I met a guy who had moved here from Texas at a clinic once. He told me about the seasons they had down there. Spring HS, Summer and Fall TB. He said it worked great. No one stepped on each other, and it gave some really good HS coaches and chance to coach TB who otherwise didn't get a chance. Said it worked really well.

Just take an example from the kids you coach. They have to want to do it and commit to it to get better. Sometimes that comes at a price in the beginning, but it pays off in the end. JMHO.

 

Not certain what dead periods have to do with a single governing body. Dead periods are school related and apply to all sports. My comments are related to a national level organization not state. ASA looks like they are trying to pull it together.

 

Is ASA going to institute dead periods like HS and NCAA? Not trying to be difficult but they were put in for a reason. Not sure what you mean by wildcat organizations. What do they do that's bad for the game?

 

There would be no reason for any organization except for HS and NCAA to have dead periods... so again, not sure what that has to do with what I said earlier. Not even sure my post is on topic or not.

I use the word "wild-cat" to describe the dozens of small softball organizations that pull the sport apart instead of pulling it together. They do offer alternatives such as lower cost in some areas or simply better organization but overall on a national basis they pull the sport in too many directions. For example, they each have their own rules that are different from one organization to the next or they each have their own championships. I wont name them but a simple google search of "Softball Organizations" will show you what I mean.

Not one of them lead to a central goal(again maybe ASA is the best at trying to do this) such as a feeder system to the Olympics or a consolidation in player stats or a standardization in rules. Maybe softball simply doesnt lend itself to this type of organizing but softball would have a lot more clout if they did/could.

 

Yes, I know what you mean now. But in a way some of those other organizations do offer a sort of leveling if you will in regards to talent. My DD learned early on that to get to where she wanted to play she had to play up, so once we saw that she always looked to guest play at ASA tournaments when she could not get to a team because she knew that's where the better players play. The cost has been high, but that's what she wanted.

With that said.....dead periods....the best example of people working together??? You don't see TB protecting kids during a time when they know kids are taking exams is the best example. I'm not saying shut done for 4 months, but there is a time and place for everything.

I don't know...I just know what my DD likes to do and just try to provide a good foundation from her to work from as best I can. Let the rest take care of itself...frustrations aside.

 

ASA is the national governing body for softball. All other sanctions more or less follow ASA's lead.