Can You Believe This Scheduling????? U16 USA Champonships

And how do you know that at this point since pools are drawn out at the coaches' meetings?

BB is right. Teams are listed and with no numbers.

Just curious why you went to Florida instead of Ariz from Colo?

Hi Fellas,

The teams were listed with numbers....then the numbers went away......guess too many calls.....a admin burp so to speak.

However, five days before the tournament starts and no schedule for prelims does not bode well.

Picking the seeds at the "coaches meeting" leaves parents, who are paying for this nonsense....zero time for planning. Additionally, there's no mention of this in the flyer or on the web site.

Seeding could easily be done weeks in advance....for a two time pool play tournament.

So thus far....I'd say it is one of the poorer tournaments I've been associated with thru three kids growing up playing baseball.

We'll have to see what transpires next week. I feel somewhat obligated to give the truth....as I see it...to folks that sign on to HSBBW.

Harv

Oh yeah....have no idea why CO wants to go to FLA. Something to do with "spots" and as CO isn't noted for their developed baseball talent I can imagine that USA issues "spots" on a "bid" process regardless of what they publish......at least that's what some other organizers do.

why is it a poor tournament simply because you parents don't have time to plan? Plan what? From looking at the results, you get up, you eat, you get beat, you go to the beach. I could go the whole week without knowing that a month in advance.

I love this tournament.

Post again when the tournament is over, and let us know what you think at that point.

I have also been mystified in the past that USA Baseball takes so long to set schedules. But one thing you have to understand is, they have a waiting list and they will have teams drop out at the very last minute. I can't imagine they'd put you in the same pool with the other CO team initially, so considerations like that would force a complete rework of the pools and schedules at the last minute, or even several times in the last week, if they tried to do that. So, they wait until everything's set in stone, and they only tell you once.

All you really need to know is, you need to be in Jupiter that week. What you'll discover is that even the "official" schedule will see changes over the course of the week because it's Florida and that means summer thunderstorms.

Get used to it, be mentally prepared for it, and just roll with it. Then try to enjoy the games and the level of competition you'll see. And just pray your kids can keep up.

They don't wait to set schedule. They wait to tell YOU what number team you are. This is, I suspect, for 2 reasons: (1) to get everyone to the opening ceremony and coach meeting; and (2) to keep them from having to field complaints about the schedule ahead of time.

Harv,

Sorry to hear this.

Would you like my address so can send $1,800!
A number will be provided.

Remind each why teams from Colorado want to travel to Florida rather than travel to CA or AZ to play amateur baseball?

Harv,
Maybe this isn't for you?? Any update on how your son's tournament went?

Hi,

Its over. We had the priviledge of being in S. Fla for the two hottest days on record....ever. It was tolerable though.

I'm told the reason they don't post the schedule in advance is exactly as a previous poster surmised.....knowing the schdule before hand would allow some of the Florida teams to skip the opening ceremonies (there weren't any this year) and coaches meeting......especially if they had a late game the next day. USA was good on updating coaches and the web site throughout the tournament.

Our team was way overmatched going 0-6, 10 runned in 5 of the games. My kid saw 6 PAs in the 10 day tournament.

The fields were fine, actually outstanding for the most part, however the Santalucie fields are now run by a park service and a bit understaffed to recover the fields from thunderstorms. This cost us (and many others) the final game. For the consolation bracket games I got the distinct impression there wasn't any big urge to get the games in....no urgency or the use of quick dry, etc. to prep the fields and the umpires were rather strict on what constitued a "playable surface".

There were some very very good teams there and some even more impressive athletes. I saw one young man from Tx run a 6.35 60 yd dash. Watching him I knew I was seeing something impressive so I walked out on the field to ask the USA staff his time....WoW. There were pitchers who brought the ball in the 80's that I saw, heard rumor of a 90's. Most were upper 70's, low 80's with good off speed stuff. Team talent and quality varied widely.

So....final thoughts....if you have a super hot select team thats been playing together for awhile and you want to test their metal within an age group, then this is a good tournament. If you're from S. Florida then this is a good tournament. If neither of these things apply then I'd suggest there are equally good tournaments (and U18 leagues)likely closer to home for less money in this age group which has the option of playing up.

My saving grace was I had a run of good luck at the Seminole Hard Rock Blackjack tables which gave me some fun money.

Best to all,

Harv

Correction, actually the team went 1-5. They 10 runned another team.

Cheerio