GROWTH OF C&L TEAMS DOUBLES IN 2010

Feb. 1, 2010 – Steve Simmons New England & North Regional Director, Clubs & Leagues

PALM BEACH, Fla. – You can use the newspaper, internet, telecommunication, whatever, but nothing beats word-of-mouth for passing on the news of something that meets the needs and is worthwhile to any specific interest group.

The interest group in this circumstance is senior softball leagues. Florida is full of senior softball leagues and many play in communities where the city or county require the league to provide liability insurance.

Last year, two leagues in Florida’s Palm Beach area purchased SSUSA league insurance and were satisfied with the product and the cost. That word spread among members of the leagues. Many players in the leagues also play in other leagues in the same area and that is how knowledge of the SSUSA Clubs & Leagues program was passed on to league administrators.

This year many leagues on the Southeast coast of Florida are brandishing SSUSA Clubs & Leagues emblems. The Palm Beach area went from two SSUSA leagues in 2009 to five this year including the Lake Worth / Boynton Beach / Delray Beach Community Senior Softball League; the Cushing Senior Softball League, Boca Raton; the Okeeheelee Senior Softball Association, West Palm Beach; the Palm Beach Senior Softball Association, Boynton Beach; and Royal Palm Beach Senior Softball, Inc.

This increase in the number of SSUSA leagues wasn’t just happening in Southeast Florida, but it was also occurring in other pockets of the state like the Southwest metropolitan areas as well as the west central metropolitan areas. The number of insured teams has already jumped from 61 in 2009 to 104 in 2010, and that is just in the first month of the year.

A good portion of this growth has occurred in the south half of the state and a lot of that is attributable to the hard work of Frank Galuppo, SSUSA Clubs & Leagues Southwest Florida’s metropolitan area director. Galuppo is the only SSUSA Clubs & Leagues director in the state. The SSUSA would certainly like to enlist more directors in Florida and especially fill the regional director’s role for that state. Florida, because of the senior softball community numbers in state, is a region onto itself.

In addition to the regional director, directors are needed in the Southeast Metropolitan area (centered around the Palm Beach area), the Northwest Metropolitan area (centered around Orlando), the Southwest Metropolitan area (centered around Tampa / St Petersburg) and the Panhandle Metropolitan area (centered around Pensacola).

The SSUSA would like to entertain requests from those who would be willing to act as a SSUSA Clubs & Leagues director. If you feel so inclined, please contact Steve Simmons – SSUSA National Director. Simmons can be reached at:

(H) 952-470-9250

(C) 952-239-7674

(E) stnlsimmons@aol.com