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Online now: 1 member: TABLE SETTER 11; 109 anonymousDiscussion: Time for SSUSA to listen.
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| July 14, 2017 local 169 posts | Time for SSUSA to listen. I am reposting a message I had sent in 2015. I could sent the same message today. Nothing has changed with the exception that we are now a 65 Major team and lost our last game Saturday to a different team. " The song remains the same" (Led Zed Zeppelin) May 31, 2015 local Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Reno observations Just returned from Reno tournament. We played 60 AAA. Lost our last game Saturday night at 9:15 to a very good Underdog team from Spokane. A couple of comments for the SSUSA staff. First of all the fields at San (whatever it's called ) are terrible. The infields are as hard as cement. I saw players slipping and falling in almost every game. You demand big money for teams to play in a Major tournament on crap fields. The umpires in our last games were very tired and did not do a good job. I later learned that SSUSA had them working 13 hours on this date. Listen to what I am saying. You are running a business. You are promoting your product. You need to ask for feedback from the managers after the tournament. ASA does this. You need to ask your self how do I make this better. The answer is right in from of you, just ask the questions and you will get the answers. The impression that some teams are getting is that SSUSA only cares about $$$$. The organization of the tournament was good as expected. Your just missing the point when it comes to customer service and we are the customers. |
| July 14, 2017 SSUSA Staff 3485 posts | local ... I can't find any SSUSA administered tournaments where I scheduled any 65+ team that could have lost on a Saturday ... That age division normally, except for the TOC, doesn't play on weekends ... A customer service observation or complaint, regardless of the enterprise, is normally much easier to address when we have an [1] identifiable customer, [2] team or division or [3] maybe just the event ... It's tough to glean much information from a two year old post about Reno ... If you're expecting some sort of meaningful response, it would help to have some specifics ... Thanks! |
| July 14, 2017 local 169 posts | You are absolutely right. As I age I forgot that we don't play weekends at Major tournament. We play during the week. The message I am trying to convey is this. In 2015 We played at San ? in Reno and the fields were crap. Player had difficulty leaving the batters box because of the poor conditions of the fields. I witnesses at least one batter per game fall leaving the box. The same thing occurred again this year on Wednesday not Saturday as I erroneously reported. In response to an identifiable customer we are ARO Glass. I have no complaint with the games we lost we lost to better teams and they deserved to win. My complaint or suggestion is that you NEED to improve the field conditions of the National tournament you put on. The organization of the tournament is excellent. But certain field we play on are not worth the money we pay as a team or as players to travel to. In recent years we would travel to Westerns in Sacramento. We complained that the fields we played on were terrible. The grass was not mowed to a playable level. When I voice a complaint I was told that it was the city's responsibility. Not a good answer, we haven't been back. Ok, I am almost done. Listen, SSUSA is probably the best thing that has ever happened to many of us and without it we would probably get older faster. You have a lot of great people on staff, Dave, Fran,George and Terry to name a few but you need to listen to your customer. Don't be afraid to send out a survey to managers after tournaments to see how you did and what you can improve on. |
| July 14, 2017 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Reno Centennial Park Softball Complex Golden Eagle Regional Park Reno Softball Complex at Rancho San Rafael Shadow Mountain Softball Complex Sacramento Foskett Regional Park Sacramento Softball Complex Unless there is something I do not know and according to my wife there is not enough space to list here. SSUSA does not own, operate, or maintain fields. The fields are rented from the city(s) in which these tournaments are played. The dates available affects which fields are available. An alternative is to limit the number of teams to only those parks deemed pristine. That however would create a whole nuther issue. I have played at every crap field in Sacramento, Reno, Vegas, (insert name here) at one time or another. IMO SSUSA does a decent job in acquiring dates,locations and fields. If I could do better I might invest my own money and try, but as my sister would say, "bless his heart, he is trying to do with what God gave him, it's up to us to help out." |
| July 14, 2017 AJC Men's 60 218 posts | It looks like Local is talking about Reno Sports Complex at Rancho San Rafael. We just played there about a month ago. The place feels old but both the infield and outfield were playable. We played 3 games on Saturday and even during the last game i did not see any bad hops. While id much rather play at Golden Eagle, this field serves its purpose. Reno is Reno, weather gets extreme and with the drought that we had before this year im sure they cut back on watering a lot of parks. Rockin N Reno was well run and we look forward to playing in it next year even tho we played about as bad as we ever have, it had nothing to do with the fields. |
| July 14, 2017 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Local more than likely plays for Stagecoach out of Oregon. I never have played on a bad field up there, then again hard to tell as muddy as it was. |
| July 14, 2017 DaveDowell Men's 70 4312 posts | softball4b ... The team is (or was) ARO Glass, a very good ball club full of great guys ... But they are like every other team that plays the Rock 'n Reno event and wants all of their games to be at Golden Eagle, a facility that rates out at about a 12 on the 1:10 scale! ... We do our best to rotate every team other than 75+ and 80+ Men and Senior Women 55+ and older through Golden Eagle to fill every available game slot ... But it's a mathematical impossibility to play the entire tournament there ... If playing at other venues like Rancho San Rafael, Shadow Mountain or Carson City (once every four years) for a day or sometimes two, isn't something they can accept, then maybe that tournament isn't for them ... |
| July 14, 2017 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Okay so that is even more of an (Are you kidding me). The 65M played Golden Eagle>San Rafael>Golden Eagle. So one day on a less than stellar field and you get a negative post on the message board. Geez Mike Adair |
| July 14, 2017 Bodyguard 14 posts | SSUSA STAFF, talking about fields which I would take Rancho San Rafael over Shadow rock fields why hasn't SSUSA ever schedule 50 major plus bracket to play on those 2 crap fields at shadow rock since you moved the Worlds to Las Vegas. They usually have the smallest bracket team wise not even 1 day in 5 years have they played there are you afraid of the backlash that would come before and or after the fields would be announced. But I guess you could always schedule them to play on the turf fields only |
| July 14, 2017 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | BG is correct re schedule and I concur Shadow Rock is the least desirable of all of the LV fields. Best and worst tournament - Cheyenne Park 60M+ and Shadow Rock 55M same weekend. Finished 2nd in both. 2012 BLD 50M+, 50AAA Overflow, 40AAA, 40-Plat Shadow Rock rest of 50 AAA 2013 Sunset 50M+, 40M+ Shadow Rock 50AAA 2014 Sunset 50M+, 40M+ Shadow Rock 50AAA 2015 Arroyo Grande 50M+, 50AAA Overflow Shadow Rock 50AAA 2016 Arroyo Grande 50M+ Shadow Rock 50M |
| July 14, 2017 DaveDowell Men's 70 4312 posts | Bodyguard and softball4b ... Here are some quick hitters for you to ponder ... • Shadow Rock is one of only four facilities (of a total of about 13 or 14 complexes we use) that does not have Local League restrictions requiring early end-of-day scheduling during the World's ... That makes Shadow a better fit for the monster brackets, like the 50-AAA, which in 2015 required 223 games over three days for the 68-team division ... We use Shadow Rock a lot for the "biggies" simply due to games demand matching up with field availability ... With 564 teams scheduled for 1,937 games last year, that's important ... Shadow is paired with Hollywood (Clark Co.) and Lorenzi (City of Las Vegas) to get that done ... We tend to finish those split groups at Shadow Rock because the CLV average cost per game last year was 279% of what Clark Co. (Shadow Rock, Hollywood & Sunset) was, 260% of the City of Henderson (Arroyo Grande & Russell Rd.) and even 174% of BLD ... Many may not care about those numbers, but we have to ... • Smaller groups can generally be slotted in at any number of facilities, and we tend to rotate them subject to other limiting factors ... For example, we don't play younger higher rated divisions at Russell Rd. (traffic hazard from HR mortar shots onto the street) and the CLV has asked us to limit 40-Major and 40-Major+ at Lorenzi because of a spike in windshield claims in the commercial parking lot outside of RF on Field #3 ... • Shadow Rock is also not a good fit for HR ball retrieval access on either of the newer fields or Field #2 facing the high school ... We are OK with the "..you hit 'em, you git 'em.." theory on retrieving HR balls, but it's an unreasonable economic burden on the teams when the balls just can't be gotten and they have to buy more ... By the way, that ball retrieval issue is an often cited component of the growing reluctance of the younger Major+ and Major teams preferring to play at Arroyo Grande, Lorenzi, Desert Breeze or Sunset over playing at BLD ... • Over the past few years, Shadow Rock has been home to 55-Major and 40-Major (in 2015) and 50-Major and 40-AAA (in 2016) at the World Masters and hosted the 60-Major+ and 60-Major in 2014 at the Southwest Championships ... We didn't get any significant backlash from them, nor did we expect any ... • In any multi-facility tournament structure, whether it's Las Vegas, Reno or Phoenix to name just three, not everyone is going to be happy all of the time because there are varying perceptions of the desirability of some complexes over others ... We'll continue to do the best we can to put these events together in a manner that makes sense, even when a significant majority of players are not aware of the myriad of other significant issues present ... |
| July 14, 2017 local 169 posts | Softball4b read the entire post and you will realize I do not play for Stage Coach out of Oregon. They are a very good group of guys but as Dave said we are ARO Glass out of Washington and yes we have the expectation of playing on good fields when we pay to play in National tournaments. We are a little spoiled because all of our league games and most tournaments in the Northwest are played at the RAC in Lacey. The point I was trying to make is this. Spend the extra money when you rent the fields in Reno, Sacramento or Vegas and have them in the best playable conditions for your teams coming down to play. ARO has been coming to Reno for years and enjoy the contact/friends from other teams. We appreciate the efforts of SSUSA in putting these tournament on. I know it is very hard work and you can't make everyone happy. Accept my comments as suggestions to make SSUSA even better. Ask for feedback and use it. |
| July 14, 2017 AJC Men's 60 218 posts | I think its a tough position for SSUSA to be in, they put together some of the largest tourneys for us to participate in and especially the largest one of all, Vegas coming up and have the logistic issue of having enough fields to accommodate everyone. Yes, if your like most teams and self sponsored, everyone is spending a considerable amount of money. The one complex that i have heard not one good thing about, actually more like it might be one of the worst facilities anywhere to play on is Shadowrock. Im sure SSUSa would rather have everyone play somewhere else but they use it due to the needs of so many teams that participate. Just my opinion of course and good luck to all who plan on attending Vegas, look forward to attending this year. |
| July 15, 2017 DaveDowell Men's 70 4312 posts | local ... This isn't a choice issue ... We have offered for years to pay for our field prep contractor(s) in Las Vegas to go into Shadow Rock (and other facilities on occasion) to help out a bit ... County contracting and Union rules have prohibited that from happening ... This is not unique to either Clark Co. or Las Vegas ... We have made similar offers to the City of Reno, to no avail ... Municipal entities everywhere control all aspects of facility maintenance no matter where we are ... The Clark Co. account executive is highly supportive of LVSSA/SSUSA and tries to get everything we have asked for completed, some of which is simply outside of his individual control ... |
| July 15, 2017 local 169 posts | Dave, Thank you for taking the time to explain the problems encountered by SSUSA in dealing with field issues. I know you probably have more pressing problems to deal with than defended SSUSA on the message board. Publishing the issues resulted in feedback that will help all of us at the end of the day. A suggestion; In our AZ league we have a mat that includes the batters box and plate. If they had those at the crappy fields that have the dug out, cement hard batters box. They could fill in the box with dirt etc. then place the mat over it. Clark Co, Washoe Co etc. might also benefit from this idea or the "muddy fields in Oregon"? John |
| July 15, 2017 DaveDowell Men's 70 4312 posts | No problem local ... And that's why we 'respond', as opposed to 'defend', here most of the time ... A lot of the negative commentary simply lacks an accurate factual background as the basis for the complaints! ... Back on topic, though, field maintenance is one of the two variables we have the most difficulty controlling anywhere, the other being "local" umpires who aren't part of our experienced regional or national crews ... And those two are the most "visible" impressions left with players at the end of the day ... We address field issues as far as a year in advance with the municipal folks every time, with varying results ... Thanks for commenting ... |
| July 15, 2017 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | DD, too much pondering for me. Where and what time are we playing, everything else I leave up to my wife. Keeps me out of trouble if I just do what she says. One thing I am extremely confident of, I have played this game since 1971 and I have more opportunities to play today than I ever did in the 70-90s. Grateful and appreciate the multiple organizations and venues available to Seniors. |
| July 17, 2017 curty Men's 60 187 posts | hey guys-- come play in New England some time! Our best fields, for the most part, would make you cringe. That doesn't even include the weather. Oh, forgot, not many teams here, so very few tourney's. We're happy to play, so we accept whatever we get!! |
| July 17, 2017 Omar Khayyam 1357 posts | curly, thanks for the reminder. Out here in California we are really spoiled, not only by the generally good fields (softball players are more numerous and therefore more voters for rec departments to respond to), but by the weather that lets us play every month of the year. We should be humbled by what some players like you have to contend with. |
