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Online now: 4 members: Schibs, Susu10, TABLE SETTER 11, titanhd; 113 anonymousDiscussion: Thank you, SSUSA
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| Dec. 25, 2022 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | Thank you, SSUSA Good morning all. I do not understand why so many people have a problem with the way SSUSA runs their business. It is a business in every sense of the word. They work tirelessly year around to provide the best tournaments they can. They work on making this game the best that they can for all of us every day and have for a lot of years. We can pretty much count on when the major tournaments are every year. They work on the rules every year to try and make the game better. Finding umpires is getting harder every year but they get the best ones they can. They have to work with the cities and fields to make sure there are enough for the large amount of games that will be played. We all appreciate the fields that are maintained well, but sometimes that doesn't happen. But I know they try. They also get room rates at local hotels for every tournament. That is no small task either. Every year they have to fight a myriad of problems. What will the weather do? What do we do if it does rain? This last year they had to contend with the destruction of a major hurricane. What about the supply chain for softballs? How do they choose the best ball to be used and then obtain them in quantities large enough for the biggest tournaments? And there are still a lot of people that will complain it isn't lively enough, or doesn't stay clean enough, or the stitches are raised too far, or it doesn't fly over the fence every time they want it to. Others will complain it is too lively and people will get hurt. SSUSA can never win. Then you have bats. They have to determine which bats are too lively or even, sadly, doctored to perform better.I will leave that one right there. On top of all that, you have the ratings of teams. How do you really rate the teams. I have heard so many people say it is 'obvious' that a team should be re-rated, but is it? I have found that there are so many things to take into consideration that it can be very tough to make that decision. We have all seen teams that 'didn't play their best games' in a tournament. Of course SSUSA wants to make sure every team plays in the highest division they can compete in so teams don't dominate year after year at the three lower levels, but many teams, sadly, don't agree. Yet SSUSA fights that battle every day of the year also. That is just some of what SSUSA does EVERY DAY to put out the best tournaments for us to play in that they can. Are they perfect? Nobody is. But I believe nobody tries harder to satisfy thousands of GRUMPY OLD softball players. I also want to thank Dave Dowell for what he has given to SSUSA and to We the Players. He monitors the message board and tries to answer our questions and he does it with amazing patience. He does the scheduling and does a heck of a job juggling fields, times, and always comes up with a viable bracket for each age group and skill level group. Many have never really looked at the bracket for a large group, like 50 or more teams. It's a lot of games and a limited amount of fields, and just so much daylight and so many hours in a day. Remember, there is 40, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, and even 85 and 90 year old brackets and 4 skill levels at each age group. That's over 30 divisions to set up for EVERY tourney. Dave does a great job, yet EVERY tournament there is someone hollering about the fact that scores are not posted in real time. They always talk about 'How easy it is'. Well, why don't YOU go up there, volunteer your time to set up a system and then find someone to volunteer to go to every tournament field to input ALL the scores. Directors bust tail to make sure the fields are ready, the umpires are ready, teams are checked in, any other problems are taken care of and that happens BEFORE one team even hits the field in the morning. To ask them to sit down after a full day and input scores to satisfy a few people......well, I think they have done enough. From me, Thank you, SSUSA, for doing what you do. I, for one, appreciate the fact you do this. Merry Christmas!!! |
| Dec. 25, 2022 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | For once Webbie, I agree with everything you said. |
| Dec. 25, 2022 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | That's the second time in one month you have said that, Mike. LMAO |
| Dec. 25, 2022 Dbax Men's 65 2101 posts | Well said Webbie. |
| Dec. 26, 2022 mck71 Men's 60 344 posts | Well said, totally agree. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wishing you all a Happy and HEALTHY New Year! :-) |
| Dec. 26, 2022 Fabe Men's 65 456 posts | I concur with these comments… my team travels many miles to experience playing this game that we enjoy! I hope we discover the enjoyment again in 2023!! Mahalo to the SSUSA staff for all you do! God bless n continue to do your best! Aloha, Fabe |
| Dec. 27, 2022 Jay Cas 18 posts | Well said Webbie, If you have never organized, setup, ran, controlled and/or updated a tournament, you don't know what you are missing. I agree that it takes time to coordinate everything and I think Senior Softball is doing one heck of a job. Dave keeps the questions on the board answered in a very timely manner. You are never going to get a perfect tournament. Hell the Professional sports has professionals running their organizations and they get it wrong every day. No complaints by me at least not yet. Foot |
| Dec. 29, 2022 Mango Men's 50 159 posts | 100 percent agree with Webbie’s post! This is the time of year many of us count our blessings and I am thankful for SSUSA’s existence as a well organized organization that provides a high quality product for us. It’s the best Senior game in the country. And Dave Dowell is the man! He’s not only smart and well organized, but he’s also pretty funny as well! Hope everyone has a great 2023! Mango |
