Is there anything on the horizon for SSUSA to change the roster rules? SSUSA is the only association that puts so many restrictions on players that it impacts participation. It would be great if I could pick up with different teams in tournaments that my primary team is not participating. Playing with new teams, making new friends and seeing different venues is something I enjoy very much. It would be nice if SSUSA didn't restrict me from playing so much. This is the second weekend in a row I'm forced to sit out only because playing on different teams is not something SSUSA allows or encourages.

I agree 100%. That’s why we do very few SSUSA tournaments, the roster restrictions make it hard to add players if all yours don’t play in every tournament. If a team in the same age group and rating is not playing it would be nice to use a couple of their players. If so we could play in more tournaments.

I think this would open a big can of worms. Pickup teams and all star teams would ruin it for other teams.

It's a significant factor for roster and rating integrity that allowing "mercenary/weekend-warrior-for-hire" types be prevented if at all possible ... I refrained from commenting on the O/P because it's apparent that maybe Mr. Harder was not playing these past two weeks in SSUSA because the Eastern and Western Nationals were in play ... Both of those tournaments are "qualifying roster" events, meaning you would have to play for the team in some prior event to be eligible to participate in either of these Nationals ... Roster stability, and therefore rating integrity, is important as we near the World Championships ...

If you think there should be changes, please consider coming to the National Rules Committee meetings at the end of November ... They are open to the public and we have benefitted greatly from public testimony ... We hope you'll attend ...

Thanks Dave, I wouldn't call myself a mercenary since I left the Marine Corps 40 years ago. ;) I'm just a little dude who likes to play and now that I'm retired that's basically all I do is play softball. When we were younger, I couldn't play as much as I wanted to. Now, I'm getting opportunities and I want to play as much as I can before my body gives out. I don't post anonymously so you know how to find me. If you must know, I was referring to the Eastern nationals and the Battle Creek tournaments. The rules about picking up for different teams seems outdated like we had in the 1970's. It's unclear to me what is so concerning about playing on multiple teams during a season. SSUSA is the only association that keeps players from playing from week to week with different teams and Chaos does not exist in those associations. What I see is a dwindling pool of players due to many factors but most of all population reduction due to us Boomers aging out. What's coming behind us is fewer and fewer players. I would like to submit some suggestions to the committee? How might one go about making such a suggestion as I'm sure I will be playing somewhere on that date. Thank you for the opportunity to make a difference.

Thanks, Scott ... The term "mercenary" wasn't intended to be other than descriptive, but apparently (obviously?) maybe I could have chosen differently! ... I suspected that the Eastern's may have been in the mix, and I tried to distinguish that event (and its twin, the Western's) from others, because of the "qualified roster" concept designed to prevent teams from loading up for the "major events" ... Those are dance-with-who-you-brung tournaments ...

We're confident in our ratings effort and the roster limitations we employ to protect all competing teams ... Do we miss on things occasionally? ... You bet! ... Do we have room for improvement? ... You bet! ... Nobody bats 1.000 for very long! ...

We welcome participation at the Rules Committee Sessions ... If you can't attend, please submit whatever you would like for us to consider [1] by verifiable email so we know it's you to [2] info@seniorsoftball.com and [3] include "Rules Committee" oin the Memo line ... We send ALL of this correspondence to the chairwoman of the committee for Agenda inclusion ...

Again, thank you for your comments and taking the time to get involved ... We appreciate it ...

Great response Dave, thx.