From the Dugout: Notice on Fees (Tournaments; Player/Team; Clubs & Leagues)

May 1, 2020

By Terry Hennessy
SSUSA CEO

We are starting a “Letters to the Editor” feature in this Newsletter to answer some of the questions that have been sent to us that we feel represent the questions and concerns many players and teams may feel. 

Communication, by its very nature, is best when it is a two-way street. Otherwise, it’s just an edict… and we all know how that feels during these times.

On a positive note, we have received several communications from cities and fields on the Senior Softball USA Rules and Recommendations for starting up senior tournaments during the pandemic.  They unanimously have said that by instituting these rules there is a very good chance we can re-start the sport sooner.

I do want to address one topic in this column near and dear to most of us: money – specifically entry fees, player and team registration fees and league fees.

Entry Fees:

We stopped depositing checks for tournaments that are run out of the main SSUSA office in May and June as soon as the first stay-at-home orders made those tournaments uncertain.  We have been holding those checks and our staff will be calling managers in the next week to ask whether teams want them returned or applied to a later tournament.

For those teams that have sent entry fees to our SSUSA Tournament Directors, please contact them for their policies.  Those are any tournaments in which you sent the entry fees directly to the director and not SSUSA.

For teams whose entry fees SSUSA has already deposited, our policy is:
Senior Softball USA will credit entry fees for use in tournaments through both the 2020 and 2021 season.  The only refunds will be for teams that are disbanding permanently. If there is a particular hardship, please email us at info@seniorsoftball.com.

We will be calling those managers as soon as we verify the season has started to determine how they want to use their credits.

We will be depositing checks for tournaments that run after July 1 because we believe we will be able to run those tournaments.

HOWEVER, we recommend not sending in entry fees until we are closer to the entry fee deadlines. That especially applies to the Reno and Glen Burnie tournaments.

Player and Team Registration Fees:

If players or teams play in NO SSUSA tournaments until Dec. 31, 2020, we will credit another year to the player or the team. 

Think of it like a fishing license: If you use it once, it counts.

Club and League Fees:

If a SSUSA Club or League paid their fees for the season and cannot play for the entire season, we will credit the fee for 2021.

We have asked our insurance carrier if we could get any kind of refund on the insurance while we were not able to play.  Their answer was no. So, this is the best we can do.

Thank you for your patience.  We all want to get back playing as soon as possible and we will continue to strive to make that happen soon!

Terry Hennessy is chief executive officer of Senior Softball USA and can be reached at terryh@seniorsoftball.com.