Tips for Running Quality Tournament

As promised, here is the recorded call I did with Elliott of Triple Crown Sports. If you're thinking of running a tournament or are already involved with organizing and planning one, this audio is a must hear.

P.S. - Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what part of this call you liked most OR add your tournament tips!

Organizing and Planning Tournaments

I just got off the phone with Elliott at Triple Crown Sports and we talked about organizing and planning tournaments as well as how to better monetize them. When I have the call uploaded to the internet and ready for you to listen to will post it here on the blog.

I will also post a printable at Fastpitch Haven as well as start a discussion area for coaches who may have additional questions about planning a tournament. Elliott has agreed to answer additional questions for Fastpitch Haven coaches in the discussion area there.

If you don't know anything about Fastpitch Haven, stay tuned here because I'm putting together a short video to tell you more about it.

Oh My Goodness I Had to Sew

I really think sewing is becoming a lost art. Who the heck sews anymore? I know there are people who still own sewing machines and do know how to sew, but I don't think nearly as many young ladies are taking up sewing class like they did in my mom's generation.

Thankfully, my mother was one that did learn how to sew (I know, right about now you're wondering what this has to do with softball, but hang in there). My mom even let me play (I wouldn't call what I did with the machine "sewing"...) with her sewing machine and she also showed my how to stitch a single line a stitches by hand. I at least know how to tie knots in the end of the thread so that they hold and I get the general idea of how to do simple stitches.

Okay, so what does sewing have to do with softball?

Well, those of you who've ever had experience with Bobby Sox softball knows about the patches that are required to be on the uniforms for tournament time. For those of you who don't - the league requires small embroidered patches to be sewn into the girls' uniforms. This year, it was just one square patch that had do be sewn onto the back of the girls' jerseys (top middle area).

This weekend, my 3 softball playing daughters are all playing in the Hawaii State Bobby Sox All Star Softball Tournament. So, that means they ALL needed to have patches sewn onto their jerseys. Thankfully, the coaches for my oldest daughter's team volunteered to take care of it for us. Whew! All we had to do was give them her jersey at practice the other day.

But coach for the team my 2 other daughters play on decided to give the parents the patches to sew onto the the jerseys. I got the two patches earlier this week, but here I am, the night before the tournament, and I just finished sewing the patches on to the jerseys.

Boy, what an experience for me! I didn't even have a needle and thread. I had to go to the local grocery store and pick up a sewing kit and a pack of needles! At least I knew enough about sewing to realize the needle in the sewing kits was NOT going to be very good for sewing through the thick embroidered patch I was working with.

All I have to say is, "Thanks Mom for doing this for me every year while I was growing up!" Of course, she probably took care of it 10 times faster than I did, but I think I did alright for a first try. The second one I did came out a little better than the first, but the first jersey is for my 7-year-old and it's a little big for her, so it's not like her jersey is going to be hanging nice and straight all the time. Hopefully no one will really be able to tell that her patch is not quite as centered and aligned as it should be. I'll let you know after I see her wear her jersey tomorrow. Maybe I'll even be able to post a few pictures. LOL

Oh, and that's not the only thing. I found out yesterday that this may not be the end of my softball related sewing experience....and it's my family's fault. I'll tell you all about it another day. For now, I need to get to sleep. We have a long tournament day ahead of us tomorrow. Have a Happy 4th of July!

Celebrating the 4th

We have a long weekend ahead! How will you be celebrating the 4th?

As for me, and I'm sure many others out there, I will be at the softball field. This weekend, my 3 daughters are all participating in Hawaii's Bobby Sox State Tournament. Of course, less than 3 days away, and we still have no schedule. I still don't understand why tournament schedules are set up so last minute. Why don't the tournament people all get together the week before the tournament (instead of 1-2 days before) and set up the schedule so that parents and team members can do some planning? I guess we're simply supposed to plan to be at the park all weekend from start to end; details not all that necessary, but will be provided later.

Anyway, while others are out bar-be-quing, beach going, firecracker popping/watching, and celebrating the 4th of July, my family and I will be at the park. Softball....the story of a lot of my life. But that's just fine with me.

So - what are you doing this weekend?

18U Gold Nationals

Good luck to all the teams participating in this year's upcoming 18U Gold National Championship. The tournament is scheduled for August 5-12 in Oklahoma City.

Teams from 21 different states will be represented in Oklahoma City during the ASA Girl’s 18-Under Gold Fast Pitch National Championship. California leads the way with a total of 21 teams earning spots in the championship field. Texas is a distant second with nine while Arizona is a distant third with four teams. Oklahoma, Washington and Georgia will each boast three teams in the field.

Should be some good softball!

More information at the ASA Website.

Hawaii High School Post Season Heats Up

The Hawaii High School OIA playoff tournament is well under way. The OIA is comprised of all the public schools on the island of O'ahu (biggest conference in the state). The OIA playoff tournament starts off as a 12 team tournament (top 6 from the East and top 6 from the West). Yesterday all teams that had a first round bye (top 2 from each side) had their first playoff game and all 4 won.

So #1 & #2 from the East and from the West make up today's OIA semifinal match up. Campbell (#1 West) will face Kailua (#2 East) and Mililani (#2 West) will face Moanalua (#1 East). All 4 of these teams have already secured a berth in the Hawaii State Championship tournament which runs from Jan. 31st through Feb. 3rd.

The 4 teams that lost yesterday will play today to try to advance to tomorrow's 5th place game. Winners of the games will advance, losing teams end their season. The ones that do make it to the 5th place game will also secure a spot in the Hawaii Softball State Championship Tournament.

Newspaper coverage of yesterday's games can be read HERE.