Travel team (softball) question

I got a call today from a mother whose daughters ASA travel team took third in a national tournament.

looking at the ASA Web site leaves me really confused. Not because there are boys' fastpitch tournaments (why aren't they playing baseball) but because of the different classification.

There are class A, B and C, and also east and west and north and south to go with these.

The more and more I look at it, it's probably not a true national tournament, but more like Dixie Youth and its "World Series" that is nothing more than the Southeast.

Plus, there are entry fees to get in the tournament. I know this is travel ball, but if you have to pay your way into the tournament, is there any type of qualifying to go along with it?

Of course, she wants her daughter's team in the paper, with a submitted team photo. I'm not really against it, but I don't know if this is a story I should write or if I should just do a standalone shot of the team mentioning the tournament.

 

Standalone photo, no writeup. With "regional" titles, you open an ungodly can of worms if you do a writeup.

 

If you do a story, be sure and put the term "national tournament" in quotes, to indicate to intelligent readers that it is a "national tournament" in name only.

 

Other than Little League, Babe Ruth and a couple in soccer and volleyball, there are virtually no youth tournaments that should be considered any kind of national championship.

 

Not those, either. NO youth sports "national championship" has any legitimacy whatsoever. None.

The only reason Little League does, in the public mind anyway, is because of the endless tornado of self-promotional hot air the organization (aided and abetted now by ESPN, of course), pumps out to create the illusion of legitimacy.

 

This is more of what I was getting at. I mean, is it really an accomplishment? Obviously, to win against any competition is good, but does this merit high praise? I guess I'm just confused at the organization and how people try to play these things bigger than they actually are.

 

Maybe because momma knows this is as good as it gets for little Suzie.

 

Sure, it's an accomplishment. If your paper does such things, run a picture and maybe a short blurb.

But. It's. Really. Not. That. Big. A. Deal.

 

There are so many national championships to be won in the summer, it's disgusting. No photo, brief. No team photos. Ever.

 

Bydesign, I just dealt with that shit over the weekend.

I got an e-mail from a mother about her daughter's team winning an ASA 8-and-under national championship. I go to the ASA site and see it doesn't run an 8-and-under national championship. From looking at the site, it appears the youngest group is 12-and-under. So I explain to the mother that we don't do stories on youth teams and leave it at that.

She presses, emphasizing the "national championship" they won (at a local softball complex no less). Finally, I send her a link to the ASA national championships site and tell her that as soon as I see her daughter's team listed, I'll do a brief on them. But not before.