ARIZONA ASA STATE COMMISSIONER’S EDITORIAL

By Don Fishel

I have a hard time supporting municipalities in our State that are going to “surcharge” all of our Girls Fast-Pitch Teams, $50.00 per team per tournament, effective July 1, 2010.

I hope there will continue to be municipalities in Arizona that will not charge our authorized Arizona ASA JO Tournament Committees more than $12.00 per hour per field, for our youth to play softball. I would hope these rental fees would be to have the infields maintained after every other ball game.

I hope by the end of this calendar year, we will find municipalities in Maricopa County that will welcome JO teams in their community, do not “surcharge” JO Teams one single penny, and provide fields and facilities professionally maintained. Apparently, our large municipalities in Maricopa County do not understand and notice the economical impact for a JO Tournament that attracts 40+ teams. Our ASA sanctioned rural communities do notice and understand the word economical impact for JO Tournaments.

I have believed since 1984, when I started in the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association and also Arizona ASA, that towns and cities need to provide service for their citizens, above & beyond.

Yes, I understand it is currently a terrible State economy. Our families are having a tough time dealing with this horrible economy also. I want all of our Arizona ASA JO Teams to know, I DO NOT AGREE THAT ANY MUNICIPALITY WILL ADOPT ONE SINGLE PENNY NOW DESCRIBED AS A “SURCHARGE” FOR OUR ASA YOUTH TEAMS, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2010.

However, if you the JO Teams in Maricopa County, wish to pay an additional $50.00 per team, per tournament, to be able to stay in your area, so be it.

Our new JO State Commissioner, Greg Lovette, will be announcing an upcoming Arizona ASA JO Manager’s Meeting in Phoenix. I would appreciate every Maricopa County TEAM to attend and provide us with your beliefs. WE will support our teams the best way possible.

For ASA Championship Play, effective September 1, 2010, municipalities will “surcharge” JO Teams ZERO, if they prefer ASA Championship Play. Championship Play includes State, Regional, Hall of Fame Births, National Qualifiers & National Championships. For Championship Play, all 16U and 18U Divisions will be allowed to use medal cleats, approved this year by ASA. For Championship Play, infields will be maintained after every single game. For National Championships, the Tournament Committee will not be charged one single dime for rental fees. For National Championships, the host City/Town/Private Agency will In-Kind and be an active Partner.

I’m proud of the following ASA sanctioned Towns & Cities in Arizona that are hosting ASA Tournaments and are still NOT “surcharging” one single penny to the teams; Tucson, Yuma, Kingman, Prescott, and Lake Havasu.

2009 STATE CHAMPIONS

The 2009 State Champions have been posted. Congratulation to all of the teams!!!

2010 ARIZONA ASA SANCTIONED CITY/TOWN ADULT LEAGUES

Arizona ASA wished to thank the following agencies for choosing to register their Adult Slowpitch Softball Leagues ASA:

Bullhead City
Camp Verde
Cottonwood
Flagstaff
Gilbert
Kingman
Lake Havasu
Maricopa
Page
Pima County Sportspark Complex
Prescott
Sahuarita
Tucson
Victory Lane Complex
Yuma

All agencies that register their teams ASA are permitted to obtain, or are provided Field Owners Liability Insurance Policies through Arizona ASA. Bollinger Insurance provides coverage in the amount of $5,000,000.

This insurance is PRIMARY. ASA will defend your agency in the event of any/all bodily injury lawsuits, provided all teams and all umpires involved in the ASA Sanctioned Activity are also Registered ASA, and teams participating utilize ASA identified "hold & harmless" team rosters.

Arizona ASA would love to discuss Registration and ASA Sanctioning with agencies in our State not currently part of the Arizona ASA team. Please contact Arizona ASA State Commissioner Don Fishel at 928-777-1553 or azasacommish@cableone.net

2009 JO PROGRAM – ACE CERTIFICATION FOR VOLUNTEER COACHES

Arizona ASA strongly encourages all JO Teams to make sure all their coaches become ACE Certified.

Participants in Championship Play:

All teams must have at least one coach available during each tournament.

ADULT FASTPITCH SOFTBALL LEAGUES IN MARICOPA COUNTY

Victory Lane is trying to organize a Men's and Women's Fastpitch Softball League in Maricopa County. Individuals wishing to participate, as well as teams, are asked to immediately contact Lia Frank or Mike Krueger at 623-281-600 or softball@playvictorylane.com

ALTERED BATS

Arizona ASA takes a strong stance against individuals utilizing altered bats! All League Directors, as well as Tournament Directors, must institute the following to help protect player safety, as well as the integrity of the game:

A) Any Player discovered using an ALTERED bat, including a DOCTORED bat, a bat with ADDITIONAL weight, or a SHAVED bat, shall be suspended from further involvement in the Arizona ASA Program for a minimum of 2-Years!

B) The OWNER of the ALTERED, DOCTORED, WEIGHT EXCESSIVE, OR SHAVED bat will be suspended as well for a minimum of 2-Years!

C) Individuals discovered ALTERING, DOCTORING, or SHAVING bats will be suspended for a minimum of 2-Years!

D) Distributors who profit from such action will be reported to the ASA National Office for further action!

Arizona ASA will post a listing of suspended players for these type of violation on the Arizona ASA Website!!!

ARIZONA SPECIAL OLYMPICS FALL GAMES

Arizona ASA Umpires at the Arizona Special Olympics Fall Games

Ten Arizona ASA Umpires volunteered their time and umpiring services to Special Olympics Arizona Softball 2009 Fall Games on October 16th and Oct 17th at Surprise Farms Community Parks, in Surprise Arizona. Umpires represented each one of the three (3) Districts.

See More Pictures

Mike Davidson and Dave Hatfield represented the North District and George Poole represented the South District. Umpires representing the Central District were Wally Latall, Andy Williams, Tom Lemke, Wayne Fulton, Dave Dickson, Doug Liebman and “Bear”.

Fourteen Teams participated in the event and according to Bud Levy from the Arizona Special Olympics Game Management Team the event was one of the most successful in the history of the Fall State Games. Bud Levy sent the below e-mail to the Arizona State UIC, Mike Davidson expressing his appreciation to the Umpires:

Fantastic Softball Tournament!!

Our FABULOUS Softball GMT put on a Fabulous tournament, once again!! With the exception of the weather, and we won't talk about that since it was out of our control, the tournament was absolutely GREAT, ran smoothly and everyone had a SUPER time.

We had 14 teams this year and a lot of wonderful surprises from some new teams and some unbelievably close games. We even had to award double gold metals to two teams that were evenly matched. That has never happened before!

Thanks to ALL of the umpires for the great job they did and thanks to Surprise for allowing us to use those great fields!! And how about the Diamondback Clinics once again this year!!

Fabulous & Thanks!! Looking forward to doing this again next year!

Bud Levey

DISTRICT MAP

Districts: North, Central, & South

AZ Weather