Why should you choose to play USSSA?
- We have a professional and experienced full-time staff available 24/7/365 to assist the needs of our teams.
- We provide a full range of tournament services. Consider that:
- Our site directors have the experience to ensure game day activities flow smoothly. The weekend staff is made up of former high-level players and coaches, school administrators, athletic directors, and other highly competent professionals who have a passion for the game.
- Each tournament site has a highly experienced Umpire-In-Chief (UIC) on-site to resolve rule and in-game issues.
- We put extraordinary care into every schedule to convenience teams as much as possible, factoring in travel distance, location of a team’s hotel, schedule requests, minimizing repeated opponents in pool play and balancing the tournament field.
- We provide up-to-the-minute scheduling, score reporting, and standings for our events.
- We regularly schedule early end times for championship games so that families can travel home at a reasonable hour.
- We schedule 3 umpires on all championship games.
- Rarely do we cancel an event due to lack of participation. On the oft occasion where we are faced with a low registration, we communicate proactively with teams and work on their behalf to find them somewhere else to play that weekend…even recommending another association if need be.
- We offer split bracket championship play when applicable and feasible.
- We use a consistent, standardized, and transparent system to seed pool play into bracket play.
- We work to develop and execute a complete tournament schedule throughout the region to give teams of all classes many opportunities to play in comparable competitions every weekend.
- We provide high-quality and often custom tournament awards.
- We offer teams high-quality tournament t-shirts with original artwork and other merchandise for purchase to commemorate our events.
- Our national website, www.usssa.com, is the most state-of-the-art, comprehensive, and transparent of its kind of any association and any sport featuring:
- Incomparable roster and tournament management tools for managers.
- Historical tournament results that don’t disappear after the season is over.
- A points and ratings system that provides local, regional, and national team rankings.
- Individual tracking of player performance and statistics through the player locker system.
- A guest player system that allows teams to pick up players when needed but makes sure that classifications are adhered to and gives full public transparency on every roster.
- Coming soon is a USSSA App that will connect participants, parents, and coaches to their selected USSSA events like never before!
- Our local website, www.usssa1.com, has been totally revamped using today’s latest technology. It features:
- Comprehensive team and tournament information, including step-by-step instructions on creating and managing your team within the USSSA system.
- Up-to-the-minute news stories with videos and social media connections.
- The most followed social media accounts in the region.
- Direct connectivity from the local site to the events and all pertinent information.
- Coming soon will be an online store to pre-order event merchandise, practice balls, and more!
- Our tournament schedule goes far beyond the standard weekend offerings by including such specialty events as:
- We offer State Championships to all ages and classes, with a high volume of teams competing for the title of State Champion.
- We have Signature Events that create different themes, formats, and opportunities for teams to have fun on and off the field.
- We offer showcase events to spotlight players in our program who are working to transition to the college game.
- We host large national events within driving distance of our teams to increase the opportunity for every team to compete for a National Championship.
- We spend the time and effort necessary to provide a balanced and rewarding tournament experience for all teams. We accomplish this by:
- Carefully managing team classifications so that participants compete on a level playing field.
- Lobbying park officials on our teams’ behalf to promote a safe and enjoyable playing experience. Examples include the advocacy of safety bases, temporary 200’fences, park improvements, etc.
- Implementing policies that maintain integrity in areas like:
- Team rostering
- Classification review
- Team participation / avoiding forfeits
- Comprehensive and fair refund policy
- Protest and appeal procedures
- Partnering with housing services for our national and local events to provide teams with affordable hotel options and working to schedule those teams’ games at a park as close to their hotel as possible.
- Employing a national bat testing policy that requires manufacturers to adhere to rigid player safety protocols.
- Selling new and used balls to our teams at prices they can’t get through online or retail dealers.