Hi all,

It looks to be that time of year again. Chris Roper and I will be chairing the tournament meetings here in the lower mainland and splitting up duties for organization and posting of the tournaments.

To review the tournaments that were held in 2009, please see the Tournaments section of this website.

We have set the lower mainland tournament meeting for Tuesday, January 12^th, starting at 7:30 PM at the restaurant in Softball City. This, for those of you not familiar with it, is for all associations within the lower mainland who host minor tournaments. We attempt to work out conflicts, move events around so they are spread out a bit and ensure all divisions are offered tournaments without over doing it.

As we did last year, any association from within the lower mainland not represented at these meetings, will not have their tournament posted on the Softball BC website until April 1st. This gives those who do come out and contribute to resolving conflicts an opportunity to get registrations for their events posted earlier. At the same time, we ask all the associations/districts outside the lower mainland to send us their proposed schedules so we can include them in the preplanning process.

In preparation for the meeting, please ask each association to submit, to myself (rickbenson@telus.net) AND Chris Roper (michri@dccnet.com), their tournament information no later than January 4th, 2010. This will give us time to get it organized and identify where there may be conflicts.

 Here is the information and deadlines we are looking for.

1. Date, division, classification, where the tournament will take place (either your association name, or the town), how many games are guaranteed, playoff format, price, tournament director contact information, including name, phone #, email.

2. Optional information, if you want it included, -  tournament director’s fax #, association’s website address, prizes offered, MVP awards, special rules, # of umpires, type of playing field (skinned infield, fenced, lights, etc.), how many teams will advance to playoffs.

3. If you hosted this tournament last year, number of teams that registered, or if you cancelled the event.

4. If it is a new tournament your association has not hosted previously, indicate “new”
We will need this information from each of you no later than Tuesday, Jan. 4th. This applies to all associations within the province who want their tournament information posted on the Softball BC website. If we don't receive this, your event won’t be posted on the Softball BC website until April 1^st.

If you don't have confirmation from your town/city for park permits, send your tentative schedule so we at least have this and can advise other associations of potential conflicts. As long as we get something from the out of town groups by Jan.4th, they will be posted on the website and on the appropriate dates.

For the first time in a long while, we will be enforcing the ruling under Article 20 Invitational Tournaments (page 93 of the 2009 handbook) where an association hosting a tournament is required to report the results of the tournament to the Softball BC office immediately upon completion of the event. Failure to do so could result in loss of sanctioning of the tournament by Softball BC.

 
FYI, the Softball BC website will publish on the following dates
- A/B boys and girls schedules - Jan. 31st (Chris Roper)
- C boys and girls - Feb. 28th (Rick Benson)
- Mini Mite/Mite boys and girls - Feb. 28th (Rick Benson)
- Junior Women, Senior Women and Open divisions - Jan. 31st (Chris Roper)

Thanks very much,

Rick/Chris