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USSSA
BASEBALL
League
Affiliation Information
Overview
“More Kids
Playing More Baseball”, this is the USSSA Baseball slogan.
USSSA baseball is a program designed to allow your league to
offer programs that fit the level of play of each team in your
organization. USSSA
offers single age division play and four classes of play within most
ages. Every division
and class is offered post-season play that extends to a State level
Championship at a minimum. Most
age/class divisions are offered post-season opportunities that
extend to the National level. All
of these programs are as advertised, “opportunities” or
“options” that can be taken advantage of or not, but no longer
will any team not have a place to play.
The USSSA process
involves registering teams and then presenting those teams with
opportunities created by the league itself, and/or opportunities
provided by a host of other USSSA affiliated leagues and tournament
hosts. Once a team is
registered, they can play in as many sanctioned events as they
choose to. The team
registration is good through the entire baseball year (August 1st
– July 31st).
Opportunity for
kids is not where your affiliation with West Tennessee / Mississippi
USSSA Baseball will stop. You’re
affiliation provides your league the opportunity to be involved in
programs that address the “secondary” aspects of your league
that are important, but overlooked.
“Covering All the Bases” is a public awareness program
dealing with Sportsmanship, Parental Accountability and Umpire
Education. Every league
can benefit from increased exposure to these three vital concepts.
Without any of the three, your league is second rate at best,
but they are often over-looked and taken for granted.
Implementation of this program, and dealing with these vital
functions, will no doubt help to make your organization a better and
more enjoyable place to play.
League
Affiliation
League affiliation
involves filling out the “League Information Form”
,
registering your teams, and posting your league results into the
USSSA National computer.
The League
Information Form gives USSSA the contact information necessary when
issues arise that regard you. It
also contains information that allows USSSA to plan and structure
the upcoming season.
Leagues register
teams by filling out the registration template (see illustration) or
by having teams register individually at www.midsouthusssa.com
under the Team Manager Section.
Every registered team receives a log in ID and Password to
log into the USSSA computer to their specific team site.
At the team site, manager’s can enter their rosters, view
rankings, search for tournaments, post player statistics and email
messages to players about day-to-day team business.
Once a manager receives a log in ID and Password, he retains
that for life and can easily access his home page to register a new
team year after year.
Each
affiliated league designates an individual to serve as “Area
Director” for the league. This
individual will receive a special log in ID and Password to log into
the USSSA computer and handle certain league functions, including
setting up the league and/or tournaments and posting results of
those league or tournament games into the computer.
The “Area Director” will also be a point of contact for
the State office when issues or questions arise concerning the
league.
USSSA
Baseball Registration Template
USSSA
Fees
Below are the fees
associated with sanctioning a league or tournament with USSSA:
League Sanction
Fees
(4-99
Teams)
$75.00
Sanction Fee + $20.00 per team in the league.
(100
Teams and up)
$75.00
Sanction Fee + $18.00 per team in the league
Optional (Only
if your league decides to host a USSSA sanctioned qualifying
tournament)
State Qualifying
Tournament Fees
$75.00 Sanction Fee
+ $20.00 per team in the tournament.
NIT Tournament Fees
$750.00
Bid Fee
$75.00
Sanction Fee + $20.00 per team in the tournament
Area
Directors Site on the USSSA National Computer
Affiliated leagues
are encouraged to host at least one tournament during the season.
It may be a pre-season tournament or post-season tournament
that is closed to the league, or may be a tournament open for
registration from teams around the state. Either way, it a) qualifies additional teams for post-season
play and b) enables you as a league to re-coup your registration
fees several times over.
One of the
objectives of the USSSA structure of play is to get more of your
teams playing more baseball (and more post-season baseball) and make
it financially rewarding for you as a league to do so.
Dual
Sanctioning with USSSA
If your league is
currently sanctioned with another organization and is satisfied with
that affiliation, West Tennessee / Mississippi encourages leagues to
dual sanction with USSSA. You would continue to organize your league
the same way as you have in the past. You would select your Allstars
and send them to your present affiliation’s post season events. No
longer will your league just offer post season play to the top 12
players of an age group, you have now opened your program to give
this opportunity to more players. By dual sanctioning you are now
creating an opportunity for additional teams from your league to
form and participate in post-season play with teams of equal
caliber. “More Kids
Playing More Baseball”
League
Qualifying
Taking league play
to a new level. Once
your league teams are registered, your league representative can set
up the league season in the USSSA computer.
Game scores are entered for all games played and teams can
monitor the progress of the season online.
All teams receive a USSSA power rating which ranks them along
with all other teams in their age and class in the State and
country. Your top
league teams qualify for post-season play and are rewarded now for
having a good season.
USSSA
Rosters and Qualifying
All USSSA
registered teams enter their rosters online in the USSSA computer
through their team home page. When
a team actually qualifies for post-season play (the West Tennessee
or Mississippi State Tournament or a USSSA National Championship or
World Series), their team roster is frozen.
Once a roster is frozen, the players listed on that roster
cannot be added to a roster of any other registered team.
When a roster is frozen, from that point, teams can make up
to three additions and/or make up to three deletions to their
roster, up to 72 hours before whatever USSSA national event they are
attending begins. The
USSSA computer tracks every move that is made to every registered
team and counts the number of moves a team makes after their roster
has been frozen.
How
are League Teams Classified?
Every team in a
single league may be registered as a Class A team.
If leagues opt to form All-Star teams at the end of the
regular season, those teams will then be registered as a new team
and then placed in the All-Star classification.
Larger leagues that
choose to pre-select teams of a higher caliber, must classify those
teams as either Class A or AA before the start of the season.
Leagues designate the higher caliber players to the AA teams
through whatever evaluation process they choose.
“All-Star” teams from Class A, re-registered and go to
All-Star Classification and “All-Star” teams from Class AA
re-register and go to Class AAA.
The Class A and AA
programs are primarily two levels of recreation baseball.
From time to time, teams may prove themselves in higher
classification tournaments and the league may need to move the team
to that higher classification.
USSSA gives you the
flexibility to form your league with opportunities for teams to
participate in post season play that best suites your needs.
Classification
of Players
Players may still
be eligible to play with a league All-Star team and be on a Major,
AAA, AA team that participates in tournament play during the
season. Participation on tournament teams does not disqualify
players from still being eligible to play in league play.
Qualifying for the All Star State
and World Series Tournaments
USSSA now offers two divisions of post season play
for Drafted League All Star teams.
National Division:
Any team that participates as a league team in a drafted league that
is registered with USSSA is eligible. This team must meet all of the
criteria for being an allstar team with their league as well as with
USSSA. To participate in this program the following conditions must
be met.
-
Teams will qualify through their approved
Drafted League.
- All of your
participants must have played in your Drafted League
program.
- You can not
have any players who have played on a travel team after January
1 of the current season.
- You can not
have started playing in tournaments (any association) as an All
Star team before the Memorial Day weekend.
- You must
register 100% of your league.
- Leagues must
submit a copy of their rules, by-laws and schedules to the state
coordinator.
- Players must
play in at least 75% of their teams scheduled league games.
- All Star
teams may be chosen by any method approved by the local league.
- Leagues may
have more than one All Star team in each division and age group.
- Drafted
leagues can not have returning teams (league teams that are not
subjected to the draft) that participate in the All Star
National Division.
- Leagues must
have an approved drafting procedure. A maximum of 3 protected
players are allowed on each drafted team.
- Only State
Directors can enter / create All Star teams and enter rosters
online.
- The league
administrator must submit a signed copy of the roster to the
state coordinator. The state coordinator must approve the All
Star roster for the team to be official.
- A league
must have an 8 game schedule.
American Division:
Any team that is from an approved drafted league that is sanctioned
with USSSA and does not meet any of the requirements listed above
may still participate in the All Star Division, but they must
participate in the American Division. Teams in this division are not
limited in how many tournaments they participate in. They may also
have players who have played on travel teams (AA, AAA or Major)
throughout the year. The following conditions must still be met.
-
Teams will qualify through their
approved Drafted League.
-
All of your participants must
have played in your Drafted League program.
-
Leagues must submit a copy of
their rules, by-laws and schedules to the state coordinator for
approval.
-
All Star teams may be chosen by
any method approved by the local league.
-
Leagues may have more than one
All Star team in each division and age group.
-
Only State Directors can enter /
create All Star teams and enter rosters online.
-
The league administrator must
submit a signed copy of the roster to the state coordinator. The
state coordinator must approve the roster for the team to be
official.
The
USSSA Power Rating
The USSSA Power
Rating system is much like the College BCS system of ranking teams.
The Power Rating system, takes into account the strength of
the teams played and the scores of those games to rank every
registered team in their age and class. The development of this system has been so positive, that it
is likely that in a short time, the Power Rating system will be
responsible for determining the classification of all USSSA
registered teams.
West
Tennessee / Mississippi USSSA Online
West Tennessee /
Mississippi USSSA Baseball provides you and your league participants
with a State website that is kept up to date with all of the
pertinent information for West Tennessee and Mississippi teams
participating in USSSA Baseball.
The website at www.midsouthusssa.com will help you to answer
the many questions that may come your way with a transition to a new
format of play. Team Manager provides all the details and instructions for
any team to register with USSSA.
At Tournament Lookup, teams can search for any USSSA
tournament in West Tennessee / Mississippi or the nation.
The Rankings section, allows managers, parents and players to
stay abreast of where their team stand in relation the rest of the
state and the country. The
State Tournament section gives all teams the information they need
for State tournament play. They can locate where, when and who to contact for their
State tournament. All
the information and links to every World Series site is in the World
Series section. Information
on Insurance, Umpires registration and development, baseball and the
USSSA “Covering All the Bases” program is also located at this
site.
All
affiliated leagues are strongly advised to make sure that all
managers and team parents know that this website exists and what
information can be found on it.
West
Tennessee / Mississippi USSSA Baseball Home page
Fundraising
Opportunities
For affiliated
leagues in the West Tennessee / Mississippi area, West Tennessee /
Mississippi USSSA has partnered with ESPN the Magazine to offer an
outstanding fundraising opportunity.
USSSA Baseball and ESPN
the Magazine recognizes that it takes a lot of money to keep
athletic programs up and running. This is one of the easiest and
most rewarding fundraising programs available. The program is as
easy as a team's players selling a few subscriptions to ESPN The
Magazine. Every time a 2-year subscription is sold for $40, the team
keeps $30 from that order. 75% of the total sale goes directly to
the team. If just 10 players sell 5 subscriptions each, the team
will earn $1,500! It's a Win-Win situation! West Tennessee /
Mississippi USSSA Baseball can provide you with all of the tools
necessary to take advantage of this tremendous offer.
Insurance
USSSA
Baseball offers the most comprehensive and complete insurance
program for their teams. With USSSA Baseball now being the second
largest youth baseball organization in the United States you can
take advantage of the tremendous buying power that this offers. In
most cases, with the league discounts, the reduction in insurance
cost through USSSA more than pays for the sanctioning cost of the
league. Team medical and liability available for all USSSA sports,
League or Association officers and directors automatically covered
for General Liability ($2,000,000 limit), flexible coverage $0
deductible or $250.00 deductible depending on budget.
Communication
and Education of the League
For years, youth
baseball organizations have operated in one way.
They have a regular season and then pick the all-star team,
and the remainder of the league players have to wait until next year
to play. It doesn’t
take long to realize that the USSSA structure of play provides
greater opportunity for all players, but qualifying, rosters,
classification, etc. are all questions that managers, parents and
players will have as you switch your affiliation to USSSA.
Communication and Education are critical for you to make as
smooth a transition as possible to USSSA.
Your greatest opportunity to educate changes is during your
spring and fall registration. All
leagues are encouraged to prepare a list of Frequently Asked
Questions (or something similar) to give to parents and managers
during the registration period at the beginning of the season. Use information enclosed herein, information posted at www.midsouthusssa.com
or information based on personal experience to devise some kind of
handout or information sheet that will be ready for distribution
during registration in January and February.
Contact the West Tennessee / Mississippi USSSA State office
for help in doing this if need be.
USSSA League Benefits (Summary)
-
More Kids Playing More Baseball
-
Kids Playing on Their Level
-
Opportunity for Ages 5-18 in
Single Age Groups
-
Gradual Increase in Field
Dimensions
-
Flexibility to Control Your Local
League
-
Teams Qualify for State
Championships through League Play
-
Teams Qualify for World Series
through League Play
-
Drafted Team and All Star State
Championships
-
Drafted Team and All Star World
Series
-
League Determines which Teams and
How Many Teams Qualify
-
Discount on Team Insurance
-
Generate League Revenue
-
Umpire Training and Travel
Program
-
Community Economic Impact
-
Playing Real Baseball
-
Be Part of the Fastest Growing
League and Tournament Baseball Association (2nd in
the World out of 27 Identifiable Associations)
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Be Part of the Largest Tournament
Network in the World
- Be Part of
the Largest Multi-Sport Association
Important
Dates
Although Area
Directors can post tournaments directly to the USSSA computer, NIT
tournaments have associated paperwork that takes time to fill out,
get signatures and turn in to the National office to post on the
computer. Plan any
tournaments that you may want to host well in advance!
The most important reason for this is to allow teams several
months to see the event and plan to play in it.
All affiliated
leagues MUST have their league teams registered by May 15th.
Also, if your league is considered a qualifying event, those
teams actually need to be registered and in the computer before your
league play begins in order to get the league set up and game scores
input during the season.
If your league is
forming all-star teams, those teams need to be chosen, registered
and have rosters online by June 15th. In some cases this may mean choosing the all-star team before
the regular season actually ends.
However, it is imperative that those teams be known and
rosters set, so that other teams can adjust their rosters
accordingly before they play in any post-season event.
If your league is
interested in joining the fastest and most dynamic baseball
organization in America, then fill out the forms at the links below
and return to the state office immediately.
Click
here for League Affiliation Information Form
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