NAFA Masters East World Series Report
September 16, 2009
Rockford, IL
NAFA MASTER’S EASTWORLD SERIES
(Rockford, ILSeptember 14, 2009 - It was an awesome event with perfect weather andgreatfields, great umpiring and the new four-game guarantee was wellreceived by all,except for a few players with really sore muscles today.
Congratulationsto the Champions of this year’s event:
35 &over – New Image, WI
40 &over – Seadogs, MA
45 &over – Eagle Pack, IN
50 & over- Nietzer’s/Kelly, MI
55 &over – Co-Champs Texas Stars, TX & Bower Electric, WI
For thecomplete brackets and All-World Teams, please see the results on ourweb siteat www.nafafastpitch.com .
Thanks toMarianne Larson of Rockford Parks District for having an awesomefriendly staffand taking care of all the players and staff like they were her own.Field PrepSupervisors Dave and Gene and the entire field prep staff were awesome.Concession Manager Gene and his staff were great. HospitalityAmbassadors Cindyand Mary took care of everyone working the whole weekend and it wasmuchappreciated by all. The gate staff and scorekeepers were friendly andaccurate.Thanks to tournament directors Loren Lathrop from WisconsinMike Watson from Kansas, UIC CarleyParishfrom CanadaBusinessManager Kris Russom from Oregon andMastersCommittee member Mike Clark from Iowa.
Everyteam that played in this event and the West Masters are invited to the“East vsWest Battle” in Vegas in late Octoberwhere wewill play a regular four-game guarantee tournament for all who attend. In addition to the regular event, the WestMasters Champ will play the East Masters Champ in each age division ina onegame winner takes all World Championship game Saturday night. Therewill be no Fridaygames.
The teamsvoted overwhelmingly to return to Rockfordfor the East Masters next year on the same weekend September 10-12 in2010, theweekend after Labor Day. They also voted to keep the same four-gameguaranteeformat with one round robin Friday night game at 5PM or later, two moreroundrobin games on Saturday that seed all teams into a single eliminationon Sunday. The championship games will bescheduled at4:45PM or earlier and preferably at 3PM.
The teamswished to continue using the NAFA ball but nearly 50% want to change toyellow ball for visibility, especially for night games, so we will lookintothat some more. Almost half the people wanted to allow the courtesyrunner bethe last out like the present. Theywould also like a player not in the game to be able to be a designatedrunneronce per inning. I will give other players and coaches the chance tofill outthe survey for another week and post the rest of the survey results assoon aspossible.
To theTeams that have made NAFA the first choice in Masters play, we thankyou foryour support. 60 masters teams from the U.S.and Canadaare participating this year in the East and West and the growth issurely dueto your participation and your willingness to give input to our NAFADirectorswho guide your program and it is truly the "Players Program".
Theawards, fields, field preps, ball, format, ,supervision, the friendliness, openness& willingness to make things right, along with the camaraderiebetween theteams in the Masters program is unmatched anywhere. Overall theumpiring wasvery good and consistent.
From the31 year old who is turning 32 this calendar year to the 71 yearolds(there are7 of them), the NAFA Masters program is supremely successful becauseofyou the players. We wrote down pitching velocities for most pitchersand thenew player photo ID check went well and was well received andappreciated byall coaches.
Everyevent is not without hiccups and we had a couple, but we made everyattempt tomake them right when they were brought to our attention.
Thanks toeach and every player, coach and spectator for making this an event toremember.
Yours in better Men'sFastpitch,
