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Re(1): Bump rule is not right IP: 97.77.154.198 Posted on February 8, 2013 at 03:52:39 PM by Chris Thames
BEfore 2011 the C program was decreasing each year in participation. The problem that was occuring was that teams would get bumped, disband and filter back down to D. Very few teams would honestly try to play at the next highest level. The same would happen from D to E.
So ways were looked at to help keep teams that get bumped from just coming right back down. So in 2011, this rule was created to say that you at least had to try it out for one year. After that year, you could then return to the lower class as a bump.
Did it work? Well in 2010 there wasnt even enough teams to have a C State Tournament. In 2011 (after this rule was implemented) there were 9 teams at State. And 2012 there were 12. So I would argue that it has worked.
Is it perfect? Not hardly! Do some players get screwed? Unfortunately, yes!
I can tell you that Arnie and the North Texas Rules is committee is ALWAYS open to suggetstions. The problem is we never get any solutions to the problem.
What do you recommend be done to solve the problem of sandbagging and getting teams/players to play up? And PLEASE dont say play by National Rules! No where in the USSSA Rule book does it have a policy for team classification. That is why each State Director implements rules to place teams in his/her state. So the USSSA National office leaves it up to each State Director.
As far as the concern over Worlds, I would say that you cant make rules and policies for the benefit of less than 5% of the teams. You have to make rules and policies that help the majority.