PIEDMONT ASA WILL HAVE THEIR ANNUAL MEETING ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2009 AT THE BEDFORD MOOSE LODGE 2988 W. LYNCHBURG SALEM TURNPIKE BEDFORD, VIRGINIA FROM 10:00AM TILL 2:00PM. WE WILL BE GOING OVER ALL THE NEW CHANGES AND HAVE AN OPEN DISCUSSION TIME TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. THIS WILL BE AN INFORMATIONAL MEETING AND A BUSINESS MEETING. LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED AT NO COST TO ANYONE ATTENDING. PLEASE CONTACT MIKE MUSGROVE @ blueiceman2@aol.com IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING

         IMPORTANT NEWS FOR ALL VIRGINIA ASA TOURNAMENT TEAMS

In order for the ASA to better protect our youth players, it has become MANDATORY that ALL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY tournament team coaches on the field or in the dugout MUST submit to an ASA BACKGROUND CHECK, no other background check will be accepted. Also one of the above coaches MUST be certified through the ASA ACE coaches’ certification. We are highly recommending that ALL coaches get ACE certified as we are expecting it to become mandated in 2010.   ALL Virginia teams playing in any Championship Play tournament; this includes any State Championship, Regional Qualifiers, and National Qualifiers, MUST individually register ALL players and coaches. Remember when your team plays in any Championship Play tournament that photo IDs are required for all players.

For any softball organizations that have 4 or more tournament teams, they can purchase individual insurance at the league rates but remember that all your coaches MUST submit to an ASA BACKGROUND CHECK and at least one coach MUST be ACE certified. If your organization has less than the required 4 teams then you MUST purchase individual insurance at the tournament team rates.  To register your team, purchase individual insurance, get your background checks, and get the ACE certification you can do it all on one web site www.registerasa.org.

The ACE certification only takes approximately 40 minutes to complete and you can do it at your own pace. If you start the program, you can quit at any time and start again at any time and the program will take you back to where you stopped.

Coaches: registerasa now has a profile page that you can post all your players FREE of CHARGE that is available to college coaches only. The profile page is password protected so that all the information will be available only to college coaches requesting access. Another tool you can use to help your players!

In 2009, we have lost 1 of our berths that we award at our State Championship Tournaments. Instead of having 3 berths in each age group we only have 2 berths to award. We will be working very hard to get more berths in the future. With your help, we challenge everyone to promote registering and playing with Virginia ASA to any team or league who has not participated in ASA in the past. Working together we are sure we will be able to succeed and get Virginia more berths next year.  As most of you know, Virginia is divided into 2 ASA local associations and we are here to assist you in all aspects of girl’s fastpitch softball. Please look at our contact page and find your local ASA JO Commissioner if you have any questions. We are here for you and your players.