Hi All, I can finally report that I have a site for the 12 year old tournament this year. Sheesh what a hassle. Because there is little confidence in the State’s decision making process regarding COVID, many leagues in my District were afraid to start registrations. (Thanks Dist 8 for that great example of how you worked with King county/Seattle to get your process approved! That really helped. ) When the year started I had one league that had committed to the State tournament for LL division in District 13. Then, according to them because of COVID, they were unwilling to go to the city and businesses in the city to discuss and get support for the tournament. They didn’t want to get everyone stirred up only to have the tournament cancelled. This occurred around the last week in December/First week in January. We had our District meeting and Deer Park decided they could do it. After 2-3 meetings with the president they decided to go to the City officials (their fields are owned by the city)… After two meetings with the City they agreed they could do it. Then a third meeting was held, and two days later the city decided they couldn’t get the fields ready in time or be ready for the tournament. I got the message 24 hours after I told you we could do Deer Park. So I had to embarrassingly report that Deer Park had backed out. They too also had reservations about holding the tournament because of sketchy details on COVID policy – but thought they would risk it until the city said they didn’t have the resources/time to get the fields in shape. So I started looking in District 5. I had originally had 3-4 leagues in Dist 5 interested. When I started pressing for commitments 3 backed out immediately and one league is unlikely to even charter this year, citing COVID and it’s higher than expected impact on their town. SO… I was left with one candidate who confirmed this morning that they will take the tournament and run with it. The good news is: A. They own their own fields B. Their fields are in excellent shape and designed specifically for 12u LL C. They have lights D. They have 3 fields to play on E. They have good parking, concessions, and amenities F. They have experience in putting on State level tournaments G. They have volunteers Asotin County Little League in Clarkston is able, ready, and willing to host the State LL Tournament. I go down in a week or two to help get them kicked off in their preparations for the tournament. They will need lots of help from the State level, and yes Abby, they will give you a call 😊 And yes they have LOTS of Golf Courses – 4 to be exact… And Idaho is wide open which is about a mile across a bridge, and Clarkston is very relaxed in their COVID posture. It may not be as fancy as the tournament in Sedro-Woolley but who can measure up to Mr. West? Unless the majority of you object, I will publish that as the location of the tournament. JP DA WA5/13 Cordially JP http://www.rodeotv.net <http://www.rodeotv.net/> +1-509-210-3032
