The Gulf Coast Championships will be held this weekend at the A.J. Holloway (Biloxi) Sportsplex during Jun 15-17th, 2018. The address to the fields is 765 Wells Dr, Biloxi, MS 39532. First, I would be remise if I didn’t mention the recent passing of former Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway. AJ was an extremely strong supporter of youth sports in Biloxi. He spent a lot of time watching his granddaughters play over the years along with leaving us some of the top facilities on the MS Gulf Coast. We ask you say a prayer for his family and remember his enormous impact to youth sports.
We hope to play just on Saturday. But Friday play is possible if we have an overrun of teams along with Sunday play depending on weather. We won’t know for sure until we do the brackets. This tournament, as with all of tournaments, will help raise money to support the softball programs of the tournament host. The beneficiary this weekend will be girls of the Biloxi Girls Softball League.
The Gulf Coast Championships reflects a more regional significance. It’s a title which signifies the importance of the Gulf Coast to USA Softball of Mississippi and the strength of fast pitch softball in the region. We do limit the participation to a teams based in South Mississippi or having played in one of our invitational tournaments. Our district this year includes a wider area as our district has expanded. USA Softball, as the National Governing Body of Softball, is an open organization where all teams and player are free to participate. Even if you’ve been playing in one of the alphabet softball organizations, you’re most likely eligible to play this weekend. So we hope everyone will come play this weekend.
We will host all age groups: Tee Ball, Coach Pitch, 10u All-Star, 10u Open, 12u All-Star, 12u Open, 14u & 16u. We would like to keep the All-Star and Open brackets separate, but we need enough participation to keep them separate. I’ve also had a lot of people ask if they “have” to play in the Gulf Coast Championships to play in the State Tournament. Well the short answer is no. But we’re trying to create a really special tournament. This is where we crown the Gulf Coast Champion. We are doing rings this weekend. I’m not big on rings because I think it promotes trophy hunting. But this is a special tournament and they are really popular with the girls. So we’re doing them.
Please register early as it will help the tournament organizers prepare for this weekend. It also helps bring out other teams. So please register early.
Communications will be via email. Registration will close Thursday at noon. We have a lot of planning and activities to get ready. The brackets will be posted before Thursday at 5:00pm. I’ll email them out to first. Then I’ll post the brackets on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/USASoftballSouthMS/ and at https://usasoftballsouthms.com/.
Please do not call, email or text looking for brackets. It will just distract me from actually getting them done. If you don’t see them, I haven’t finished them yet. Please tell you parents not to call also. There are a lot more of them than there are of me. I just can’t possibly return all the phone and text messages that I’ll get.
Please REGISTER ONLINE & EARLY.
Online registration is available using the link below:
Gulf Coast Championships Entry Form
Here’s a link to the Teams Registered page:
Gulf Coast Championships Teams Registered
ROSTERS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS WEEKEND:
You will be required to submit a roster. Please complete the roster using the link below and turn it in at the GCC check-in:
https://usasoftballofmississippi.com/files/ASAOfficialROSTERandWAIVER.pdf
USA Softball, as the National Governing Body of Softball, is an open organization that is open to all teams and players. To be eligible to participate, all players participating must be USA Softball Individually Registered. Players may be registered online at USA Softball Individual Registration. Individual Registration sanctions the player with USA Softball and provides supplemental medical / general liability protection for the players, field owners and tournament hosts. Teams not completing the Individual Registration process by Thursday noon may be removed from the tournament.
I’ll send out information on the State Tournaments this week. State Tournament Registration is available online at the USA Softball of Mississippi website. I’ll put everything you need to do in one email.
Good Luck! Get out there and play!
Thanks for Playing USA Softball!