A few procedural items for teams:

1.  Signatures on Rosters

Signatures for all participating players and parents must be on the original roster that teams send to the State Youth Office.

We’ve had several cases where teams have sent in their roster with no signatures at all.  To be honest, we can just as easily pull an unsigned roster off the online system ourselves.  However, it’s the signed copy that we need to complete each team’s file. 

If a player or parent’s signature is missing without explanation, we have to assume that the player is not a valid member of the team.  In other words, it’s easy for a manager to enter any player in the country onto his/her roster, but it’s the player and parent signature that validates that roster entry.  The only exception to this procedure is that if a player is at least 18 on the day of her first tournament, then her parent does not need to sign the roster.

Also, keep in mind that we require rosters and insurance certificates be filed at least two weeks prior to a team’s first USSSA tournament.

2.  Receiving Sanction Number

Whether you paid your team sanction fee by credit card online or you mailed in your fee, if you have yet to receive your sanction number, then one of three things is likely the cause:

a)      Your check was lost in the mail or lost somewhere in the state office (possible, but unlikely)

b)      You typed an incorrect email address on the application (somewhat likely).  The national online system that USSSA uses generates a sanction number and sends it to the literal address that is typed onto the application.  So if the user misspells their address or forgets to type the @ or the .com, then the email will not go through.

c)      You use AOL (very likely).  Many AOL accounts don’t play nicely with processes like ours that send system generated emails.  If you have AOL, please read the note that we have posted on the main youth page of the website for some possible remedies.

3.  Basic Questions

Our intention with the website is to put as much information on it as teams need in order to handle their administrative aspects smoothly throughout the season.  We’ve been getting a lot of calls and emails lately asking questions that are essentially already answered on the site (eg, questions on how to add players to rosters, who to call for hotel assistance, etc.).  Although even the most basic issue might not be fully addressed by the website, we still encourage teams to check there first.  After that, if the website does not fully provide the information needed then by all means teams should call or email us with their concerns and questions.