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14:29Good morning.
15:29So at this time,
16:29Good morning,
37:21Good morning.
37:22Got to admit, when John was telling stories there, I thought he was going to get a dig
37:40in on having to ride my Toyota Corolla on Saturday when he arrived into town.
37:45I've seen better days.
37:46So you spared me on that one.
37:49Welcome to Kansas City.
37:50This is my hometown.
37:52Exciting to have all of you guys here in my backyard.
37:55And congrats to the Broncos fans out there that got my Chiefs last night.
38:00Shook a couple of your hands at the bar.
38:02Good game.
38:03I want to start by thanking our directors.
38:06You guys are truly the best in the business.
38:09I said that last year, we couldn't do what we do without you guys.
38:13Thank you for all the work that you do to represent USSASA Fast Pitch and putting us forward.
38:202025 was another great year for us in USSASA Fast Pitch.
38:24All told, we had over 20,000 teams or close to 20,000 teams register and over 73,000 teams
38:31participate in tournaments.
38:34Had 16 state programs across the country grow their numbers from 24 to 25, which was great
38:40to see.
38:41And we brought on new directors in Colorado, South Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, and California.
38:47Many of which are here with us for the first time this week.
38:50So welcome.
38:51Next slide.
38:53Our All-American Games program continues to be a success.
38:57Had over 2,000 athletes participate in tryouts again this year.
39:01Had a couple new locations we did in Kentucky and Alabama.
39:05And that ultimately led to around 1,100 kids come to Space Coast over the summer, which
39:11was down a little bit from prior years.
39:13But we did that somewhat intentionally with this program.
39:16We wanted to try to make it a more quality experience for the participants that were there.
39:20And we felt like we got that accomplished.
39:22And the last thing I'll say about the All-American Games program is I want to give a shout out to
39:28Holly Jones.
39:29She joined our team last December full-time in assisting Kim with this program.
39:34And she's done a phenomenal job stepping in and helping with the All-American Games.
39:39So kudos to her.
39:42Next slide, please.
39:45We again ran our Select 30 over Martin Luther King weekend.
39:48Had 272 athletes participate.
39:50It was a great event.
39:52This event we do a ton of off-the-field training sessions that are really unique to anything
39:57that's done in the space.
39:59One of those is a nutrition-based test that we give all the athletes.
40:04And also wanted to report that State Director Eddie Small took the nutrition-based test this year.
40:09And we got a clean belt of health on him.
40:11So that was good to see.
40:12He's a healthy guy.
40:14The last thing I'm going to say about this event is Dave Borges, our national UIC,
40:21has incorporated an umpire camp over the course of the last couple years that's been a huge
40:26success.
40:27It's grown.
40:28I don't know the total number of states we had this year.
40:31You could speak to that.
40:32But a ton of states were there represented.
40:34And it was an awesome, awesome event.
40:37So he's continuing to do that.
40:39And kudos to him for organizing that.
40:42Next slide.
40:44The 2025 Space Coast World Series, we had over 150 teams, hosted an 8U division.
40:51Our goal last year was to have an 8U division for the first time.
40:54We did.
40:55We had an 8U division again this year, which is awesome to see the young kids coming out.
41:00We included the use of instant replay again for the final rounds of bracket play.
41:04And that was really well executed and well received.
41:09Next slide.
41:12USA National Championships had 29 different regional sites and over 2,800 teams participate
41:18across the country.
41:19In 2025, we also launched our first ever Winter National in Myrtle Beach.
41:25And we just sold that out for 2026.
41:29So that program's growing.
41:31That's great to see.
41:32Our Nationals continue to be a huge strength of our fast pitch program.
41:37Next slide.
41:40Space Coast Spring Games.
41:42This event is coming into its fourth year.
41:45It's led by Victor Canales.
41:46He has done an amazing job with this.
41:49I think the last time I talked to him, he's anticipating having over 200 teams, college
41:55teams participate at our facility this year, which is basically close to maxing it out.
42:01And that's just the fourth year of this program.
42:03It started with about 40 teams in year one.
42:06It's quickly become one of the premier events for colleges across the country.
42:11And kudos to him.
42:12He's done a great job growing that program.
42:14Next slide.
42:16Last thing I'm going to touch on is our local all-state games and national all-state games programs.
42:26You can see here a list of states that ran an event this past year.
42:29All told, we had 23 different events across the country and around 10,500 kids participate at the local level.
42:36And that leads us up to our national all-state games event that's going to take place here in December between Christmas and New Year's at the facility.
42:46And last I checked, when we closed registration a couple weeks ago, it was at a little over 1,300 athletes, which is getting close to maxing out what we can do space-wise at the complex.
43:00And that's just year three, so our goal is to get it to that point.
43:03But it's been a huge success.
43:05And I think we've got a video here that I want to have played.
43:10You guys can see more about that.
43:13Let's do it.
43:41Go, go, go.
43:43Said if you came to party like we can.
43:49Awesome.
43:50Well, thank you guys all again.
43:52I hope you enjoy your week here in Kansas City.
43:54And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Steve Hassett
43:56to talk about USA Baseball.
44:08Good morning.
44:09it's kind of crazy to me that we're already back here at convention
44:13I feel like we were just in San Antonio
44:15it's amazing how fast a year goes by
44:17so last year
44:21if you guys remember, as everyone I think in this room knows
44:23I cannot stand being up here, hate public speaking
44:26hate these lights in my eyes, center of attention, whole nine yards
44:28I just came up, rattled off some stats, got off the stage
44:32as fast as possible, and then later that day
44:34Bob and his team from Iowa gave me shit about being unorganized
44:37and not presenting professionally like the rest of the team
44:40so this power point is for you Bob
44:42there we go
44:47so for 2025, again, in an ever-changing
44:50competitive baseball market
44:52that is just kind of on its head, out of control right now
44:55and USSS just continues to
44:58year after year, just punch back
45:00as we get punched, we punch back, and again, we punch back another year
45:04of continued growth
45:05and, you know, and excellence
45:07so we had 34,000 teams registered
45:10with USSS, 124,000 teams played in tournaments
45:14and 31 states participated in USSS tournaments
45:18next slide please
45:19so the states that had the most growth in 2025
45:25Illinois increased by 34%
45:29Florida increased by 14%, Alabama increased by 13%, Indiana by 10%, and Southern California by nine
45:42so those states led the growth, and then it kind of projected down from there
45:46next slide please
45:47so the All-American Games
45:51kind of as Ryan said, we took a little bit of a step back in 2025 again, trying to reevaluate the program
45:572024, we rolled out a scouting component on top of what we've been doing with the DBAT
46:04so we've been working with the DBAT, with the local indoor hitting facility, most of you guys know
46:08the connection that Kevin Bard brought to us a few years ago
46:11we've been doing all our tryouts there
46:122024, we did a test pilot where we sent guys out to scout some events
46:16and it really did boost the numbers
46:18we dialed that part back
46:20a couple of our scouts had some
46:22some issues that they couldn't attend and kind of just got last minute
46:25so in 2025, we punted the scouting part of it
46:28we did see that it did put a little dip in our participation
46:31so for 2026, you know, as we're going to talk about in our baseball meetings
46:34I think we're going to introduce that piece back along with the DBAT
46:37to try to get those numbers back up to that 15, that 1500 mark
46:41but regardless, this program has been a success for the last four years
46:45got to give credit to May Burgraft and Kevin Barr
46:49the two of them spend, you know, a tremendous amount of time on this
46:52KB, somewhere in the room, he'll see you guys all week
46:55I don't know, I think that psycho was out of his house
46:57like 130-something days or something like running our tryouts
47:00so it was pretty impressive what he does for the program
47:03next slide, please
47:04World Series events
47:08we held 28 World Series tournaments
47:11over 13 different states ran tournaments
47:15and a total of 2,500 teams participated in those events
47:19including one from Iowa
47:20next slide, please
47:22and this is Iowa
47:24okay, so Bob has forever told me about Iowa
47:27that it's a prison
47:28and he does not allow Iowa teams to leave the state
47:31so somehow either one escaped, kind of like Shawshank
47:33or the ward and let him out on good behavior
47:36I'm hoping with a little good behavior
47:39Bob might double his participation
47:40and give us two teams next year for World Series
47:43next slide, please
47:45yeah, I'm done
47:52hook
47:53okay, National All-State
47:56so this is a program that has had tremendous success
47:59started in 2022
48:00I rolled out the All-State
48:03and had 750 athletes
48:05and quickly knew I was in over my head
48:07so I recruited TJ and Frank to come in
48:11and helped that program with me
48:13and you know, 22, 23
48:15you can see the years of success
48:17and then in 2024
48:18we also brought Chad into the fold
48:20to help continue the automation
48:23the uniforms, the sourcing, the whole nine
48:25as you can see the trajectory of this event
48:27continues to grow
48:28I'm happy to say in 2026
48:30we're going to go to Lafayette, Louisiana
48:32and hold the 26 there
48:34and we have paid out roughly $500,000
48:38and director of rebates collectively
48:40the entire time of this program
48:41so it's been a tremendous success
48:42and I really enjoy working with all our directors on that one
48:45next slide
48:46okay, Easton Army
48:49so this year we rolled out a program
48:51with our partners from Army
48:52or partners from Easton
48:54with their Easton Army
48:55so they had Easton Army versus Rawlings Army
48:58you saw some of it in that slide
48:59or the video that was presented in the beginning
49:02it was an amazing event
49:03our marketing team covered it from top to bottom
49:05Rawlings and Easton
49:06the amount of product and swag and stuff
49:08they gave those kids
49:09it really was the pinnacle event of the summer
49:12but it was kind of thrown together
49:14so last minute
49:15we really didn't have time
49:16to kind of plan for it per se
49:18or benefit off it
49:20so this year working with BK and his team
49:22we are looking to expand on that
49:24and we are going to introduce a Team U SSSA
49:26so we'll have the Easton Army
49:27the Rawlings Army
49:30and then whatever we're going to call
49:31the Team U SSSA
49:32and then now kind of have like a little
49:33three team tournament
49:34and how we qualify kids
49:36and from U SSSA
49:37obviously we'll solve that
49:38sometime this week in our meetings
49:39but I think that's really going to be
49:40a nice addition
49:41to the U SSSA programming
49:43to have the ability
49:45to tag into a high level event of that
49:47so I'm excited to see where that one goes
49:48so thank you to BK Easton Rawlings
49:51for all you guys do
49:51you know more to come on that event
49:53next slide please
49:54so looking ahead
49:58excuse me
49:59for 2026 some more
50:01some newer programs
50:03so as John alluded to
50:04again we have a newly founded
50:06relationship with Unrivaled
50:09a lot more to work out there
50:10and to come
50:11but a good footprint
50:13and starting point
50:14for what we're doing in baseball
50:15is they own Cooperstown
50:16All-Star Village in New York
50:19they are going to
50:20set off on this path
50:22to do the Ripken Nationals
50:24at Cooperstown
50:25so as we got introduced to them
50:27they offered us to run six qualifiers
50:30so U SSSA will be running six qualifiers
50:32across the country
50:33the only association
50:34that will be doing it
50:35so basically the premise of it
50:37is it's going to be like a 16 team
50:39national championship
50:40on CBS Sports
50:41live TV broadcast
50:43whole nine yards
50:4412 teams will play
50:46or qualify into the tournament
50:48four teams from their Cooperstown
50:51summer event
50:51will play into the tournament
50:52to make 16
50:53so six of the qualifiers
50:56will be handled at Ripken Properties
50:57and then six qualifiers
50:59were awarded to U SSSA to run
51:01so the locations are on the board
51:03of where we're going to run those
51:04and then so basically
51:05six U SSSA teams
51:07will be going to Cooperstown
51:09this summer
51:09I think it's a
51:10I'm pretty sure it's around
51:11the Hall of Fame induction
51:124th of July weekend
51:13etc
51:14and national TV
51:15so more to come on that
51:17but I think that like I said
51:18is going to kind of start
51:19setting us apart
51:20from some of our competition
51:22and just between the Eastern Army
51:24these destinations
51:25that we get to go
51:26there's talks about sanctioning
51:27these destinations
51:28U SSSA
51:29again that's one thing
51:30I'll give John kudos to
51:31change is coming
51:32but he's embracing it
51:34and he's not burying his head
51:35in the sands
51:35he's out front forward facing it
51:37so I think this is a great start
51:38of this thing
51:39is allowing just this natural
51:41thing to come together
51:42so running these qualifiers
51:43and putting U SSSA teams
51:45on national broadcast TV
51:46John will hit you up
51:48for sponsorship money
51:48I think we should get
51:49these guys some uniforms
51:50when we go there
51:50and say U SSSA
51:51but we'll talk about that later
51:52I think that's a good part
51:55next slide please
51:56all right so my closing slide
51:59is this
51:59basically you know
52:01John alluded to it
52:02when he came up here
52:03right like
52:04are we happy the years
52:05are behind us
52:06absolutely
52:07I mean I think they are
52:08but again
52:09like sometimes
52:10you got to go through
52:11that adversity
52:12you got to go through
52:12that change
52:13to get where you're at
52:13so they always say
52:14that rock bottom
52:15is not a bad place to be
52:16it's the foundation
52:17you build off of
52:18so I haven't spent
52:20too much time with John
52:21honestly since he's been here
52:22but I've spent enough
52:23and one thing that we agree on
52:25is
52:26it's time to break out
52:28of the status quo
52:28right
52:29and when I say that
52:29so our goal for baseball
52:31is you know
52:32our theme kind of going
52:33into this convention
52:34is good enough
52:35is no longer good enough
52:36you know
52:38after meeting with John
52:39and kind of having
52:40those back and forth
52:41conversations
52:41I did a little bit of reflecting
52:43on kind of my part
52:44and my leadership
52:45in this whole situation
52:46so come March
52:47I'll be
52:48my sixth year
52:49as the national baseball director
52:51and it's easy to sit
52:52and point fingers
52:53and go we're here
52:54because of this
52:54we're here because of that
52:55why'd this happen
52:56etc
52:56well I think I had to
52:58look internally
52:58and say you know
52:59we're here because of me
53:00like I came in
53:01and the mindset
53:02again I'm speaking
53:04for baseball
53:04was status quo
53:06it was
53:07maintain what you got
53:09don't lose a piece
53:10don't do anything
53:11disrupt
53:11just hold on
53:12to what you have
53:13you know
53:13as Chad's always told me
53:15since he's coming
53:15to you triple
53:16I say
53:16we've been on defense
53:17we never go on offense
53:19you're always on defense
53:20right
53:20and that was the mindset
53:21the mindset was
53:22status quo
53:23so John's challenged me
53:25and tasked me
53:26with setting
53:26and creating an expectation
53:28set the standard
53:29what's the standard
53:30I don't know
53:32we got to create that
53:33this week right
53:34what's the expectation
53:35as a director
53:36you come into convention
53:38you know
53:39you ran 2,000 teams
53:40last year
53:40you ran 2,000 this year
53:43is that good
53:44I don't know
53:45is it good enough
53:46right
53:47like how about
53:482,400 teams
53:50set the expectation
53:51like
53:51those are the things
53:52and that's the mindset
53:53we want to go
53:54is we don't want to stay
53:55status quo
53:56we want to grow
53:57we want to compete
53:58so this week
53:59in baseball
54:01we'll be creating
54:01the expectation together
54:03we'll be setting the standard
54:04for what it is to be
54:05you triple S
54:06and then every year
54:07moving forward
54:08we'll be on that growth path
54:09to success
54:09so as we create
54:11and set the standard
54:12as directors
54:13we're going to hold
54:14John and his team
54:15to create and set
54:16that standard
54:16and expectation
54:17of the national office
54:18set the expectation
54:19for our tech
54:20our finances
54:21those are the things
54:21the one thing
54:22that John told me
54:23is he refuses
54:24to lead
54:25in status quo
54:26and I respect that
54:27very much
54:27so I'm going to bring
54:28them back up
54:28to close this out
54:29thank you
54:30thank you
54:42thank you
54:43thank all your directors
54:45another great year
54:46as we're always learning
54:49and supporting each other
54:49I got back down
54:50and Andy said
54:51you may want to
54:52introduce yourself
54:53so my name is Craig Scriven
54:56I am chairman of the board
54:57and not a professional MC
55:00flown in from the UK
55:01by this association
55:02tonight
55:07cornhole starts 6pm
55:09there's five slots available
55:10you can register online
55:12or you can see
55:13Mr. Jim Pillar
55:14and join in the fun
55:16but that starts
55:17that's your appreciation night
55:18again as directors
55:20we thank you
55:20for everything you do
55:21we appreciate you being here
55:23appreciate you taking time
55:24away from your family
55:25not just this week
55:26but obviously
55:27during the season
55:28in closing
55:30as many of you
55:31are just starting your week
55:32I have to make sure
55:34that I address the team
55:35that started working
55:36on this convention
55:37this
55:38pretty much
55:39Monday
55:40Monday will be a year
55:42as soon as one convention
55:44is over
55:44we start planning
55:45for the next convention
55:46so I'd like to thank
55:48Stephanie
55:48Alexa
55:49Kirsten
55:50for all your hard work
55:51and I would like you
55:52to pass on my thanks
55:53to your teams
55:54as again
55:55I'm not sure of everyone
55:56that's involved in this
55:57but I know
55:58it's a heavy lift
55:59and we're excited
56:00and we appreciate
56:01everything that you do
56:02so I'm going to have to take
56:09you
56:10so I'll do that
56:11so I'll do that
56:11and we'll see you
56:12as soon as we move out
56:13because we've got our
56:14Ã
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