Jacksonville, IL Tournaments on the Turf

Tournaments on the Turf!  Wow, what a field....for those of you who have never been, this field is in a small town...Jacksonville, IL.  Your luck of getting a hotel is not likely although promised by the Lenz Field's director.  So, Springfield, IL is close by...about a 27 mile drive from the fields.  I do recommend the Comfort Inn in Springfield, IL as it is very accommodating to families.  Has a pool and free breakfast in the mornings.  It is centrally located and has a Mexican restaurant within walking distances for those of you letting loose after the games.  Starbucks is a hop, skip and jump so we loved that. 

Very nice fields!  No need to clean uniforms here so no worries about tournaments and how to clean their uniforms. :)   Umpires are not as easy going here...very tight calls.  Honestly seemed all over the place with calls.  We were disappointed in that but we were also on the losing end so seems to be easier to be disappointed with calls vs disappointed with playing badly.

For all of those who enjoy a day at the ballpark with alcoholic beverages...that is a no go here!  There is no beer served at concession.  Speaking of, the concession stand only takes cash as well.  Not very impressed with the choices here either...no sunflower seeds because of turf, no fountain sodas because of cleanliness,  no alcohol! :(

Overall good experience to see the boys play on turf but glad we don't have another tourney there this year!

Affton Baseball

So far...Affton has been a great experience.  I still seem to tilt towards Kirkwood's fields as to location and distance apart.  Parking is not truly convenient at Affton or Kirkwood for that matter. 

Tournaments are ran well at Affton and the teams/coaches seem to be positive and well managed. 

The umpires seem to be fair and we haven't experienced any bad situations.

The concession stand is reasonable with many choices, my favorites being the pretzel bites and flavored sun flower seeds.  For convenience, they have two concession stands located in front and back of field....much nicer than one location at most fields.

The league fees at Affton are reasonable, $125 per player.  We are part of a select league that has other expenses incurred however not part of Affton's fees.

We DO recommend Affton Athletic Association if you are looking for leagues that play throughout week, nice fields, decent umpires, and respectable coaching.  (you know what I'm talking about parents~ none of the cursing, degrading players, etc)

TWO THUMBS UP AFFTON!

CYC basketball vs. YMCA For Toddlers

We have had experience now with both of these organizations.  I can honestly say that YMCA is far better as far as instructional basketball goes.  CYC does not have practices (required practices) in their toddler program where YMCA does.  I think practice tends to be one of the more important requirements due to the fact that they can't play a game if they don't know the rules.  Clearly, at this age, they are not going to abide by the rules but they can definitely be instructed to do so. 

The games are 45 minutes at CYC and YMCA.  The cost for CYC is much less than YMCA...$25 for CYC, $54 at YMCA.  Although I do believe in this case, you get what you paid for.  But....I do love the parent camaraderie that comes along with CYC events!

Overall, if you're looking to have some socialization with other adults and just want your kid to have fun and be active, CYC toddler basketball is the way to go.  If you're looking for instruction, for your child to learn the game basics, then YMCA is definitely the place to go.