Commissioner's Letter
October 19th, 2009
To: All the Massachusetts ASA family
Greetings,
The intent of this letter is to briefly introduce myself and let everyone know what I hope the future of ASA will be in Massachusetts.
My name is Joe Alfonse, I’m from Lexington, and I’ve been a member of the ASA since 1980; first as a player, then umpire, then various positions within the old Metro Boston association. In 2008 I was appointed the Commissioner of Metro Boston after the passing of long time commissioner Ray Macone. In September of 2009, the Commissioners of Massachusetts and Metro Boston recommended to the National ASA Board of Directors to merge both associations. The National BOD approved the request and after interviews in early October, I was appointed.
In regards to softball; First and foremost, whether you’re a player, coach, manager (I never understood the difference between coach and manager), parent, or umpire you will ALL be treated as CLIENTS. It will be our job at Massachusetts ASA Softball to ensure that we put together the best combinations of leagues, assigners, and umpire coordinators in all parts of the state. In that respect, if you are interested in becoming an umpire, becoming an assigner, or looking for a team or league to play in, please contact us. We’ll do our best to assist you or put you in touch with the appropriate local people.
In the way we conduct our business, we employ a template in which we separate our financial and softball operations. We are putting together a board of directors for the corporation that includes a statewide representative for the adult leagues, another for the Junior Olympic (Youth) leagues, another that represents all the different local commissioners, and finally a representative from each umpire association located within the state. We will use the standard ASA template for the softball operations that include the Junior Olympic Commissioner, local JO Commissioners, the At-Large Player Representatives, local Player Representatives, and State and Local Umpire(s) in Chief(s). We hope that this operational separation will allow us to focus more on our assigned areas to put out improved services for all our clients.
In closing, we need to stress that all our operations will be conducted in a ‘transparent’ manner. What this means is that all information will be posted online or available in our office in Burlington, MA and available (within reason) to anyone who asks. We also have made the decision to utilize Facebook (www.facebook.com/ASAMass) as well as Twitter (www.twitter.com/ASAMass) to provide faster information to all concerned. In the near future, we will be sending out postal letters to all the registered softball leagues and umpires to provide further information in regards to how we conduct our daily business within the State. Please spread the word to any non-registered umpires or teams who might like to benefit from the ASA product. We look forward to meeting as many of you as possible as soon as possible and working together to improve softball in Massachusetts.
Respectfully,
Joe Alfonse
