Uncle Bob's "Big 7"
International Fastpitch Tournament

Welcome to the website for Uncle Bob's "BIG 7" Fastpitch Tournaments.
Uncle Bob's BIG 7 tournaments plans to hold ASA sanctioned tournaments in the Northeast - all with the same rules, professional management, and goals - to make each one the best tournament you attend during the summer. We will be offering what we hear teams want - to play as many games as possible at a tournament - that's what "BIG 7" means - 7 games of pool play guaranteed before the playoffs begin in the 14 & Un, 16 & Un and 18 & Un age groups. For each one the registration fee will be only $495!. After talking to numberious coaches, we decided that the 12 & Under and Women's Open age groups will be 6 GG tournaments with a $450 registration fee. We will also be tying in all of the Uncle Bob's in various cities by offering a 50% discount to any team which registers for 2 or more Uncle Bob's during one season! That's 50% off the registration fee for EACH location - or a $247.50 registration fee - for each 7 game guaranteed tournament!
Uncle Bob's will still try not only to be a great softball tournament, but an event people will long remember. We'll still give out special awards for individual accomplishments - pitching a no hitter, pitching a perfect game, hitting a home run and hitting for the cycle. We started doing this years ago and players/coaches/parents love it. - We plan to have various vendors available with lots of softball novalities available. For the 12U, 14U and 16U age groups, we'll again have a car decorating contest. In the past some teams really got into this. We'd hear from parents that girls were up late in their motel parking lot - or at a local girls house - decorating cars the night before the judging.
We'll still have great tournament tee shirts - made on site with lots of colors and sizes available. We're also looking at having other things available too.
We'll be using two ASA umpires for each game. We'll also be using two new ASA approved softballs for each game. Information about the tournaments can be found in the various boxes at the left, along with rules and registration forms.
It's still not to late for your team, organization or league to host an Uncle Bob's "BIG7" tournament as a fundraiser. Contact Bob Nowak at 716-474-4439 or RNowak2772@cs.com for information. We are still available for all months, including June, July, August and would consider a fall date also!
We are pleased to be able to donate a portion of the money raised at all Uncle Bob's tournaments to Roswell Park Cancer Institute in memory of Gail Nowak.

NEWS - SAT. JAN 12. WE'RE SET IN MICHIGAN!!!!!!!! We are now accepting registrations for Uncle Bob's "BIG 7" Fastpitch tournaments of Michigan. It is being hosted by the Michigan Athletics of Lawton (Kalamazoo) Michigan. Last week I went down to Lawton to check out the complex and meet some of the people involved. It is a very nice complex. It has 6 lovely diamonds in a park like setting. There is plenty of parking, a concession stand, some picnic tables, permanent restrooms, warm up areas, covered dugouts, and lots more to offer. A very attractive facility. We decided to hold two age groups - the 16 & Under and 18 & Under both on the June 11-13 week end. The following week end - June 18-21 we will hold a tournament for he 12 & Under and 14 & Under age groups. Since we are playing all the games at one 6 diamond complex, the maximum number of teams which we can accomindate is 28. We're planning for 16 teams in the 16U and 12 teams in the 18U. We felt that these two age groups being held the same week end will be a nice fit for college coaches to come and watch both 16U and 18U players. For the 12 U we are planning on 12 teams and 14 U 18 teams. This is all subject to change depending on the final number of teams which register, and the order that registrations come in!
To read about the rules and get a registration form, go to the Uncle Bob's of Michigan link on the left. As in the past, we'll be working with Certified Travel to provide discounted lodging for our event. However, Judy Halpren and Danielle of Certified aren't able to fly down there to check out the facilities for a few more weeks, so that information woun't be posted for a few more weeks. Also, we will be again allowing teams to choose the time slots that they want to play in (not what a tournament director assigns you). Those choices should be listed shortly too. However, if you want to register now, you may, and then follow up with the addittional information when we get it set.
Because of the number of tournaments and teams I expect to be dealing with this summer, the cancellation policy for Uncle Bob's will be a little different than the tournaments I ran in the past. For Uncle Bob's - in any state, a team can drop out up to two full months before a tournament and get a full refund. If a team drops out from 1 - 2 months before a tournament date, they will get a 1/2 refund. Less than one month, if a team drops out, getting any refund will depend on when and if we can find a replacement team. This is slightly different than tournaments Bob Nowak ran in the past were we gave a full refund if a team dropped out up to one month before the tournament date and 1/2 from one month to 2 weeks. Less than that would depend on if we were able to get a replacement team and when.
The way our 50% discount for attending 2 Uncle Bob's - for both tournaments will work is as follows. If a team registers for 2 or more tournaments, they need to send in the full registration fees for each. After a team signs in at the second tournament, they will receive two checks - one for 1/2 of the registration fee from each city they attend. Please note that the same team - team name, age group, coaches, ASA insurance and players must attend both tournaments in order for a team to get the 50% discount. This should work out for the following announcement

ALSO --- PLEASE BE AWARE that it looks like next week we may finalize another city hosting an Uncle Bob's "BIG 7" fastpitch tournament. We have been contacted by a coach in Turnersville New Jersey and plan to go up there next week end to check out the facility and meet with the people involved there. We'll work out the age groups and week ends then, but right now, it looks like a go. This also sounds like a beautiful complex - 4 park like diamonds and accross the street - walking distance are two more. In talking to the New Jersey ASA commissioner and UIC, they both said this is a lovely complex. They also said that there are lots of teams in that area (about 20 minutes East of Philadelphia) and we might need more that 6 diamonds.
We have also been asked to run an Uncle Bob's in Pennsylvania in the State College area. We'll be looking into this also!

The dates, fees and games guarantee for Uncle Bob's of New York in 2008 are:
June 27-29, 16U - 7GG - $495 fee.
July 4-6, 14U - 7GG - $495 fee
July 11-13, 12U - 6GG - $450 fee
July 18-20, OPEN - 6GG - $450 fee
July 24-27, 18U - 7GG - $495 fee
Our fees in 2008 will be the same "rate" as 2007!!!

Uncle Bob's tournaments and Bob Nowak are pleased to let you know that a donation to the Roswell Park Cancer Institute of Buffalo will be made in memory of Gail Nowak.

DECEMBER 21ST - We'd like to wish all of our friends who visit this site a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON! While our plans haven't been finalized yet for the various venues for 2008, we have gotten a lot - very lot of positive feed back from teams about what we are doing. EVERYONE likes the 7 game format whis we'll be using for the 14U, 16U and 18U age groups. They like the idea of offering a discount if a team attends more than one Uncle Bob's tournament. They like that we will be using the same "rules" as in the past tournaments which we have run - like playing all games to completion, accepting teams on a first come basis, being fair to all teams and much more. They like that they'll be able to choose the time slots for their games and not have to play games when it suits the tournament schedulers. Coaches have told me they like that in Uncle Bob's pool games will have more importance than just deciding if say the 8th place team plays the 9th place team in pool play. It could mean if the 9th place team makes the playoffs. In our format, every pool play game is very important and could have playoff implications.
I was recently called by a coach in West Virginia about having an Uncle Bob's in West Virginia. You said you were going to email me some information so I mistakenly erased your phone message (which was difficult for me to make out). I haven't gotten your email yet - could you please get back to me. Yes - I think that there is still time to do it in 2008, but please call me so we can talk.
PERSONAL - I'm sure many of the readers of this website in the past realize that my boys and I are big Duke basketball fans. We did get to see Duke lose last year in Buffalo when the Duke Blue Devils lost in the first round of the NCAA sweet 64 round. I think everyone was hoping for a miracal shot - like Christian Latner made years ago in what some people still say is the best college basketball game ever played. Christian was sitting about 10 rows in front of me for the game in Buffalo, but no luck - Duke was eliminated. Duke was off to a great start this year -- until they played Pittsburgh last night. Wow, what a game. As much as I hated to see Duke lose, it was a great game. Duke is my number one team, but a close favorite is Syracuse. They sure have an exciting team this year. They also have two players from our area - Niagara Falls who are very good - Paul Harris and Johnny Flynn. My son played against Paul in high school and Paul was unbeleivable then. I got to see a game - against U Conn, in the Carrier dome two years ago and what an experience it is to be there with over 30,000 fans. -- Wow, if anyone saw the game, wasn't the injury to the Pittsburgh player's knee in overtime one of the worse you've ever seen? The only ones I can remember being worse were the 2 footballs ones I've seen - the one to Willis McGee in college and years ago the one to the Washington quarterback - Joe Theisman when he broke his leg.
Back to softball.

DECEMBER 6TH UPDATE - I was recently contacted by a person in Central Pennsylvania about his organization joining the Uncle Bob's tournament network. He is checking on the availability of diamonds. I was also contacted not to long ago by a person in New Jersey about the 2009 season. If your organization would like to host a quality run, tournament as a huge fund raiser, please get in touch with Bob Nowak at 716-474-4439. Yes, we will consider holding more than one Uncle Bob's in a state, but the locations must not be close to each other.

DECEMBER 5TH UPDATE - We should be finalizing the New York (Buffalo area)site soon! Since ALL the feed back we have gotten was positive about teams wanting to play as many games as possible at a tournament, Uncle Bob's will be offering a SEVEN (7) SEVEN game guarantee in the 14U, 16U and 18U age groups. The fee will be $495! The 12U and Open age will be SIX (6) SIX game guarantees and the fee will be $450.
I've spoken to 2 key people in Michigan about the Uncle Bob's of Michigan tournament and have gotten very positive feed back. One person is associated with the organization which will host it and the other is in charge of the complex. I'm going to try and personally visit the site this week or next. With the talks I've had, the complex sounds great - six beautiful, well maintained diamonds with permanent restrooms and a concession stand in a park like setting. The complex is in a suburb of Kalamazoo Michigan. It sounds like a perfect fit for the Uncle Bob's network of tournaments. We'll also be offering a SEVEN game guarantee there. Final details have to be worked out, but we're sure the 16U will be the July 11,12,13th week end. That means that Uncle Bob's of Michigan 16U will be a 7 GG with a $495 fee. Teams which attend both the Uncle Bob's of New York and Uncle Bob's of Michigan will receive a 50% discount from both tournaments.
We'll probably host another age group also on the July 11th week end - it will probably be the 14U age group. Then either on the week end before - or after the July 11th week end we'll host 2 more age groups. They'll more than likely be the 18U and Open age groups. One of the reasons for these two age groups is that now that ASA has changed the pitching distance for ASA 18U effective January First, both the 18U and Open will have the same pitching distances and that makes setting up/scheduling games a lot easier. Hopefully we can work something out for the 12U age group too.

UPDATE - NOVEMBER 25TH - I talked some coaches who attended last year and thank them for their support during the transitional period we are going through. In talking to them, I asked them about something that that has always been dear to my heart - playing lots of games! I haven't finalized it yet, but it looks like the Uncle Bob's tournament of New York will be able to offer a SEVEN (7) game guarantee for the 14U, 16U and 18U age groups. The registration fee should be $495. That's right $495 for a 7 game guarantee tournament. Seems like the coaches I talked to felt 6 games in 3 days is enough for 12U. With the age of the girls and lack of lots of pitching (who ever has enough pitching), they felt a pitcher may end up pitching too many games and get injured, so the 12U should be a 6GG. Also for the OPEN, since it is difficult to get enough girls for a whole week end, and we'd have to play all day Friday with a 7GG, we'll also have the OPEN as a 6GG and depending on the final number of teams which enter, play the Open only on Saturday and Sunday. The fee for the 6 GG's will be only $450. Our rates are based on 2007. We're only raising the rates at the same rate as 2007 to cover the extra game.
Once we finalize the games guarantee for all the age groups, we'll correct the rates on the top info area.

We're getting closer in finalizing a new complex for Uncle Bob's and will post it as soon as possible. Thanks for sticking with us while we get everything lined up.
UPDATE - November 17th. As you may have noticed, the new name of tournaments run by Bob Nowak has been changed to Uncle Bob's International Fastpitch tournament"s". Bob Nowak has 18 years experience running quality tournaments and is branching out to other cities as well as the one we'll hold in Western New York.
We are nearing completion in finalizing hosting a quality tournament in Michigan. While the dates and complex location are not finalized yet, this we do know. It will be a 7 - SEVEN - 7 game guarnatee. This will make it worth yor while to travel. You'll be able to play lots of softball against some great teams. We also are hoping to be able to have the fee at $495! $495 for a SEVEN game guarantee!!! If that's not enough to make you want to attend, we are also looking at having teams that register for both the Uncle Bob's of New York and Uncle Bob's of Michigan get a 50% reduction in registration fees for BOTH tournaments! That's right - a seven game guarantee - quality tournament for the registration fee of $250 and a 5 GG (16U - for example) tournament for the fee of $200. We still have some work to do but HOW DOES THAT SOUND? Let me know what you think. Bob Nowak at RNowak2772@cs.com or 716-474-4439.
The Michigan tournament would possibly be held the week end of July 11-13. It would be a 16U age group. The organization I'm working with already has obtained a beautiful 6 diamond complex for that week end. They also have it for the following week end too and we are planning on hosting another age group that week end. Right now they are trying to obtain a 12 diamond complex for one or possibly both of those week ends. If they do get it, we should be able to host all the age groups. The reason we are definate on the 16U is that it is a very popular age group, plus the organization which we are working with has a very competitive 16U team. In fact, it already has been awarded a berth to the ASA 16U World series event held in Oklahoma in 2008.
Are you interested in attending? Please let me know your thoughts. This city is less than 300 miles from many, many many major cities. Like all Bob Nowak run tournaments, we'll be contacting college coahes and telling them about the teams. Every year more and more college coaches are attending 16U tournaments, and were going to try and get many to attend. Like the teams, the college coaches love when lots of games are played. It gives them a great chance to watch a lot of players.
How about your organization? Do you need a major fund raiser? Do you have access to a large softball complex for a week or more in 2008. Give me a call to talk about the possibilites, but do it soon. We still have time to organize something for 2008, but must do it soon. How about a Uncle Bob's of Ohio or Uncle Bob's of Pennsylvania or Uncle Bob's of your state. It could be very, very profitable for your group.

UPDATE - November 16th - all ages - If you haven't aready, lease read the message at the bottom of this page.

In the future, the tournament director who started the Aunt Rosie's tournament 20 years ago - Bob Nowak - will be running the Uncle Bob's International Fastpitch Tournaments. While plans have not been completely finalized for the complex where we will host the new Uncle Bob's - we have two very nice complexes we are considering. As you may expect, with such short notice for me to change where we'll be playing the new event, and to make sure everything is set, I can't officially announce where this event will be held. However, I can announce the dates and rules.
The dates will be the same ones that we established for Aunt Rosie's and had for many years. Having worked with many teams over the years, they have known the dates we played Aunt Rosie's on and came to plan their season around those dates. We see no reason to change Uncle Bob's dates. We want all of the teams who have attended in the past to play in Uncle Bob's in 2008.
We will also NOT be raising our registration rates for the 2008 season. They will remain the same as 2007. The dates and fees are:
12U - July 11-13, 5 GG - $380
14U - July 4-6 , 6 GG - $450
16U - June 27-29 ,5GG - $400
18U - July 24-27 , 6GG - $475
OPEN - July 18-20 , 5GG - $400
ALSO, we will NOT be changing our rules. We will be keeping ALL the rules which have made the former Aunt Rosie's tournament's as succesful as it became. All the rules will soon be posted on this site, but a couple highlights are:
Registration. We hope to have the registration date finalized soon. IF it is December first, we will comtinue to follow our policy of accepting teams on a first come - first in basis. This year will be even fairer as we won't be forced to accept any organization and give them preferencial treatment. We will post the order of processing so all teams know where they stand. We WILL be allowing teams to select the time slots they want to play in - based on the order we receive their registration. Teams will be able to determine the schedule that suits their team's needs the best - not have to take what suits the tournament best!
We WILL still be playing all the games guaranteed - then choosing the teams to advance based on the pool play standings. We feel this puts more meaning - importance in playing pool play. Every game can mean the difference between advancing to the play offs or not. We know that and think it is one of many reason Bob Nowak run tournaments have become so successful. All games will be played to completeion. No games will end in a tie! Some of the best games ever played at Bob Nowak run tournaments were extra inning games. While our schedule may have gotten backed up because of extra innings, we think it is important, exciting, interesting and fair to all the teams that all games are played to completion! We have never had a game end because of a time limit or tie score. (As someone once said, a tie is like kissing your sister.)
We will continue to play by ASA rules. ASA is the leading governing body of softball. We feel it sets the standards for softball and will continue to do so. Please be advised that at the ASA National Convention held at the beginning of November, the ASA convention ruled for the pitching rubber to be changed to the 43 foot distance. It will take effect on January 1st of 2008. We will be following this rule. (There was a proposal to change the pitching distance in 16U to 43' also, but that rule got defeated.
We will continue to have 2 umpires for pool play and all games of the playoffs. The championship games will continue to have 3 umpires. We started doing this years ago and it is a big plus in running a quality tournament.
I'll continue to update this in the next few days as things advance. However for the over 1000's teams who have attended a Bob Nowak tournament from 17 states and 2 Canadian provinces, we feel that they must have liked our rules, and the fact we tried to make Bob Nowak run tournaments fair to all team, and also an event - not just a great tournament. That's probably one of the reasons teams used to line up at my front door at 7 AM - some even flying in or driving 100's of miles on the first day of registration.

Dear Fellow Softball Fans
Aunt Rosie's International Fastpitch tournament is the largest ASA girls softball tournament in the Northeast. It is hosted by the Amherst Girls Softball League and is regulated by its board of directors. It is this board which votes on the tournament director, a position I have held for over 18 years.

It saddens me to tell you that recently I was voted off as tournament director. My involvement began over 20 years ago when my daugther played softball in the league and continued even after she moved on. Running Aunt Rosie's was a year round hobby for me. I enjoyed spending the summer with fellow softball enthusiasts and watching some of the best softball players in the country. I prided myself in knowing that the Aunt Rosie's International softball tournament was an event people looked forward to attending year after year. A tournament that brought in great talent and treated the game with fairness and integrity. Unfortunately, politics prevailed, and for several reasons, I lost the favor of many of the voting board members.

The old tournament committee worked hard to build up the tournament. We have heard that the new tournament director has no experience running tournaments. He also plans to change the rules and format which have made Aunt Rosie's as popular as it became. Teams knew of Aunt Rosies high standards and knew what to expect when they attended. We don't know what the new Aunt Rosie's will bring.

Aunt Rosie's former tournament director - Bob Nowak

In the past few weeks, since I was not reelected, I have been busy looking for a new site to host a tournament in the Buffalo area. There are several excelliant possibilities. I expect to have some firm news in by the second week in November. I will be away attending the ASA National Convention during the first week. I hope that all of the many teams, coaches, and parents can wait until I get back and firm up the new site before they sign up for other tournaments.

ALSO, I have been talking to two coaches in other cities about being tournament administrator/director for a tournament in their city. I think this could be very exciting and hope this comes to be. We may be able to offer substancial discounts to teams who attend more than one of these.

How about your team/organization? I'd love to travel to your city and run a turn key tournament for you! It could be very very profitable for you. Give me a call - soon, and lets talk about it.

While no firm name has been set, right now I'm thinking of Uncle Bob's Fastpitch tournaments.

Please feel free to call me to discuss any questions you may have. I feel very fortunate to have worked with a great group of guys helping me run the old Aunt Rosie's tournaments. No matter what happens in the future - thanks to all the friends we made and support we receive from you.

Bob Nowak 716-474-4439 or RNowak2772@cs.com