Wet day at JAGS

This tournament seems to run by itself. After 28 years, I guess everyone knows what they're doing. Registration at the Hyatt in Princeton came off with out a hitch last night.

I stayed overnight at the Doubletree Hotel last night, which provides some comp rooms to the tournament in return for the out-of-town teams that book hotels through THS, the tournament's hotel broker. Many tournaments require out-of-town teams to use their designated broker under threat of disqualification if a team is caught booking rooms on its own. JAGS does not have that requirement.

Up bright and early and reported to Mercer County Park at 7:00 a.m. Saw a mother deer and two small deer driving back to tournament HQ.

Mid-morning the rains began, but without the predicted thunder and lightning. We had an all-time record of 46 college coaches pre-register for JAGS and nearly 20 had checked in before or during the 8:00 games. They kept showing up, even as the rains came down in varying intensity. Mid-day site coordinator John Esposito made the decision to shut down Field #9 right in front of headquarters and move the game to the front of the park to a less desirable but better draining field. I was happy we were playing. Unlike 15 years ago when my kids played in rain, mud and monsoons, today tournaments shut down after a few minutes of precipitation - often costing parents hundreds of dollars in travel expenses.

By the time the 3:30 games were underway it had stopped raining and there was hope for playing tomorrow. But during the second half of the 4:45 games, the skies opened and the county shut down the park. Whether we play tomorrow depends on whether we get more rain tonight.