There are a quite a number of "new" players who are not exactly new - but folks who used to play decades ago but rejoined ASL. There are a good number of them on Discord (I bet you others are on FB). We talk about the benefits of joining tournaments from time to time especially for newbies but they are positively concerned about what they read on GS (they don't have to sign up to read all this) and "urban legends" of what the tourney scene is like.
Invariably they are worried about not being good enough .. and having to put up the expenses but ending up subjecting themselves to some form of hostility because they are not up to par.
Whether new or coming back to the hobby, I would not be worried about not being good enough.
Back in the days, before I attended my first tournament, I had played exactly
one single, very small 4.5 Turn scenario of ASL against an opponent. Besides that, all I had done was playing solitaire and teaching the game to myself - with all that entails.
I believe that even very fast players acknowledge, that under such circumstances nothing else than slow play can be expected. My personal experience regarding my treatment back then and by observation later is, that almost all experienced guys (fast or slow) are willing and open to treat such a game more as a tutorial than a competitive game. Needless to say, I did not win a single scenario during my first tournament but yet I had so much fun, that I am still sticking to ASL 25 years later.
So, this goes out to any newbies out here, to those returning to the hobby, and to those who have never attended a tournament:
Don't worry about not being good enough or not fast enough. Take the dive and give attending a tournament a try. Altogether, the vast majority of players (of all playing styles) I have met, are a jolly bunch and welcoming.
von Marwitz