Rash of teams bcoming "Gold" "Elite" and "Premier". WHAT GIVES?

[cz fastpitch fan]

I've seen quite a few teams change their name to Gold, Premier, Elite, etc. I'm curious about the logic behind that. It used to be that JUST making a travel softball team was elite, because you were probably better than the typical rec player.

Will this help these teams earn their way into the most elite of the tourneys?

Just curious...

 

[Louuuuu]

Marketing... If you call yourself Elite, then only Elite players will show up at your tryouts.
...Thus removing the responsibility of Skills Improvement from the coach. You're now a pre-packaged Nationals-winning machine.

 

[okiedad1961]

Marketing... If you call yourself Elite, then only Elite players will show up at your tryouts.
...Thus removing the responsibility of Skills Improvement from the coach. You're now a pre-packaged Nationals-winning machine.

Lou there's some truth to that but I think it's more like the elite players have done the work and are still doing it and wanting orgs recognized as having premier,gold elite teams to showcase there work ,talents.As all ways there will be teams that are not deserving of this and people will be disappointed.Parents do your homework

 

[Louuuuu]

Okie, you're right. The point that CZ, and plenty of others who think this way, makes is that there is no criteria or qualifications that permit any team to "upscale" it's image. Just tack on an adjective...

 

[cz fastpitch fan]

So basically any coach could repackage his/her team that way, in an effort to create a better image?

 

[blakeloring]

Renaming my team to the Jaguars Ultra-Platinum-Elite Superstars in 3...2...1...

 

[Stretch]

It makes you play better.

Problem is all these teams repackaging themselves will still have a hard time getting the invites to the top tournaments. Just because you have played "B" tournaments, cr@ppy nationals, and trophy hunted in the past, renaming the team Elite, Gold, Premier, Platinum, or whatever other precious metal doesn't mean you will get the invites from Mr. Conroy, ITD, or other true "invite only" tournaments.

 

[ificanbelikeu]

You're now a pre-packaged Nationals-winning machine.

Branding yourself with a new name, entering in the same low level tournaments will ALWAYS make you a NATIONAL presense as long as you have ELITE, GOLD or PREMIER behind your organizations name.

 

[okiedad1961]

It makes you play better.

Problem is all these teams repackaging themselves will still have a hard time getting the invites to the top tournaments. Just because you have played "B" tournaments, cr@ppy nationals, and trophy hunted in the past, renaming the team Elite, Gold, Premier, Platinum, or whatever other precious metal doesn't mean you will get the invites from Mr. Conroy, ITD, or other true "invite only" tournaments.

Don't think there's not some backscrathing going on between some of the orgs mentioned to keep others out of some events they host.Nobody wants there premier team beaten by a rival org,and have people see it.

 

[Fairman]

Don't go to those tournaments.....
....go to the independent tournaments and take your chances.

Nothing like the beating some elite, gold, premium, platinum team with matching bags like a rented mule.....priceless!

 

[okiedad1961]

Don't go to those tournaments.....
....go to the independent tournaments and take your chances.

Nothing like the beating some elite, gold, premium, platinum team with matching bags like a rented mule.....priceless!

That's funny!!! Name me an independent that's a pgf event that's in the Midwest that's not connected to an org?

 

[classicpride]

The more names they have attached to their name generally means the worse they are. Just back from ASA/USA 18U "A" Nationals. Almost all of the "Gold" teams were eliminated early and only two made the round of 8. My question was why if you call yourself "Gold" don't you register "Gold" instead of "A" and why are you playing in the "A" nationals instead of the "Gold" nationals. The good teams don't need all of those extra adjectives - the good players know who the good teams are. True "Gold" teams will play a "Gold" schedule.

 

[CarMad]

Do some orgs do this to differentiate between their own teams in each age group? Instead of A,B or C team?

 

[tankerlab]

What if your a team that has "ELite"
in the name that does not chase Nationals?
Say, they do Showcases and prioritize getting the girls college looks and offers instead of National titles and Trophys?

 

[Run26]

None of this Gold or Premier naming convention really took place in Ohio until ASA allowed 16U Gold and PGF started making a name. Unfortunately, Ohio is still way behind the times in identifying a TRUE Gold team that plays the ultimate ASA schedule. Very few Gold teams even register as a 16 or 18U Gold classification. I don't know of any in Ohio @ the 16U level and there are like 3 18U that truly play a Gold level schedule - Bandits Demarini, Outlaws Gold and Nightmare Gold.
Gold is ASA's way of trying to compete with PGF but I'm not sure it's working. I would assume to play in the JO Cup that you had to be a Gold team and I would assume the winner would compete very favorably with the PGF winner. Unfortunately, there's no royal rumble in high level softball so we'll have split champs.
Bottom line, none of this unnecessary naming add-ons matter for squat unless you truly step up and play big girl softball. If you are "Gold" play it. Don't go to Dayton or Cincy Metro as an 18U team and call yourself Gold. Smoke and Mirrors.

 

[Kavin3]

Our decision to change from Cincy Static to Static Elite was to reflect our new strategy in how we were taking organization down a different path. In the previous years, half our teams were B & half were A. As our "A" teams got older we were hit w/ major recruiting & successfully manage through that gauntlet that by being fortunate enough to get in the top showcase events such as Legacy, Champions Elite, Pennsbury, Stingrays etc based on our resume. After going through this for the first time in a highly level way as an org over the last two yrs, we found this to be how we wanted the organization to be from top to bottom & hence is the primary driver of our downsizing effort. So for us, the new "elite" nomenclature reflects that our teams will compete at the top showcase events, ASA A & PGF level.

 

[Louuuuu]

What if your a team that has "ELite"
in the name that does not chase Nationals?
Say, they do Showcases and prioritize getting the girls college looks and offers instead of National titles and Trophys?

College coaches don't care if you play for Chico's Bail Bonds Elite or just Chico's Bail Bonds. Can you play at the college level?

 

[wow]

Do some orgs do this to differentiate between their own teams in each age group? Instead of A,B or C team?

So along with this what about if your org has Platinum, Gold, and Elite, but the team your on does not have that attachment after the name in the same org... Wonder how that makes that team feel?

Will that be Super, premium, plus, or regular today?

 

[Stretch]

All this talk about Elite, Gold, Platinum in their names and associating that with playing ASA or PGF seems to be a bit misleading. A few years ago when PGF was new to the scene, it WAS for the Elite. But now if you look at the tournament posts on this board, it is getting so watered down that you might as well play USSSA or even worse, go to a USFA world series. The same teams that played in "B" tournaments and world series are showing up at PGF tournaments now because every TD is jumping on that money making bandwagon. Sure, they might not make the trip to Cali, but still watering down the competition at the local level.

 

[Stupid Jim]

College coaches don't care if you play for Chico's Bail Bonds Elite or just Chico's Bail Bonds. Can you play at the college level?

Butterworth says great reference