Where to be for 16U Nationals ASA/USA or PGF?

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Good point, Dan ... didn't think about it like that, I guess, and that's what counts. It's just that it's a great experience to play (and say you played) against the very best teams in the country, and it looks like the possibility of that now is slim to none if you're in Ohio unless you're playing on one of those truly regional teams.

 

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part of my unhappiness with any new assoc. is that it now splits the pot so to speak. No longer will there ever be a true natl' champ. You win Premier you beat SOME of the best but 90% of the teams will be from Tx, Ca and Az. Very few from Al,Ga,Fl,Oh,Pa, etc etc ASA natl's will be missing Ca's best. it won't the same again until someone goes under. MD

 

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just for fun :
Player Profile : 450 BA in HS at d-2, hit 350 in showcase level travel ball. above average speed OFer , lefty , can slap some. Has above average grades. Talented kid , could possibly play MAC , Horizen or fine D-2 or D-3 prospect .

Why would this kid want to go to Ca to play in any tourney/showcase IF she has no desire to go to college west of the Missisip ? Can't that kid be seen enough at Gapps,Ray, States , QOD etc etc to be sucessufully recruited w/o going to the great Cali invitational ?
I'm NOT talking the 1-4 % that make it to an SEC , or Pac 10 school. I'm talking the other 96 % percent here . Good college prospect but not Top Twenty material . Does it make sense to go to Ca to play ? (other than the obvious great competition) $1500 entry just to play in this event. MD

Dan, on the $1500 entry fee ~ PGF doesn't charge gate fees so the extra $100 per family to attend felt like about a wash when you consider the number of $40 week long tournament passes our team would have bought. The hotels booked through the tournament (which are a requirement) are very reasonablely priced - cheaper than booking yourself - we checked. In fact, it was our teams belief that it was cheaper to go to Calif than Tx.

Lastly, we are going to Calif to play softball against the best, represent Ohio, be seen by college coaches from all over the country and when all is said and done take a little vacation and have some fun. Thats pretty much why.

 

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nothing wrong with that . I guess you were comparing flying to TX and flying to Ca? no way it could be close to the same if you drive. family of 4 fly's thats at least 1300-1500 bucks in airfare alone or more. When you have a team with the same desires/expectations it can work well.

 

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Sorry for being late to the party. I enjoyed reading the posts by JoeA and the Laser Black folks.

Original Post: If I was in Ohio, I'd go to Chattanooga over Premier Girls Fastpitch (PGF) unless I knew the school(s) that interested me wanted to see me play at PGF.

Traveling to Midland: It is a 1,350 mile drive from Columbus to Midland (20+ hours) and gasoline alone would be $540 @ 20 miles/gallon. There are very few flights into Midland and Dallas/FW is over 300 miles away.

$1500 entry fee: Besides no gate fees, there are no parking fees and coolers are allowed at all parks. PGF even pays the city of Huntington Beach for the parking at the HB Sports Complex so people won't get $50 tickets for failing to buy a $1 day pass.

PGF Founders: Dan Hay and Gary Haning are longtime 18-Gold coaches that also run Surf City Tourneys, which holds some of the top showcases in the country. They formed PGF with the support and backing of many 18-Gold coaches and organizations across the country. Bill Conroy (Beverly Bandits) became an equity partner 2 months ago.

Invitations: To get PGF off the ground almost 2 years ago, they gave 2-year invitations to a number of top organizations across the country for 18HS and/or 16U. They added 14u this year and issued 10 invitations (1-year?) to get it off the ground (Lasers Black received one). They plan to expand to 12u next year and I won't be surprised if they issue some invitations for that too.

Site: The plan was to hold it in SoCal the first 2 years before holding it other places that meet their criteria - near major airports with good weather and a comfortable climate. They haven't announced a site for next year yet. If you know of any locations like that east of the Mississippi, please inform PGF.

 

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near an airport , good weather with comfortable climate. None available . Socal is the only place on earth like that -- PS Nice boo fest of our USA ****** team also , at least the weather was good while the booing occured : http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0626-plaschke-gold-cup-20110626,0,7072114.column

 

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Sorry for being late to the party. I enjoyed reading the posts by JoeA and the Laser Black folks.

Original Post: If I was in Ohio, I'd go to Chattanooga over Premier Girls Fastpitch (PGF) unless I knew the school(s) that interested me wanted to see me play at PGF.

Traveling to Midland: It is a 1,350 mile drive from Columbus to Midland (20+ hours) and gasoline alone would be $540 @ 20 miles/gallon. There are very few flights into Midland and Dallas/FW is over 300 miles away.

$1500 entry fee: Besides no gate fees, there are no parking fees and coolers are allowed at all parks. PGF even pays the city of Huntington Beach for the parking at the HB Sports Complex so people won't get $50 tickets for failing to buy a $1 day pass.

PGF Founders: Dan Hay and Gary Haning are longtime 18-Gold coaches that also run Surf City Tourneys, which holds some of the top showcases in the country. They formed PGF with the support and backing of many 18-Gold coaches and organizations across the country. Bill Conroy (Beverly Bandits) became an equity partner 2 months ago.

Invitations: To get PGF off the ground almost 2 years ago, they gave 2-year invitations to a number of top organizations across the country for 18HS and/or 16U. They added 14u this year and issued 10 invitations (1-year?) to get it off the ground (Lasers Black received one). They plan to expand to 12u next year and I won't be surprised if they issue some invitations for that too.

Site: The plan was to hold it in SoCal the first 2 years before holding it other places that meet their criteria - near major airports with good weather and a comfortable climate. They haven't announced a site for next year yet. If you know of any locations like that east of the Mississippi, please inform PGF.

Florida would be great except we have the worst PGF rep imaginable. Teams here did not even know there was a qualifier. I did because I followed their website. But Patti never responded to inquiries. That is probably why she was removed from the Rising Stars organization....... Now if they really wanted to fire up the exposure in the SE I know this experienced TD that just might help..............

 

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can't play up at nationals --correct ?

If we qualified we could play up at Nationals, I do not think there is a rule against it, of so we probably could not have played 16U ENQ or USA NQ.

 

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near an airport , good weather with comfortable climate. None available . Socal is the only place on earth like that -- PS Nice boo fest of our USA ****** team also , at least the weather was good while the booing occured : http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0626-plaschke-gold-cup-20110626,0,7072114.column

Did you read the whole article or stop when it looked like good ammunition?

Mexico ****** fans have long since proven to be perhaps the greatest fans of any sports team that plays in this country, selling out venues from here to Texas to New Jersey, dwarfing something like Red Sox Nation, equaling any two SEC football fan bases combined.

But eventually, the rules for their unrequited love get tricky. Because eventually, Mexico ends up playing the U.S. team on U.S. soil. And then folks start wondering, as they surely did Saturday, is it really right for folks who live here to boo and jeer as if they don't?

It wasn't a SoCal thing - it would have happened in many parts of the US.

 

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Florida would be great except we have the worst PGF rep imaginable. Teams here did not even know there was a qualifier. I did because I followed their website. But Patti never responded to inquiries. That is probably why she was removed from the Rising Stars organization....... Now if they really wanted to fire up the exposure in the SE I know this experienced TD that just might help..............

The Florida Qualifier obviously did not go well but we do have a much better venue for that part of the country for next year...

I haven't heard anything more than that. It wouldn't hurt to drop them a line if you have a good candidate for TD.

I'm serious about the location request. I believe PGF needs to find a suitable location back east if they are to realize their dream of being the preeminent national championship.

There was speculation PGF's partnership with ESPN dissolved because ESPN wanted to always hold it at their facility in Florida. I hope their issue was more with having a single fixed location than with Florida itself.

 

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I haven't heard anything more than that. It wouldn't hurt to drop them a line if you have a good candidate for TD.

I'm serious about the location request. I believe PGF needs to find a suitable location back east if they are to realize their dream of being the preeminent national championship.

There was speculation PGF's partnership with ESPN dissolved because ESPN wanted to always hold it at their facility in Florida. I hope their issue was more with having a single fixed location than with Florida itself.

I did send them an email. I know a couple TD's that just might be able to handle it from the PR side to the operational side. I also know all the locations down here. I just need to get on their radar screen.

ESPN WWOS is the most hated venue in Florida. It is unbelievably expensive, a coaches nightmare and the fields are difficult to get to. The only reason Florida teams play there is to attend the Diamond 9 events.

 

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Did you read the whole article or stop when it looked like good ammunition?

Mexico ****** fans have long since proven to be perhaps the greatest fans of any sports team that plays in this country, selling out venues from here to Texas to New Jersey, dwarfing something like Red Sox Nation, equaling any two SEC football fan bases combined.

But eventually, the rules for their unrequited love get tricky. Because eventually, Mexico ends up playing the U.S. team on U.S. soil. And then folks start wondering, as they surely did Saturday, is it really right for folks who live here to boo and jeer as if they don't?

It wasn't a SoCal thing - it would have happened in many parts of the US.

I'm sure in Moline Iowa , the last place I visited for ASA nationals the same thing would have occured. MD

 

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... It wasn't a SoCal thing - it would have happened in many parts of the US.

I'm sure in Moline Iowa, the last place I visited for ASA nationals the same thing would have occured. MD

I said many parts, not any part.

 

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You need to work on your geography, reading comprehension and spelling/typing. :lmao:

- Nats were held in Moline, Illinois - not Iowa. I know because our team was there, too - and Normal, IL the year before.

- I said many parts, not any part.

- Occured? Is that a KY term?

Weak sauce, MD.

Back it down there SoCal. We aren't on the Cali Fastpitch message board. Phonetics and spelling are not counted against you in the midwest. MD has some points on his thoughts. Some who haven't experienced the PGF might have some concerns.

Here is my post from another thread about the PGF that alot of folks arent aware of...

Quote:
Originally Posted by SOX
We were heading to Cali up until about a week ago. Coaches agreed there would be more college coaches in Texas.

Which coaches decided, your teams?

Been to Midland (btw, it is a god awful place to play a national tourney). When we were there a couple years back, hardly any college coaches were there.

PGF is the up and comer in the way of exposure. Even though it is an 18HS tourney for the big girls, the college coaches have a better opportunity to see an unsigned recruit in all the age divisions. They are crawling all over each other for the recruits.

Bill Conroy (Beverly Bandits) has been given the reigns on marketing and TV exposure for the PGF and the Surf City tourneys. With Bills knowledge in those areas, you can expect big name colleges, along with D2, D3, and JUCO coaches to be in attendence.

Bill isn't like the east coast Gold coaches who are mostly in it for the $$$. His vision, and his intentions are truly in the girls best interests without money being a factor. If he has his name associated with it, you can count on it growing and expanding to help out any young lady that is truly interested in taking it to the next level. With Bill Conroy (Beverly Bandits), Gary Haning (OC Batbusters), and Dan Hay (Victory USA) being the driving forces behind PGF, it is the next level in marketing these girls to college coaches, which is one of the founding principles of the new venture (PGF) that they have created. ASA has always been in it for the $$$. Although PGF is expensive, dollar for dollar it is the best investment.