PGF 2012 12U

[4girlsmom]

With Premier now opening up to 12u this year, I am curious to know
how many teams WOULD attend if they were qualified to attend.
I'm interested in discussion from SoCal teams as well as across
the states. At 12U, do you think teams from outside of SoCal and NorCal
would travel for Premier? I suppose I'm questioning the number of
teams that will accept the notion that (at 12U) the best teams will
be playing in SoCal in late July and opt out of Moline, Illinois.
Thoughts of 12U PGF?

[lookingIN]

Did Premier open up to the !2U this year?

[4girlsmom]

Yes. View topic from Gary posted under Premier titled "Premier Girls Fastpicth 2012"
12u will be played a week earlier than 14u and 16U.

Looks like 10u is excluded from Premier for 2012.

[jmo]

Yes. View topic from Gary posted under Premier titled "Premier Girls Fastpicth 2012"
12u will be played a week earlier than 14u and 16U.

Looks like 10u is excluded from Premier for 2012.

10U is still under consideration. Should be determined by the next board meeting.

[Luther]

If my DD was in 12u I would struggle a bit with this decision.

It is nice to have PGF locally but travelling to Nationals in some awful place has been part of the travel ball exerience that my DD enjoyed.

I think that 10u and 12u should still be about the experience and 14u should start focusing more on the exposure and competition.

[4girlsmom]

If my DD was in 12u I would struggle a bit with this decision.

It is nice to have PGF locally but travelling to Nationals in some awful place has been part of the travel ball exerience that my DD enjoyed.

I think that 10u and 12u should still be about the experience and 14u should start focusing more on the exposure and competition.

Ultimately, it will be the coaches decision on where to go, Illinois or HB, personally I'm conflicted.
I moan and groan about traveling to Hot Hellhole's like Tennessee or Alabama, but the DD enjoys
it. Sure would be nice to hop on the 405.
IMO, ultimately, even at 10u and 12U it IS about the competition, who are the best teams? From what I
have seen in only a few years of travel is that even at Nationals, the majority (in 10U 90%, at 12U ,what 70%?)
of teams in the final 8 or final 16 are from SoCal. It seemed somewhat anticlimactic to be playing teams
you play every weekend. If thats the case, shoot, I'd much rather play those teams locally as opposed to
Moline. Still, my question remains, will teams from out of state want to come to SoCal at that age level and
face the competition if awarded the opportunity?

[NumeroUno]

I don't understand how all these places are considered hell holes. Ok Midland Texas is a little rough but Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee these places are beautiful. Don't cry about the weather, go visit some historical site while you are there and enjoy other states in the U S A.

Premier is great, I enjoyed it, they did a top notch job putting it on. If you are not from California you would be crazy not to come play here. The weather is great watching the surfers with a 75 degree cool breeze in your face is hard to beat. Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags and about 1000+ other things to do in California without breaking a sweat. Oh ya don't forget the best competition in the country. If you are from California let you dd experience a nationals on the road, a couple times.

First nationals DD was 9 been to nationals every year and now playing gold for two years. I just found a bunch of pictures on my computer of her first nationals the other day. I cherish the times we had at nationals on the road.

[AlwaysImprove]

To me the problem with Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee is the propensity for thunderstorms. For a lot of events it is not that big of a deal, just move a few things and continue on.

Except ASA likes to backload their schedule to squeeze dimes out of folks, so the first sign of rain, they are cancelling brackets, going to single elim, wrecking out the tournament. Something like a quarter of the tournaments in these areas do not end smoothly.

If ASA were being decent on any of the fronts, like getting more fields to accommodating the 178 team monstrosity or being decent about scheduling so that not everyone is pushed back to the last possible day.

If ASA were making some adjustments in some of these other areas, it is possible to have successful tournaments in these areas of the country.

[access2]

Within the many pictures and videos I have- are videos of the thunderstorms, lightning and everyone getting drenched.

I recall fields being washed away and the crew working hard to get it back together for a 10:00 pm game.

I guess my point is that these trips to Nationals, time with DD and family in a State or place I wouldn't have otherwise visited, make part of the memories and it was fun.

The economy does make want to stay local next year now that DD is in 14s -

For 12 U I recommend making the trip ASA Nationals - don't get me wrong- to each his own...

Just my two cents...

[4girlsmom]

JMO-
Questions for you regarding PGF 12U. Will there be regional qualifiers
by invite only, or with 12u being "new to PGF, will they be open? If it is
by invitation only, could you provide the criteria by which a team would
obtain an invite(both in state and out of state). What kind of responses
have you been receiving from the 12U community regarding PGF at 12U
(again both in and out of state).
Thanks so much for keeping the info flowing re PGF