Why not Just make it an Invitational?

[jmo]

What teams from the NE do you think are getting over looked? How would anyone know if they are competitive at the upper levels if they only play NE and Pony? Do these teams play Colorado?

I have seen the Jersey Intensity play a number of times and they are always competitive. Have these teams played the Jersey Intensity?

I guess what I am getting at is we have a lot of teams in our area that declare themselves competitive, and they win a lot around here. But, then there is another group of teams that go to Colorado, go to SoCal. These are the teams that go to PGF, and Independence day, etc. When those teams show up for a local tournament the tend to kick all the other 'competitive' teams butts.

I think PGF is doing fine. They got Team North Florida and Wichata Mustangs both of which were strong in ASA gold last year. They seem to be adding the right teams to keep the competition up and continue to expand the geographies.

I really like Rhode Island Thunder Gold. I wished they would come

[jonriv]

What teams from the NE do you think are getting over looked? How would anyone know if they are competitive at the upper levels if they only play NE and Pony? Do these teams play Colorado?

I have seen the Jersey Intensity play a number of times and they are always competitive. Have these teams played the Jersey Intensity?

I guess what I am getting at is we have a lot of teams in our area that declare themselves competitive, and they win a lot around here. But, then there is another group of teams that go to Colorado, go to SoCal. These are the teams that go to PGF, and Independence day, etc. When those teams show up for a local tournament the tend to kick all the other 'competitive' teams butts.

I think PGF is doing fine. They got Team North Florida and Wichata Mustangs both of which were strong in ASA gold last year. They seem to be adding the right teams to keep the competition up and continue to expand the geographies.

There is kind of a "duality" that goes on around here- as with many areas, there are Gold teams(many in name only) Many of the teams that are self declared "Gold" teams basically play the showcase circuit and in fact do not dominate the local tournaments when they do play them(have never come across the Intensity . AI it is very easy to assume Fastpitch is set up the same everywhere as it is in your on area- from what I have seen and heard it seems to look different everywhere.

Just looking at the teams at the NE Qualifier- there is one team from NY-and they are from Rochester(no teams from LI or the Hudson Valley) non from CT, RI or Mass- and what is with the entrees from out of the footprint? Again- I a was not criticizing PGF, I think what they have done in such a short amount of time is great- just offering some suggestions

BTW If I were to suggest from Connecticut- The CT Eliminators, Charmers, Tradition or Breakers would come to mind

[AlwaysImprove]

Our area breaks out just like yours. Fake gold teams that play locally but are pretty competitive, on a local basis. Fake gold teams that do a lot of exposure, may be competitive locally, may not.

Then there are a the true gold teams. Ones that can compete at the PGF level. At best we will produce 3, maybe on a stretch 4 teams at this level. That is from all WA, OR and ID.

I think the only real difference is that we were excited as discussions of PGF started. I would say more anxious than the SoCal folks. It is very hard to set up a trip from Seattle to Johnson City on two weeks notice. We always seem to get berths late in the process.

Flights from here to LA rarely go over $199, several planes leave every hour. Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue, and all the other airlines are very competitive in Seattle to LA routes. So PGF was easy for us.

[jonriv]

I think the logistics is the tough thing for teams around here- especially with only a few weeks notice. I also think there is a comfort level among organizations on sticking with the familiar- which usually means PONY. The problem with the PONY Nationals is you spend a lot of money and travel time to see the same teams you see all the time locally(sound familiar)

DDs past team was a little out of the box- TCS PArk City, NSA Charlotte, TCS Myrtle Beach and then the year after she aged up they did Colorado and NSA Chattanooga- other teams in org all did PONY

Most Organizations in this area seam unaware of PGF (they have not discovered the softball Nirvana of HB)

There are LOTS of teams here of varying levels- I am sure that the NY Tri-state area and New England could send at least 5-7 competitive teams - perhaps more if they understood the recruiting side of it

[Thirdn1]

We play in NJ and the PGF wasn't understood by most if any teams. ASA only sells insurance in NJ they never hold any tournaments that have any good teams. NSA used to be better in NJ tristate are. PONY is well run and has very good tournaments in the PA.NJ,DE,NY area. The Chamberburg PA PONY tournament is one of the biggest and is a midseason tournament with 50 to 60 teams. The guy who runs it does a good job recruiting good teams to go. He had been calling me since 10U. Until there are well run qualifiers in the area there won't be much interest in flying across the country for a growing National. I know the Intensity has always travelled, They compete but haven't been the best team in the 16U,14U,12U ages. They usually aren't even in the semi's.

[xyzdude]

Jon - sorry to say that the teams you mention are really not in the league of the teams that compete at PGF. Realistically, there are maybe only 2-5 teams in the Northeast that could attend PGF and hope to finish in the top half of the teams. There may be none who would have a prayer at winning the tournament.

It would be great if more teams from the Northeast did the high level showcase and national tournaments but keep in mind it is a lot of money! Besides the trip to CA, there are the trips to qualifiers (these are pretty expensive in their own right - especially when it could be two and go home). I think your original headline may sum it up best - it may be better if it were a total invitational! Why not just invite the top 64 or so teams in the nation to a great tournament in California. Send the invitations out well in advance so the teams have time to make arrangements, raise money, etc. Clear out the bottom finishers or uncompetitive teams and invite new ones the next year. If you want to think outside the box --- hold large regional events around the country (rather than qualifiers) which could be great showcase/tournaments on their own - have these in the fall and let the first few finishers have a berth to the national tournament.

It seems to me that teams are more and more having to limit their travel and pick and choose their tournaments more carefully. I think there are less teams in the NE traveling out west now than there was a few years ago - certainly the economy has something to do with this. I don't think that PGF is in competition with any other tournament - they are in competition with the teams on the east coast ability to finance the trip. I think more and more are deciding to forego a national tournament and simply do another showcase event. Too bad.

As for PONY - that is nothing more than a semi-competitive softball vacation (at 18U). Same goes for most of the other sanctions. Nothing wrong with it but don't pretend it is anything approaching the PGF tournament (at 18U/16U). Even ASA Gold is a much weaker sister these days at 18U. No disrespect intended but a team from PA made a great run there last year and ended up in the championship taking second place. While that is a great job and hard earned for the players, let's not pretend that the team would have been competitive at PGF - it is just a different level now in my opinion.

[CULater]

I could be wrong, but that team from Pennsylvania, beat some pretty good teams at ASA, ones that were competetive the following week at PGF. I also think they finished like 9th at Colorado.

I think they would have been more than competetive at PGF.

[jonriv]

Jon - sorry to say that the teams you mention are really not in the league of the teams that compete at PGF. Realistically, there are maybe only 2-5 teams in the Northeast that could attend PGF and hope to finish in the top half of the teams. There may be none who would have a prayer at winning the tournament.

Will have to disagree

Jersey Breakers have attended the PGF championships and the #2 Tradition Team beat them last year in a local tournament. Charmers, Eliminators and CT Breakers all could compete IMO. Would they win the whole thing?- probably not, but tehy could compete

[jmo]

Jon - sorry to say that the teams you mention are really not in the league of the teams that compete at PGF. Realistically, there are maybe only 2-5 teams in the Northeast that could attend PGF and hope to finish in the top half of the teams. There may be none who would have a prayer at winning the tournament. /quote]

Will have to disagree

Jersey Breakers have attended the PGF championships and the #2 Tradition Team beat them last year in a local tournament. Charmers, Eliminators and CT Breakers all could compete IMO. Would they win the whole thing?- probably not, but tehy could compete

I haven't seen a lot of teams from the Northeast but I will say that I believe Rhode Island Thunder Gold could and would compete at PGF.

NJ Breakers played two years ago and finished 49th. They also came to Champions Cup last year and did not fare well as expected. And Champions Cup does not have the strong lineup of teams that it once had years ago.

[jonriv]

Jon - sorry to say that the teams you mention are really not in the league of the teams that compete at PGF. Realistically, there are maybe only 2-5 teams in the Northeast that could attend PGF and hope to finish in the top half of the teams. There may be none who would have a prayer at winning the tournament. /quote]

Will have to disagree

Jersey Breakers have attended the PGF championships and the #2 Tradition Team beat them last year in a local tournament. Charmers, Eliminators and CT Breakers all could compete IMO. Would they win the whole thing?- probably not, but tehy could compete

I haven't seen a lot of teams from the Northeast but I will say that I believe Rhode Island Thunder Gold could and would compete at PGF.

NJ Breakers played two years ago and finished 49th. They also came to Champions Cup last year and did not fare well as expected. And Champions Cup does not have the strong lineup of teams that it once had years ago.

I saw that-but figured they had played at PGF and had played one of the organizations mentioned. I would agree with you on the RI Thunder. IMO the organizations I mentioned are of a similar calibre. My point is that it's easy to dismiss teams as "they can't compete", but usually that is done without really knowing anything about the organizations in question.

BTW- it is my hope that PGF will attract more teams from outside California(obviously I am partial to the Northeast) I think it improves the level of play across the county.