Spazsdad wrote:While I can find things on both sides to find fault with I have to call BS on you always claiming ASA is a 10 day tournament.
I have been to ASA Nationals 7 times and every time games start on Monday and at best you are done the next Sunday if you play through. Most teams are out by Friday or Saturday.
By my math that is 7 days. Sure there are travel days on either end but that is the case with any tournament.
Hmmm. Johnson City from Seattle. No flights that land before 6pm. Closest city is Charlotte.
Remember you were always on teams that had berths carried over from previous years, so you are able to book flights year in advance to Bristol. You get your berth after June 1 like the rest of the world Bristol will be $1100.
So you land in Charllotte, stay a night in Charlotte, then 4+ hours out to Johnson City next morning.
So you flight out Saturday, drive Sunday from Charlotte to Johnson City, get signed in. Monday is first games. Sunday afternoon was championships. You drive 4 hours back to Charlotte Sunday evening. On a plane Monday. So that is Saturday to Monday. Which is 9 solid days. That is travelling hard. Kids and parents will be complaining about being rushed around on that schedule.
College Station, Midland they are all the same. If you are booking year in advance, you may be able to fly to the town, but most teams receive their berth June 1.
Compare it to PGF this year. Flew in on Monday, First game was Monday evening. We were on the plane back home Thursday. Half the time away from work, half the time in hotels, and half the money on rental cars. That is 3 nights in a hotel.
Let's look at sum total cost. $100 in hotel, $40 in rental car, 100$ in food and couple of K per day of work missed. 6 days hotel and rental car. Just looking at expense hotel, food and car, ASA is $1440 more than PGF, for one player. For average team of 12, that is
$17,280.
We have done this before. And my historical records say there is a big difference between the two.
And oh, BTW, ASA is much better now with PGF competition because they are no longer charging double on a hotel rooms.
Add in the Women that passed out and knocked her head at College Station and was hauled off in ambulance. Add in the air conditioner that did not work for one of our families in Midland. Add in thunderstorm redirecting late evening flight to Atalanta to Huntsville, which made us miss a connection, with no hotels and no rental cars, so we had 6 families sleep the night on the floor.
But that is not even the bad part, for us. The bad part for us is that Parents/families from our area do not know the nationals experience. So you are going to take a kid sitting 10 or 11 on your roster, fly them on a 9 day adventure filled excursion. And then not play their kid in the one drip drip game you had that day. I know you were always on big name teams from Ca, and families knew what to expect and basically went along. From our area, they go insane. I have seen them throw sandwiches at coaches, I have seen melt tires on rental cars in parking lots, I have seen them try to clip coaches with mirrors.
None of that adventurous stuff ever happens when going to PGF. You fly in, you play, you go home. Every time. Weather is great. Airport is accessible. Tournament is well run. People are not so overly invested time and money wise that they have to destroy sandwiches and rental cars.
You guys can keep enjoying your experience with ASA, I will continue to point out why PGF exists. Hopefully some day ASA will listen. But until they do, PGF is a nice alternative.
