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PGF National Location - Put to rest

Questions and discussions involving PGF

by B-Dad » Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:17 pm

Bill Conroy is a regular poster on a local midwest board and provides a humble but honest opinion on many accounts http://members.boardhost.com/midwestsoftball/msg/1396866103.html. Below is his comment on the location of the PGF National (which has been debated to death on HB). Only posting it because I don't recall a more straightforward explanation.

I don't see PGF moving its National Championship outside of Southern California anytime in the foreseeable future. There are many reasons for this and you probably won't like any of them but I will try to explain:
Initially PGF was set up with 2 owners, Dan Hay and Gary Haning, with an advisory board of individuals from across the country, the subject of rotating venues throughout the country was debated. With in a few months, I was given the opportunity to become a partner in both PGF and Surf City Tourneys, which I was happy to buy in.
My initial thoughts were to have PGF Nationals rotate around the country but I realized that in order to grow PGF at the highest level, we needed to secure the best venues and the best teams. Huntington Beach offers so much for families and weather is amazingly consistent for that time of year. With having programs such as the O.C. Batbusters, Corona Angels, Firecrackers and So. Cal Athletics all in that general area, Dan Hay, Gary Haning and myself, as well as the advisory board felt that Huntington Beach was the best choice for a permanent home.

We realize that it is expensive to travel to California, as is traveling just about anywhere worth going to but we developed an advisory board that helped select teams across the country that we felt had earned a berth to PGF, via their finish at the previous years nationals or their entire body of work. The merits of this certainly can be debated but our goal was to secure the top teams, in our opinion, to play in the PGF National Championship in Huntington Beach without the expense of having to travel around and attempt to win the berth. Every year, we would reevaluate the teams based on their performance the previous year and in the Fall before awarding the following years berths, while still allowing enough berths through the traditional qualifying process to allow quality teams the opportunity to win a berth. We want and need the best teams in order to be considered the Best of the Best and this business model is the most efficient in doing so.

I have multiple teams that play both in Huntington Beach and in Boulder and they both are expensive trips but for me and the Beverly Bandits, both venues are worth every penny.
PGF realizes the expenses are an issue for many teams and we have developed a regional format with a PGF regional championship for teams with limited finances. I realize that PGF still has much room for improvement but I guarantee that we will continue to work to put forth a quality product both locally and nationally.

next post (never saw this comment before :roll: ):
Would it not stand to reason that if PGF was the best of the best that the top teams from CA would travel to you? Teams from all over the country go to CA wouldn't the CA teams travel as well to have the chance to win the title? There are plenty of other areas that are just a appealing weather wise and have plenty of things to do.

Bill's reply:
I have been to 10 other national sites as well as at least 50 other venues over the years and none measure up to Huntington Beach, in my opinion. The teams from Southern California probably would travel but we would be competing against other organizations such as TCS, that offers free housing for teams ranked in the top 15 of their polls. We've considered several options but Huntington Beach makes the most sense on a yearly basis.
Last edited by B-Dad on Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by PDad » Wed Apr 09, 2014 7:57 pm

Thanks for posting this B-Dad.

The next posts were interesting...

Bill Conroy wrote:
So SoCal teams really dont travel. One trip to boulder and they are done. Everything else is surf city tournaments in their back yard, and sleeping in their beds. Its true, the midwest softball player/families are a hell of lot more dedicated.

I used the same term once before and I was wrong. I do believe the Midwest player has more obstacles to overcome such as weather, travel and less flexible rules in regards to playing club ball during H.S. season.

Looks like Bill learned some lessons regarding the D-word and how wide his posts can spread...
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by B-Dad » Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:08 pm

Agreed. I didn't post the rest of the thread on that board because he freely admitted his thinking/choice of words was not quite right.

As I mentioned, the man is humble (given his clubs recent success) and not without his own self admitted mistakes. He takes ownership of his comments and learns and adjusts.
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by Fastpitch4Life » Thu Apr 10, 2014 10:07 am

B-Dad wrote:Agreed. I didn't post the rest of the thread on that board because he freely admitted his thinking/choice of words was not quite right.

As I mentioned, the man is humble (given his clubs recent success) and not without his own self admitted mistakes. He takes ownership of his comments and learns and adjusts.


Agreed. It's refreshing to get a glimpse behind the Great and Powerful OZ's (PGF leadership) curtain every one in a while.
Thanks for sharing!
"I learned the path to Heaven is full of sinners and believers,
learned that happiness on earth ain't just for high achievers."
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by Battle » Thu Apr 10, 2014 5:20 pm

I was given the opportunity to become a partner in both PGF and Surf City Tourneys, which I was happy to buy in.

Didn't he win PGF last year?
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by fastpitchdad05 » Fri Apr 11, 2014 2:29 pm

Battle wrote:
I was given the opportunity to become a partner in both PGF and Surf City Tourneys, which I was happy to buy in.

Didn't he win PGF last year?


The Beverly Bandits 16U team did. Not sure if he coached that team,
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by B-Dad » Sat Apr 19, 2014 4:40 am

Bill Conroy did not coach that team, Jen Tyrrell did.
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by jonriv » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:19 am

Not sure what the big deal of where they have the tournament- it's their tournament, it's been a huge success- if you don't like the location-don't go(I'm sure their are plenty more that would take your place)
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by Battle » Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:04 pm

jonriv wrote:Not sure what the big deal of where they have the tournament- it's their tournament, it's been a huge success- if you don't like the location-don't go(I'm sure their are plenty more that would take your place)

That's true and it's the same thing that ASA said about all the Cali teams when they were crying like a little baby... :(
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by fastpitchdad05 » Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:41 pm

Battle wrote:
jonriv wrote:Not sure what the big deal of where they have the tournament- it's their tournament, it's been a huge success- if you don't like the location-don't go(I'm sure their are plenty more that would take your place)

That's true and it's the same thing that ASA said about all the Cali teams when they were crying like a little baby... :(


If by crying you mean asking the ASA not to act like a monopoly that did whatever they wanted to no matter what the customer input was then, yes, we cried...a lot.

ASA said, "It's my way or the highway" and we eventually said, "We'll see you later then, we prefer the I-405." ;)

Are we singing, "Here's the new boss! He's the same as the old boss!" Well...maybe. :roll:
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