Other than location... PGF / ASA

[jmo]

I was just looking at ASA's Gold website and I like how they list who is coming and who the berth was earned.

http://downloads.asasoftball.com/tourna ... dTeams.pdf

Does anyone know why there is a slot open in Region 14?
Is SoCal Athletics-McCasland Mike Smith's team?

Yes that is the 16U team for the Athletics. Looks like the Quakes (I think) declined the berth.

[rdelawder12]

PGF allows you to be in the same tournament with the top teams in California as well as the top 3-4 teams across the country, so with the reputation of Ca softball that affords someone the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in the country with Major and Mid Major coaches watching. As did ASA 4 years ago, so ASA has become the tournament to play against a national variety with alot of different states represented.
This discussion needs to be limited to advantages and dis advantages based on Age Group.
18HS versus 18G ASA, most kids are committed, so makes sense to go face the best competition at PGF

16U versus 16 ASA, that's a coin toss, would think of any kid east of the mississippi would be better off at ASA to get a scholarship to a mid major or a major that doesn't shop in CA

14U versus 14U ASA, the true debate here, we all know colleges are looking at P and C at this age, so enjoy the ability to play against kids all over the country and see how you stack up, so my vote is ASA, as alot of your top defensive/hitting second year 14's are already playing 16U.

12U versus 12U ASA, go ASA and truly enjoy a tournament and experience of playing teams all across the country...

this is JMO!!

[PDad]

PGF has 14-18 playing within a 30 minute drive of each other, making it far easier and less expensive for families with multiple players. No more Dad goes to Bloomington while Mom goes to Moline.easier yes, not necessarily less expensive

Obviously depends on proximity to sites - i.e. whether you're flying and/or driving.

PGF is shorter in duration than ASA at 14s and 16s.The extra day only effects a couple of teams

How do you figure? It's at least a day for PGF-calibre teams because ASA Nats don't start eliminating teams until a day later (i.e. Thursday) and that's mainly the riff-raff. 96 teams make it to Friday and probably 48 of them to Saturday.

PGF has no gate fee.neither does Gold
PGF has online updates. I followed several games at different fields from one location. Even the DD loved that as she could get updates on how her friends were doing on other teams.Gold does this too

Gold is only a small portion of the teams and this is the first year ASA isn't charging a gate fee for Gold.

[Fifteen's]

PGF has the better competition... and that is all that matters.

If you are looking to play with the best... you MUST choose PGF.

If you dont care about playing the BEST in the country then choose ASA or TCS as they are both well ran. I think TCS had a leg up on being organized and ASA would have a leg up for their level of competition on a National level.

While PGF does have better teams than ASA now, the competition isn't any better than it was prior to PGF being formed. The same teams now at PGF were always at ASA. You could even say the competition isn't as strong as it once was, since some teams pass of PGF in favor of ASA.

I think the gist of this statement is, the competition is more concentrated at PGF than ASA. I don't think you can make an argument to the contrary.

But what do I know?

[Trophy Hunter]

Curious what were the major complaints leading to PGF in the first place?
If I recall, ASA created a tiered Gold Qualifier system in response to complaints from the top coaches about they had to play too much riff-raff to earn a berth. A year or two later PGF opened shop.

Also the location I think? which ASA now rotates.
College players, which I don't think are eligible in Gold any longer.
The tourney took too long? but they're equal now, so I'm not sure about that one.
What else was there?

[Trophy Hunter]

PGF has the better competition... and that is all that matters.

If you are looking to play with the best... you MUST choose PGF.

If you dont care about playing the BEST in the country then choose ASA or TCS as they are both well ran. I think TCS had a leg up on being organized and ASA would have a leg up for their level of competition on a National level.

While PGF does have better teams than ASA now, the competition isn't any better than it was prior to PGF being formed. The same teams now at PGF were always at ASA. You could even say the competition isn't as strong as it once was, since some teams pass of PGF in favor of ASA.

I think the gist of this statement is, the competition is more concentrated at PGF than ASA. I don't think you can make an argument to the contrary.

But what do I know?

It is more concentrated in the lower age divisions, but not in 18s, they have the same number of teams. As as I said, it's pretty much the same teams playing PGF HS now that were playing ASA Gold back then, so except for the few top teams that skip PGF, the competition factor hasn't changed.

[Fifteen's]

PGF has the better competition... and that is all that matters.

If you are looking to play with the best... you MUST choose PGF.

If you dont care about playing the BEST in the country then choose ASA or TCS as they are both well ran. I think TCS had a leg up on being organized and ASA would have a leg up for their level of competition on a National level.

While PGF does have better teams than ASA now, the competition isn't any better than it was prior to PGF being formed. The same teams now at PGF were always at ASA. You could even say the competition isn't as strong as it once was, since some teams pass of PGF in favor of ASA.

I think the gist of this statement is, the competition is more concentrated at PGF than ASA. I don't think you can make an argument to the contrary.

But what do I know?

It is more concentrated in the lower age divisions, but not in 18s, they have the same number of teams. As as I said, it's pretty much the same teams playing PGF HS now that were playing ASA Gold back then, so except for the few top teams that skip PGF, the competition factor hasn't changed.

I think the pool of teams in 18HS at PGF are more concentrated(competitive) than ASA. Just because the amount of teams are the same, doesn't mean they are at the same level. JMO!

[Trophy Hunter]

I think the pool of teams in 18HS at PGF are more concentrated(competitive) than ASA. Just because the amount of teams are the same, doesn't mean they are at the same level. JMO!

They are the same teams that were playing ASA four years ago! How can they be more concentrated, or competitive?

[PDad]

Curious what were the major complaints leading to PGF in the first place?

If I recall, ASA created a tiered Gold Qualifier system in response to complaints from the top coaches about they had to play too much riff-raff to earn a berth. A year or two later PGF opened shop. True

Also the location I think? which ASA now rotates.
3-site rotation was quickly changed to alternate between OKC and East/West coast. San Diego was great. Have to see how Clearwater, FL works out next year.

College players, which I don't think are eligible in Gold any longer. True

The tourney took too long? but they're equal now, so I'm not sure about that one.
PGF was a day shorter the first year and was extended with the addition of 14U.

What else was there?
Defending champion and returning team berths - both of which ASA added for 2013. This was probably the biggest issue because they wanted to be freed from the cost and schedule conflicts of chasing a berth.

Except for the creation of the Gold Classification tourneys, everything else was done after PGF was launched. Do you think ASA would have made those changes without PGF?

[Fifteen's]

I think the pool of teams in 18HS at PGF are more concentrated(competitive) than ASA. Just because the amount of teams are the same, doesn't mean they are at the same level. JMO!

They are the same teams that were playing ASA four years ago! How can they be more concentrated, or competitive?

What I mean is the 18HS PGF pool is more concentrated than the ASA pool. Because now you have 2 pools. But, I see what you are saying. The only thing I can say to that is when the same teams were playing at ASA, the ASA pool got too expanded with way too many teams to wade through. One of the complaints from the Gold coaches about ASA. The amount of teams. I think they have corrected that, because they had to. Not necessarily because they wanted to.

JMO