Trophy Hunter wrote:Aah, it's a terrible thing. The first casualty in war is always the innocent.
This stinks to high heaven and reminds me of the boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Actually, once they're in college they can still be eligible right? If not for Junior team then for the women's team? So maybe they can just skip their senior year of travel ball, since kids of this caliber already have full-ride deals in place, then play some college ball and be eligible for the national teams.
Very few college players would meet the ISF 18u age requirement, which is equivalent to 17u in ASA because they can't turn 18 before the year of the team (i.e. '93s are ineligible for the 2012 team). Besides, college players can't play Gold.
And let's face it, this affects hardly any players, if you're looking at the big picture. Of the hundreds of 18u teams, how many players have a realistic shot at this team? I guess a lot more different ones, now that all the PGF players aren't eligible, but still. Maybe a hundred, out of several thousand? And out of those hundred maybe 40 get invited to try out, and of those maybe 15-20 make the team.
So, the big wheels form 3 ASA Ballbuster teams - Red, White and Blue - with the girls that want to try out for the Junior Team. All they have to do is play in one qualifier and Gold Nats.