Qualifiers are coming.

[Midwest]

In about a month from now the qualifying will be starting for the 14u, 16u & 18u teams for PGF. I'm more interested in 14u. I looked at each qualifier to see how many teams will be trying to earn a berth ( work is very slow today ). Saw that the qualifiers at Indiana ( 23 teams ), Arizona ( 26 teams ), Southern Cal. ( 34 teams ) and Northern Cal ( 26 teams ) have the most teams trying if they all participate. The next two qualifiers that are close to the top four are Northwest ( 10 teams ) and Northeast ( 8 teams ). The rest of the qualifiers only have 3-6 teams signed up or registered with Hawaii having none at 14u level.
The question I have will PGF move some of the berths to the qualifiers with more teams. Right now the Texas Qu. has 6 teams for 4 berths and No. Texas Qu. has 3 teams for 3 berths with other qualifiers close to these two in numbers and berths. My thinking is if you have 8 or more teams you can hand out your 2 berths. Anything under 8 that qualifier should only hand out one berth. They can then take the 5 extra berths from the Texas & No. Texas Qu. and split them between the top four Qualification sites with So. Cal getting the extra berth. In all there would be 10 extra berths that could be divided up. If the Northwest gets a few more teams they could get one of the extra berth also. Some Qualifiers are later in the year but if PGF holds onto a list of top ten teams from each Qu. that is how they can hand out the extra berths if other locations don't have enough teams. JUST MY THOUGHT.
Also next year have a Qualifier location for all age groups around Kansas to draw teams from OK., Mo and other states near by. Seem to be missing teams from that area of the country at 14u. At 16 & 18u locations lacking teams saw Colorado and Hawaii. 18u looks to have the most teams signed up. People will say that there is still time to sign up for a qualifier but most teams are set for the summer,so I don't expect many other teams to sign up now. Saw older teams from Ca. making long distance trips to try and earn a berth, I say smart choice. Again what does everyone else think.

[coachEd]

I would have to say at this point, the qualifiers and number of berths are what they are. PGF does have a rule that a qualifier must have a minimum number of teams signed up (teams must be equal to number of berths, plus one) and games must be played. If that is not met, then the PGF Board decides what to do with those berths and perhaps they would make some or all of them available at another later qualifier that has alot of teams playing for very few berths. As you pointed out, the qualifiers do seem to be out of balance in some areas. Maybe next year there will be an adjustment for that.

[AlwaysImprove]

PGF may have set precedent last year. The Florida qualifier was under attended. The Colorado and Oregon qualifiers had a lot of competitive teams. PGF tended to give berths to teams that showed strong in one or both of the more heavily attended qualifiers.