Premier Berths Available

[ontheblack]

Pretty sure most understood the part about the berths being auctioned off was an April Fools joke given the date and post count of the author as well. It was the fact that only 1 team is signed up that I thought was funny in light of the debate over the "National Championship".

Im sure teams will have memorable experiences regardless of where they play and who they play against in July and August.

[fastpitchdad05]

The post about the Florida berths is a hoax, I assume brought on by the date. If there is an
area of the country that does not participate we will adjust the berths.

As to being unresponsive, I answer every inquiry I receive for Premier and Surf City. I do not read this forum too much as it is impossible to deal with all of the comments from all of the people, positive or negative. If you have a question send a message through the Premier website or to batbuste@pacbell.net and I will answer it as soon as I can.

As to the value at 14U, I guess we will see. There were MANY teams from most of the country that wanted a tournament in 14U, the games will be played on nice fields in a nice area and will have everything the other age groups have. The first year ASA did Gold it was 29 teams and they had to beg to get that many. As 16U and 18HS were last year, this is new and maybe some people will give us a chance before condemning our efforts.

Gary Haning

Don't play the wounded animal, please give us a chance card. It's simple (as Dan Hay likes to say)...just answer people when they contact you and they will feel like maybe you actually care.

Why can't the two of you just admit you are making mistakes, apologize and allow ALL of us to move forward?

"It's as simple as that".

Well, that and actually treating your clientele with respect.

BTW...I know for a fact that this was stated in error, "I answer every inquiry I receive for Premier and Surf City".

The two of you have done little to nothing to change my current perception of you...the perception that you don't really care about anything but yourselves.

[Gary Haning]

I am not wounded and not an animal. When we did a poor job in the February tournament we DID admit it on this board. A big part of the reason we cancelled the March Classic Tournament was that we could not do much with the fields because of all of the rain.

We are not losing business, in fact every tournament has more entrants than availabillity, if a team sends a check months in advance and we do not deposit it that causes them to worry. If they send a check and ask if there is room for them we will answer as best we know. There could be 25 checks in the PO Box that day. If a team asks if they will get in before sending a check it is nearly impossible to know, we do not know when they will send it, we do not know how many other checks are coming. Any team that does not get into a tournament gets all of their money back.

Of course we have made mistakes, and quite possibly will make others. For every complaint or unhappy person who writes there are 10 people who are quite satisfied. We cannot combat the anonymous people with an agenda from slamming us at every opportunity on these public forums. I am sorry that you team does not care to participate in our tournaments but many other teams will participate. If I did not respond to something your team sent me then I apologize for that but I know that I do respond to email.

You want for ALL of us to move on then how about you drop your crusade and see what happens with Premier and/or Surf City.

[fastpitchdad05]

Alright. I have made my point(s) and I and others have been heard and at last you and Dan have responded.

I don't agree with some of your assertions, but I do respect you coming on and responding.

I will suspend my "crusade" and use a wait and see approach.

[Gary Haning]

Fair enough, that is all we can ask.

Last year when we started Premier I posted a lot of information on this board to get the word out so to speak. We were attacked from many quarters and I finally reached a point where I could not keep up all of the posters. We worked very hard to make it a quality event and ESPN Rise's help most feel it was such. We realize that without their help we have more to do and we have added many people to help run sites, tally results and generally take care of all that needs be done. We have been remiss in recognizing that we need to inform people about the 14U Division but there was never any doubt that there would be 14U and that we hope to make it very competitive.

Surf City is a different thing altogether, Dan and myself have run the Showcases and Tournaments almost without help and we have let things go that should be and are being addressed.

People do not see the other side of Surf City, teams beg to be included, you tell them there are no openings but they send checks. You tell them the "GOOD" sites are filled but they want to play anyway. If I tell you all I can do is put your team on a field 20 miles from the HB Sports Complex where there are no lights and no snack bar and still you come, I am not misleading you.
If your team has one or two recruitable players and there is a coach willing to come to where you are to see those players and those players receive an offer they would otherwise not get, am I doing you or those kids a disservice?

We decided after the Valentine's Tournament that we would not use any fields we could not adequately maintain and provide restroom services, snack bars are tough but most teams can work around that if they know there is no snack bar.

[fastpitchdad05]

Fair enough, that is all we can ask.

Last year when we started Premier I posted a lot of information on this board to get the word out so to speak. We were attacked from many quarters and I finally reached a point where I could not keep up all of the posters. We worked very hard to make it a quality event and ESPN Rise's help most feel it was such. We realize that without their help we have more to do and we have added many people to help run sites, tally results and generally take care of all that needs be done. We have been remiss in recognizing that we need to inform people about the 14U Division but there was never any doubt that there would be 14U and that we hope to make it very competitive.

Surf City is a different thing altogether, Dan and myself have run the Showcases and Tournaments almost without help and we have let things go that should be and are being addressed.

People do not see the other side of Surf City, teams beg to be included, you tell them there are no openings but they send checks. You tell them the "GOOD" sites are filled but they want to play anyway. If I tell you all I can do is put your team on a field 20 miles from the HB Sports Complex where there are no lights and no snack bar and still you come, I am not misleading you.
If your team has one or two recruitable players and there is a coach willing to come to where you are to see those players and those players receive an offer they would otherwise not get, am I doing you or those kids a disservice?

We decided after the Valentine's Tournament that we would not use any fields we could not adequately maintain and provide restroom services, snack bars are tough but most teams can work around that if they know there is no snack bar.

Gary, again thank you for the reponse and your candor.

Like I said, I was huge Premier honk, and perhaps that was part of my elevated disappointment with the Surf City issues I raised.

Everyone deserves a chance to right mistakes and show that they care. Thank you for taking steps in that direction. I'm guessing that maybe some of this could have been avoided if the two of you didn't have as much on your plate.

At any rate, I consider this a closed subject.

Regards,
Fastpitchdad05

[lovsofbal]

April Fools!

We have 14 berths available for Premier (4-14u, 6-16u and 4-18HS) and only 1 team has begun the registration process so far. It appears none of the top teams in GA or FL are interested in going to Cali to play Premier. Consequently, we are reaching out to SoCal since they seem to be one of the few areas that have more teams interested in playing than berths.

Here's the deal: Begin the registration process for our qualifier and PM me with your top bid for a berth. On June 1, if we don't have enough registered teams to hold our qualifier, we'll first award berths to the teams that actually registered and then award any extra berths to the highest bidder(s).

Really? I'm not surprised.

[NumeroUno]

April Fools!

We have 14 berths available for Premier (4-14u, 6-16u and 4-18HS) and only 1 team has begun the registration process so far. It appears none of the top teams in GA or FL are interested in going to Cali to play Premier. Consequently, we are reaching out to SoCal since they seem to be one of the few areas that have more teams interested in playing than berths.

Here's the deal: Begin the registration process for our qualifier and PM me with your top bid for a berth. On June 1, if we don't have enough registered teams to hold our qualifier, we'll first award berths to the teams that actually registered and then award any extra berths to the highest bidder(s).

Really? I'm not surprised.

I was a April fools joke, not true

[sftblldud]

My Rec ball program will take three births, right now. Just tell me where I pick them up at?

[PDad]

My Rec ball program will take three births, right now. Just tell me where I pick them up at?

The maternity ward!