Post by michael j on Nov 18, 2013 7:39:18 GMT -6
I know there has been a lot of discussion which is the better association, but I think what the real question should be what are the better tournaments and what makes them the better tournaments?
When I am looking for tournaments one of the first things I look for is are all games played at one location. I don't know about you but I hate packing everything up and getting to another park in 20 minutes to have to play. It always seems one family gets lost. The other thing I look at are there fences. If you have a power hitting team it never fails they will play you deep and take the deep ball threat away from you which changes the game. Another thing that always helps is how many umpires per game. At the upper levels the game is too fast and competitive to only have 1 umpire. Another factor which is a big one is the strength of the competition. I like to play teams as equal or better. Always challenging the girls I feel is the best way and they usually play their best. Also is it teams from other areas and states. The additional focus is on field maintenance. It is great if they maintain the fields atleast every other game.
I have to say playing in the PGF National qualifiers the above criteria was met and I believe that stood out to a lot of us. I also went to the Regional Nationals and watched how well Dave Betcher ran it even with the rain delays. He could have easily shortened the games but he didn't. Very impressed with the whole tournament.
Now ASA/USA qualifiers that have been run by John Radke have been excellent. He has the fences up and the schedules out very early. Nothing is hidden and all information is available. John had one hiccup in the fall but I witnessed the discussion with the park district and they had dropped the ball on him and he did everything he could to make it work and it did. The tournament ran very well.
I know the discussions have been PGF or ASA. I personally look at the quality of the tournaments and the competition. I feel all of the PGF National Qualifiers we went to were very well run. I thought ASA/USA qualifiers as a whole did not meet the criteria other than Metro's in Elgin last year ran by John. I think ASA has seen that and now John has been given more Qualifiers.
I hope this helps some of you and again this is only my opinion. I wrote this to hopefully help some people and not to have people or organizations bashed on here. I feel if we are in it for the right reasons of helping the athletes and not ourselves than hope fully we can help make a difference in a kids life.
When I am looking for tournaments one of the first things I look for is are all games played at one location. I don't know about you but I hate packing everything up and getting to another park in 20 minutes to have to play. It always seems one family gets lost. The other thing I look at are there fences. If you have a power hitting team it never fails they will play you deep and take the deep ball threat away from you which changes the game. Another thing that always helps is how many umpires per game. At the upper levels the game is too fast and competitive to only have 1 umpire. Another factor which is a big one is the strength of the competition. I like to play teams as equal or better. Always challenging the girls I feel is the best way and they usually play their best. Also is it teams from other areas and states. The additional focus is on field maintenance. It is great if they maintain the fields atleast every other game.
I have to say playing in the PGF National qualifiers the above criteria was met and I believe that stood out to a lot of us. I also went to the Regional Nationals and watched how well Dave Betcher ran it even with the rain delays. He could have easily shortened the games but he didn't. Very impressed with the whole tournament.
Now ASA/USA qualifiers that have been run by John Radke have been excellent. He has the fences up and the schedules out very early. Nothing is hidden and all information is available. John had one hiccup in the fall but I witnessed the discussion with the park district and they had dropped the ball on him and he did everything he could to make it work and it did. The tournament ran very well.
I know the discussions have been PGF or ASA. I personally look at the quality of the tournaments and the competition. I feel all of the PGF National Qualifiers we went to were very well run. I thought ASA/USA qualifiers as a whole did not meet the criteria other than Metro's in Elgin last year ran by John. I think ASA has seen that and now John has been given more Qualifiers.
I hope this helps some of you and again this is only my opinion. I wrote this to hopefully help some people and not to have people or organizations bashed on here. I feel if we are in it for the right reasons of helping the athletes and not ourselves than hope fully we can help make a difference in a kids life.