PGF West.

[off the walls]

Does anyone have any thoughts or info about the new PGF West Program?

[Foul Ball Magnet]

From the look of things, the PGF brain trust is making a huge push into establishing their brand into the lower "A" and "B" level of travel ball in Norcal and trying to put the screws to ASA, NSA and all the rest of the other programs.

This is probably a really good move for them since the PGF name is associated with the "best of the best" softball. Dennis Fong is the PGF West director and you can say what you want against him but the dude is very passionate about putting on tournaments and overall he does a decent job. I am sure he will continue to put on his "B level" tournaments under the PGF flag and maybe once in a while do a few Premier tournaments or showcases. That will be nice for the top NorCal programs and teams not having to travel to SoCal all the time. Big question is if any SoCal teams will come up this way just for a change of pace?

Looks as if AASA is involved in PGF West as well because I saw Debbie Nelson's name as a director. She already has that Futures program going so maybe it all connects together somehow as trying to fill a "development" niche here in NorCal. We really don't have the hardcore ASA "C" or "B" level rec ball programs like SoCal has, pretty much all our rec ball up here is either Pony, Little League or city Park & Rec programs.

I think what it boils down to is that PGF sees a growth opportunity to expand the brand and run more Premier level showcases and tournaments in NorCal along with making some money off of 8U - 12U parents that will pay big bucks for little Susie to be on a PGF development team or travel team that will make her a PGF Premier caliber player at some point and get a full ride to college. No matter what, it is all about the $$$$$$.

[noncrazynorcal]

Can PGF hope to maintain 'Best of the best' status if they're going to be sanctioning B tournaments now? A lot of SoCal teams came up here last year for the PGF qualifier, but that would be the only reason any would ever make that trip. And if PGF is committed so much to their expansion such that they would do B tournaments, does that mean they'll have more qualifiers in Socal for those teams, giving them less reason to travel north to qualify? I see more questions than answers.