Looks to me like "Gold" is dying!

[ru4u]

I decided to post the question as a fresh topic. What value is there to having ASA Gold if all the strong Gold teams are playing Premier, and all the college coaches are going to the 16a Nationals, and the Premier Nationals?

[3Bsnag]

Depending on who you talk to, 18A is dead because it will be mediocre teams with college players, 16's are dead because the good ones will be playing Gold, and now Gold is dead because of Premier and the amount of coaches at 16's and 14's.

I agree with you in Texas. The teams known to be competitive (Glory, Magic, Impact, Storm, Eclipse, and Houston Power) are going to PGF, but you still get some good competition out of Fusion, Rapid Fire, Sudden Impact, Hawks, Bombers, Blaze, Aces Ex, and Peppers.

You would think that it should be easier to qualify in Gold next year out of Region 7, but you never know. There are other factors that will surface:
- strong 16's moving up
- PGF'ers at gold qualifiers, earn berth, don't show
- fielding 1 team for ASA and 1 for PGF

What will be funny is if the same team wins both- ASA Gold won by "OC Firecracker Hurricane Busters- A" and PGF by "OC Firecracker Hurricane Busters- B".

[SnocatzDad]

There are other factors that will surface:
- strong 16's moving up
- PGF'ers at gold qualifiers, earn berth, don't show
- fielding 1 team for ASA and 1 for PGF

What will be funny is if the same team wins both- ASA Gold won by "OC Firecracker Hurricane Busters- A" and PGF by "OC Firecracker Hurricane Busters- B".

Didn't ASA move 18U Gold back a week, so technically couldn't teams play ASA Gold and PGF??

[shotcaller]

Don't see what is happening? Coaches are now required to coach. Your so called strong teams have been affected by the rule change. Now we get to see who can win without college freshman on thier teams. College freshman need to play college ball or 23 and under.

Shotcaller.

[realcoach]

Yes, yes, Gold is dead, you all go ahead and skip all the ASA events in 2010. Let me know how it works out for you.

[ddtx]

I will make a small wager with you about Gold Nationals... I expect all six teams to play in the Gold Territories and the Gold Regionals. I expect that at least half will play Gold this year. Some may play both if they have the money. Don't assume that Gold is dead.

[soreshins]

I believe proclaiming the "death" of 18U Gold is a little premature. I laugh out loud when people say go to 16U ASA Nationals to get college exposure. Last year they had 164 teams at 16U Nationals. I am sure all of those girls got a good look by the college coaches attending. Perhaps these coaches looked at the top 20 or so teams. The rest probably didn't get a glimpse. In my view that is not quality college exposure.

At Gold Nationals you couldn't turn around without bumping into a college coach. They were there "babysitting" kids who were already signed. Because of the pool game seeding format used last year, very few unsigned players got to play. I just don't think ASA Nationals (16U or Gold) is a good forum for exposure.

[Intel]

Pardon the message from Central California, but as a Manager at the 16U Nationals with a team that finished in the middle of the pack we had in our 6 games a total of 53 coaches representing 47 Colleges of which 36 were D1, 5 were D3, and 4 were NAIA.

Not bad for a 16U ASA National for a not top 20 team. Also, I had 5 of my 11 players invited for unofficials and 9 of 11 invited for college camps from colleges attending 16U Nationals. All of my players were 2011.

So if you have a chance to go to the 16U Nationals, I highly recommend it.