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Post by vballdad on Jan 3, 2013 14:00:11 GMT -5
Hey Folks Just wanted any input. We were informed that the Region formulated East and West to cut down on travel---- have 1st 3 tourneys for my daughters all more than 4 hrs each way. doesn't add up
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Post by cimba33 on Jan 3, 2013 15:54:12 GMT -5
I was disappointed in our first week as well as we are 3 hours away however it isn't the 5.5 hour trip we had last year to Hendersonville. My surprise was that there are so many teams from our area (Fayetteville) and a couple south I thought for sure we would be closer. We are going to Greensboro. That being said, we have friends on a 15's team in Fayetteville that are going to Durham so that is less than 2 hours so they did get a good assignment. Shanon
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Post by coach4life on Jan 3, 2013 17:15:44 GMT -5
Interesting perspectives and thoughts...Here are some additional thoughts...
From what our club director said, I believe the east/west divisions were put into place to keep teams such as Cape Fear (Wilmington) from having to travel 5 hours to Hendersonville (Xcel) in the mountains, or to keep teams like Biltmore VBC from having to go 5 hours to UNC-Pembroke to play if they don't want to, or teams from Mt. Airy from having to play over 5 hours away in Brunswick County (just north of Myrtle Beach).
Your questions got me curious, however, so I employed mapquest for some help...
From beach to TN (I-40 or I-26/-74), it takes about 7 hours to cross NC, and from top to bottom near the middle (I-77 or -29 with I-85) it takes about 3 hours.
1-So essentially those numbers give teams that are in the middle of their division potentially the minimal amount of travel possible (maybe 4 hours max). Where Raleigh teams used to have to go as far as the mountains, now they won't have to. Statesville teams used to have to go to Raleigh, but now they won't have to.
2-Unfortunately, however, for teams that are based in the more "extreme" places in NC - Brunswick County, Fayetteville, Matthews, Hendersonville - they will still have some distance to travel even within their respective divisions. I mean, let's face it, anything down between Fayetteville and Charlotte (St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, for example) is going to be a haul for almost anyone (except FAVA and any other teams down that way) and anything in Brunswick County is going to be a pretty good haul as well.
Nonetheless, it would appear by overviewing the map that most teams (if choosing to play within their own division) should be traveling no more than around 4 hours - whereas the max used to be up to 6 hours potential travel one-way.
It seems like the luck (or un-luck;) of the draw that placed vballdad's team 4 hours away for 3 tourneys in a row. I also always try to remember that the tournament assignments can change based on our team's division movement after the first couple of tournaments' results.
I'm curious as to other people's persectives as well...
How is YOUR team's CR travel schedule looking so far?
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Post by spiker on Jan 4, 2013 8:15:48 GMT -5
It seems like there are quite a few more teams in the West Div than East, and with the Eastern part of the state more stretched out North/South there may be longer drives required in the Eastern group. However, it kind of seems unreasonable to have a 4-hour drive since that would mean being located on the extreme end of the geographic area covered by the division with the tournament located on the extreme other end. We're located in the RDU area and I have 2 girls playing this year, so far the announced locations are no more than 1.5 hours away.
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Post by coach4life on Jan 4, 2013 11:45:53 GMT -5
Well, I do know that due to the lack of available/offered tournament host sites in the East, the Greensboro Sportsplex (although located towards the west) is being used as an East division as well. As a neutral party, I would suggest that if the Eastern teams want less travel, that the clubs either step up to the plate and offer some suitable host sites or connect with their local colleges (especially community colleges that may have two gyms) about earning money/funds through hosting tournaments. That is a great way for small schools to earn some extra money. Easier said than done, I know...
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Post by coachbigdawg on Jan 16, 2013 12:02:42 GMT -5
There is another issue that I am sure many non-central teams are aware of. I coach in Greensboro so I have not had the issue of travel that other teams have had under the previous system since we were always starting in the middle. This does not mean that the travel was easy since we have played in Mars Hill, Charlotte, Henderson, and Mayodan over the years. We were made to pick a side of the state to call our home base. We were told that the dividing line in the state was Raleigh so we picked the West. So far the East tournaments have been in Greensboro but the West tournaments are in Hendersonville. That is 3-4 hours of travel one way each time when we could play about 10 minutes from home. If we decide to play in the East now that we have picked the West, we will not be seeded high nor will we earn any seeding points since we were told there is no way to compare the two sets of teams. Does anyone else think that it is time to get rid of the point system to make it easier to compare teams and to make it easier for people who do not have advanced degrees in mathematics to figure out?
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Post by spiker on Jan 16, 2013 16:28:02 GMT -5
A lot of the East tournaments have been held in the RDU area, which would be a pretty easy drive from the Greensboro area. We make the opposite drive to play in the Open div tournaments and it's 1 to 1.5 hrs depending on exactly the location.
But yes, with the inequality in the # of teams that chose West over East, it seems the dividing line should have been Greensboro itself. For some age groups, there are significantally more teams in the West than in the East this season.
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Post by volleylion on Jan 22, 2013 16:44:08 GMT -5
One of my club coach friends actually said that she requested to play in a different the West Region instead of the East Region due to the closer venue for that weekend. Plus, she said that she checked the numbers for the tourney entries and her moving could help balance out better pool numbers. The Region granted her request. Just FYI for others in the same boat.
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