As mentioned in an earlier post, the venue for this weekends tournament has changed to a facility in Edison, New Jersey. When we decided on this tournament as the replacement for Hershey, we felt that it could really serve us well because of the location and the unique format that it offered. Closer to home than Hershey, less expensive hotels, close to the Jersey Shore, more games, and a championship style format…and two separate tournaments, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
At the time, I had a really good feeling about this and believed that with a little more advanced notice and planning, that we may have found a nice alternative than traveling to Hershey. But its now late Thursday evening and we still don’t have a schedule, and the more I learn about the venue, the more nervous I become. To set everyone’s expectations, the New Jersey Sports Academy may not be one of the best facilities that we have played in this season. I am hearing conflicting stories about the quality of the courts.
With that being said, I am still optimistic that we will have a good experience. For starters, we have all played in less than spectacular facilities over the years and Im sure this one is no better or worse. All of the games will be played under one roof, giving all of our teams the opportunity to see other teams in our program compete. Edison, although not the Jersey Shore, is as close to home as we could get this weekend which I know is welcomed news to many of us. And although many of us have booked rooms in other hotels in proximity to the original venues, there seem to be many options to move. For those that cannot cancel the reservations they have, this facility is actually closer to the Marriott than some of the original venues.
The net is that we gave this tournament a chance and although we’re not off to a great start, it can still turn out fine. Lets hope that our athletes find themselves in competitive games and leave behind some fine performances.