16U-A Bulldogs - Atlanta, Georgia: Welcome
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THE 2008 ATLANTA BULLDOGS:
After six fantastic years of competitive travel ball, the Bulldogs are moving on. Thanks to all the Bulldog players since 2002 who have made this team so special. We started as the North Gwinnett Bulldogs in 2002 - a group of girls from a what would have been considered a rec Fall Ball All-Star team! As could be expected froma startup, that team had some rough times but by mid-spring, was competing against the big teams! Our name quickly got out there and through some good recruiting, the team enjoyed success in 12U and 14U going to the14U-B ASA Nationals and finishing in the top 8 at the USFA 14U-A Nationals. We renamed the team to the Gwinnett Bulldogs to take into account that we expanded our roster beyond the North Gwinnett cluster and were on our way towards becoming a regional team. Last year, we expanded further adding players from Fayette, Forsyth, Cobb and Fulton counties with the goal of building a national contender. The team was appropriately renamed the Atlanta Bulldogs.
We "went for it" in the 2007/2008 season attending only college qualifiers, 18U-A tournaments and 16U-A ASA National Qualifiers. And we finished respectably in several tournaments finishing in the top 7 in the 18-Gold bracket at the King of the Mountain tournament with four shutouts; finishing in the top 12 of 31 teams at the first ASA 16U-A Qualifier in Columbus and taking 4th place (of 25 teams) at the ASA 16U-A Qualifier in Marietta being finally put out in a 2-1 9 inning thriller against the 91 Impact Black team who incidentally later qualified for the nationals.
At the conclusion of the season, it was decided that it was time to close the final chapter on the Atlanta Bulldogs rather than continuing on at the 18U level. It became apprarent that through attrition (players retiring or moving on to other teams) it was going to be a difficult task to build an 18U team of the same calibre. So, the only two choices were to either continue with a less competitive team, or allow the remaining players who wanted to go on to college ball to join other teams to pursue their dreams. The latter was the only logical choice. Travel ball is very competitive in metro Atlanta and it's rare to see a competitive team last so long as the Bulldogs did. For that I am very thankful. But as a famous local country singer once said, "you have to know when to hold em and know when to fold em" and it's great leaving at a high point in the team with so many new friends. Thanks again to all the Bulldog; past and present. It's been a real pleasure!
This web site will be off the air officially on December 4th.
Our remaining funds will be donated to the Children's Make a Wish Foundation as it's only appropriate to use the funds that made many of our wishes come true to help less fortunate children who don't have what many of us take for granted and that is time. I'll post more information on our donation in early November.
ATLANTA BULLDOGS FANS:
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