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The Story of How Powersquad International Got Started
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Powersquad International was formed by  Pierre Dungee in 2003. In his travels, he has played with a lot of players in a lot of places, (Nevada, California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio and Ontario, Canada). One day, when Pierre was playing in a league game in Columbus, Ohio, one of the people he was playing with suggested that he should put together a team to travel to the Can Am Tournament in Canada (that player was David Bryce). Pierre agreed, and looked into how he could take one team to the tournament. As he was gathering players, he asked the people he knew to play with him on the team. Well, to his surprise, the numbers of people accepting grew and grew. Most of the players on the team know Pierre, and have played with him or against him at one time or another. As more and more people came and wanted to play, the prospective player roster grew.
The question he faced was this - how can all of these requests be honored?
Pierre has a good reputation with all of the teams and people he has played with. Many people enjoy playing with Pierre, as he is a 'gentle giant', and very soft spoken. To accommodate all of the requests he received, Pierre decided to form multiple teams, each with a roster of 11 or 12 players. This way, everyone is guaranteed to play, and there are enough people to shuttle in and out of the game so that people can get a break.
The request continued to pour in. Pierre organized the requests into teams with varying skill levels. When it was all finished, we took 45 players and 4 scorekeepers - 49 people total - to the Can-Am Tournament.
The players were separated into 4 teams - a mens team (11 members), two competitive co-ed teams (12 players each) and a recreational co-ed team (10 members). Each team was guaranteed 5 games. The players played 5 or more games, so was a LOT of softball for all!! The tournament organizers were amazed that we got 4 teams together to play in the tournament. We all played and we had a BLAST.
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Powersquad is a phenomenon
Today, Powersquad International is truly an international phenomenon. With the addition of this website, more and more people are starting to enjoy this team for what it is - a way to play some good softball with a group of fun people in exotic places while having fun doing so!
In 2006, Powersquad successfully took teams overseas to the UK, playing in tournaments in Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, Scotland. We have also embraced a lot of players from the UK and have encouraged them to be a part of the Powersquad family. We make a yearly pilgrimage to the UK to play in as many tournaments with our European counterparts.
We are still a tournament team, but we have players from the following countries:
The United States
Canada
Scotland
England
New Zealand
Brazil
Vietnam
Malaysia
We have expanded our tournaments to include parts of Eastern Europe as well. We will be going to tournaments in Austria, Prague, Czech Republic and the Netherlands in the next few years. We carry a roster of approximately 60 players so we can form into as many squads as needed for a tournament. Our largest group we have ever taken to a tournament was 93 players (we came in on a rented motorcoach), and we formed 8 squads. For most tournaments, we will only take between 2 and 5 squads.
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We have a distinct style
Powersquad has also evolved as a team. We have a very distinct style and are a force to be recognized when we are playing in tournaments. All of our players have high-quality uniforms that they are proud to wear. Gone are the days of a t-shirt as attire for tournaments!!
Over the years, Powersquad has amassed quite a few awards in the tournament we have attended. Granted, 2007 was our best year yet, as we won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place berths and collected lots of trophies, including two (2) MVP awards.
As we have evolved, Powersquad is more family centric. Our players have brought their children to the tournaments we attend. With the direction of being family centric, we have assumed the responsibility of providing adequate examples of behavior and sportsmanship for the edification of our children. It also makes the tournaments a lot more fun to attend!!
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There is no over-reliance on statistics and we have FUN when we go to tournaments!!
We also don't put a lot of weight into statistics. We are more concerned about the attitude of our players than what their statistics are. When you look around on the website, you will notice that there are no player statistics. That is NOT an accident. This is done so that all the players are working together as a team, and not as individuals who are trying to pad their statistics.
Although we have a different philosophy than most over travelling tournament teams, we still have our funny side. When we are on tour in different countries, we take the time to visit with the locals and soak up the culture. We usually have a LOT of fun while we are on tour. We have a whole photo album of players falling asleep during our travel periods. It is hilarious!!!
As with any team, we have our comedians who do things because it's funny. We end up laughing more than anything when we play. I really believe that this team is more like a gigantic family than anything else. I am constantly amazed at how much everyone misses each other over the winter break. During the off season, many players travel to visit their teammates, even if it means having to travel to another country. Great friendships and bonds have been forged because of people's participation on this team.
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The Future of Powersquad
Powersquad International has a very bright future ahead of it. As of this writing, we have survived for 6 years and we see us being around for a long time to come. Powersquad's success comes from it's players who give a lot of time, money and effort to make this an enjoyable experience for all.
It's not often that you encounter an organization like this one that embodies so many values and is so diverse. It just goes to show you that we are definitely ONE people. Powersquad is not for everyone, unfortunately, but we are trying to dispel the negative perceptions of what softball is all about. We require the utmost commitment from our players. Loyalty, camaraderie, pride and selflessness are the virtues of the players on this team. We seem to have a winning formula because we have one of the lowest recidivism rates of any ball team (including major league baseball teams). People who join the team really like it and don't want to leave. Our best recruiting efforts have been word-of-mouth campaigns from people who play on the team!!
We will continue with our British Isles Tours for the players in North America, giving them the opportunity to play in the UK and other parts of Europe. We will continue to encourage our UK players to travel to the States to play with their American and Canadian counterparts.
In closing, a good many of our players have young children. They enjoy softball and Powersquad so much that they have one request/wish/goal. They have told me that we need to make sure Powersquad is around long enough so that the players can play a tournament on the same team with their sons and daughters. I think that is the ultimate compliment for an organization that has had such humble beginnings.
--- This Narration was written by Pierre 'The Crusher' Dungee, Chief Executive Officer, Powersquad International Softball Club.
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