Didn’t Make the Team? Rise Like a Phoenix

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Ken Krause

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One of the most legendary and beloved creatures in Greek (and other) mythology is the phoenix. If you’re not familiar with it, at the seeming end of its life the phoenix bursts into flames, leaving behind nothing but ashes. Because it is immortal, however, the phoenix rises back up from those ashes to become even […]

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Dec 2, 2013
3,409
113
Texas
Here's DD's Story. 8th grade 14U. We decided it was time for DD to leave the comfy nest of her team that I coached to the dismay of all of the other parents and players. I created this cocoon of safety that was chock full of success albeit at a lower level. What do you do? You comb through Eteamz to check out the dates and times of all the tryouts. You do your best to ID the teams that DD could play for and make sure it's a makeable distance. I got my pen and paper and started jotting down the schedules.

Here's one that's only a few miles from the house. Seems that I have heard several local kids have played there too. Okay here's a few more..and another...and another. Hey kid we got a tryout on Sat. You ready? Wow there is a lot players here! We get there, check in and she does her thing. She was loud, diving for all the balls, smashing hits, she really stood out. So I thought. Hot AF on that turf in Aug. Coach says there is another session tomorrow if interested. Okay sounds great. We got nothing going on. She attends and kicks rear again, but I noticed they didn't do any catching drills. That's odd. Whatever. Coach does a talk with all the players and has some former players come up to speak. As we get up to leave, an asst coach runs over to stop us and gives DD an incredible compliment about her play. He was impressed. Wow that was nice. We should expect a call...right? That night Nothing. Silence. DD is crying and devastated. They didn't want her. I was very sad for her. But looking back this was exactly what she needed. She has always been the top player. I learned some things later that make sense today.

Okay kid, let's get after it. Lots more tryouts over the next 2 weeks.
Houston Power
Texas Storm
Aces Express
Cy Fair Stars

Wed night-Houston Power--Cattle Call-They already hand picked the entire team that night. Lots of kids with Power gear left crying. Btw, many of those "hand picked" players did not choose that team. They did not field a 14U team that year!!! I would have taken the bottom 3rd of those players and made a competitive team.

Sat morning Texas Storm-attended a small tryout. She got some looks. Program head coach even stood up and took notice. He said who is that kid? 2 years later she is playing for this man! Got invited to another workout with the 14u team, but their field was over an hour away. We told them thank you but it's not a good fit. Coach says, he will be there if we want to come back. Very nice.

Cy Fair Stars--mid week workout. DD wasn't feeling very good and didn't really stand out. Bleh. Coach didn't even talk to DD. I will always remember that.

Ace Express--Another 2 day workout. Same weekend as the Storm. Quad plex is full of players from all ages running from field to field. Pretty overwhelming to say the least. They had all the players working out together and lots of coaches working the players. Very impressive and snappy. Interesting thing happened. During that AE catcher/Pitcher workout she started popping her mitt before every pitch. I thought to myself. That's pretty cool. I like it. Made her stick out for sure. Gave her some confidence too. Sunday workout I could not attend. Former team swim party. Wife calls and informs me they want her! The relief. The weight lifted. She made it!!!!

DD worked her a$$ off those 2 weeks. She was beat down at the beginning of this. She did a cumulative of 22 hours of workouts in that time period. Guess what? She was motivated and got better every work out. She had to work for something if she wanted it. It was earned and only she could do it. This experience was a very valuable lesson. Life is not easy. Some things are out of your control. No matter how hard you try, sometimes it doesn't go your way. Work and perseverance will pay off. Keep improving. Be coachable. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Blah blah blah. I learned a lot also. It's best to be in contact with the coaches ahead of time. We just weren't playing against these teams in the C level and All stars, so it was new territory.

She played for the Ace Express that one year. We would have stayed but the team fell apart at the following year tryouts. DD went to a 16U Texas Storm tryout. Made that team and played for the program for 4 years. And here we are today, she will be graduating from College in May.
 
Sep 29, 2020
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Ha I love this topic, Great story Orange.

11u - during All-stars with LL we really saw her take it to a new level so we took her to a local travel teams tryouts as a SS. I wasn't there the first day and she didn't do that well. Coach called and we talked told him it might be nerves so he let her come back the next day. 2nd went a little better he took her as the last player on the team which was fine with me you gotta work for your spot. She played in a few tournaments in the outfield and hit some here and there. Hit really good. Finally I think 4 tournaments in she got her shot at SS due to a player getting sick and she showed out. The rest of the season that was her spot.

Middle school she made the team as the only 6th grader on mostly 8th grade team. Played here and there which was fine. Her 7th grade year daddy coach took over and moved his to SS and mine to 3rd that's fine whatever. His made probably 4 errors a game and finally daughter got her shot for 2 games at short due to his getting sick. 0 errors in 2 games but we'll you guessed it she was back to 3 when she came back. Her 8th grade year daddy coach gone assistant coach is now head and he personally apologized to my daughter that year for the way she was treated ( got pretty bad the head and his daughter told her she was not good enough to play short). She played SS her 8th grade year. Those last 2 seasons really bothered her but I never said a work I wanted to see how she could handle people telling her she wasn't good enough. (happened to me growing up playing sports). The same year her travel team played another girl over her because she was bigger and stronger but my daughter had the 3rd best average on the team and the other girl almost dead last. She would ask me why she didn't play much told her she needs to work harder.

9th grade year - shows up makes varsity they move her to catcher never played before and earns the job. Parents were telling me this is her best position. I had no clue I never had parent blinders on.
That year she started a new travel team played SS and CF for them. After HS season I took her to a catching coach who has a great rep here and asked her if she could look at her and tell me if this is the position she needs to be at. 10mins later she walks over to my wife and I with her head nodding yes. So she started lessons. Toward the.end of summer she asked her travel coach if she could catch a game or two he said that's fine. She did okay for only catching 6 months and after the last game her assistant coach walks up to her and says I don't see you as a catcher you are not good. (his daughter caught). That made her so mad and drove her even more (thank you for telling her that). We left and went to another team after summer. Funny thing my DDs HS team beat his daughters team for the district title our first in 11years with mine being the only senior. She went 3-4 hit 3 of the 4 runs in and had 0 steal attempts.

11th grade year in the fall out travel team fell apart at the last minute. Tryouts for A level teams were already over except one. She had taken 3 weeks off to heal up but we had to go. She had 1 day to get ready. We show up her catching was great throws on point and fast. Her hitting was so so you could tell it was a timing thing. Soft toss was good live was okay 2-4 2 walks and a HR off his ace. After tryouts he told her that he didn't think she would do well on a national level was worried about her hitting. ( He told another parent he thought she wasn't a good catcher. Funny thing the one he took had one hit in 48 at bats, friend was on the team). Again that you coach

She ended up on another team 4hrs away due to the coach, her last and best travel coach, cutting two catchers because his pitchers didn't like the way they caught. She made the team and was his number 1 the rest of her career. Worked her way up to the number 4 hitter and lead the team in average homer runs and on base percentage. Her catching was on top notch.

Funny thing we faced that coach that said she couldn't hit or catch and went 2-2 and threw out the only girl that tried to steal. Last fall the coach saw her at a tournament and apologized to her for not taking her but I am so glad he didn't.

With all of that said daughter is heading to mid major D1 school as a catcher. She is starting from the very bottom again but I told her to remember all of those people who told you you couldn't do it and there were more examples. Let that drive you in the weight room, the field, and the classroom.

Her quote for her senior graduation was " thank you to all the people who told me I couldn't do it. You added fuel to my fire".


Love it. Thanks for this topic and I hope other girls use the fuel for their fires. Sorry for the typos or gammer tried to check haha
 
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