How'd your tryouts go?

[MsDinosaur]

I'm seeing something this year that I had not in past years. I am coaching a 2nd year 14U team and have no DD on the team. I scheduled our tryouts a month after we finished the season so the players had a good period of rest. I also encourage all my players to go to other tryouts and if they find a better situation, that's great. What I see this year is I had a bunch of folks contact me about tryouts and really pushing hard for their kid, then turn around and say they had to take another offer from a team because the other team needed an answer right away (it's still mid-August!!). This has happened in the past, but this year it feels like more parents and kids are treating this like verballing to colleges and they have to accept to hold their spot! I've never experienced the level of angst among parents like I have this year, and it's ONLY AUGUST 15th!!!

See, I'm a worrier. A big gap between the end of the season and tryouts is not at all restful. It's agonizing. I can't rest until DD has found a spot for the coming year and we can't go away on vacation if she's going to have to keep going to tryouts.

If you were my DD's coach, I'd plead with you to please hold a tryout right after the end of the season and give my child an offer, so that we can relax and enjoy the last weeks of the summer. ...or tell her she isn't getting an offer, so we'll know for certain that we do need to cancel vacation plans and run the tryout gauntlet instead.

 

[PA SB Dad]

If you were my DD's coach, I'd plead with you to please hold a tryout right after the end of the season and give my child an offer, so that we can relax and enjoy the last weeks of the summer. ...or tell her she isn't getting an offer, so we'll know for certain that we do need to cancel vacation plans and run the tryout gauntlet instead.

Sorry, I should have clarified. Every kid on the team was guaranteed a spot for the following year. I told them all take a nice break, try out for other teams if you like, and get back to me towards the beginning of tryouts. Of 12 players from last year, 2 aged out, one is moving on to only volleyball, and one found a better team to play for. The others are coming back, and some of them had multiple offers from other teams. They did not feel any pressure to make a quick decision.

 

[ScottyDont]

My 12U team was lucky enough to have a good turnout at tryouts and we got 12 commits very quickly. DD2 is happy and has a few friends on the team, so all is well.

My 18U DD1 is still trying out for teams. Three offers on the table from Gold teams but she is trying out for the team she really wants tonight. Hoping for the best.

 

[29dad]

Our star pitcher is not returning next year and our other two pitchers have to move up to 18U. So tryouts were very interesting. The final roster was just posted today. We added three new pitchers and everyone seems very pleased. We're going to play more in September and October than we normally would in an effort to get the girls to gel a bit. Overall 5 new girls on a 12 girl roster. It's PGF or bust next summer.

 

[RetiredCoach]

I've already weighed in on this but I have some more to add. My youngest DD was one of the best pitchers in the state at the 10U A level until about the time she was hit in the face by a ball without a face mask. Needless to say, it was a very traumatic experience for her and by the time that the state and national tournament rolled around she flaked out and couldn't pitch. The next year the HC was going to try to help her work through this but ended up not taking her up to 12 U.

No doubt this was disappointing and my DD gave up pitching for a while and we thought that she may never go back to it. However, during a tournament her team was in desperate need of a pitcher and, knowing her history, all but begged her to take the mound. She did and kicked butt, winning the Player of the Game award. She had a reasonably successful year as a pitcher after that while still fighting back from some of her ball fears.

Fast forward to the next tryout for 12U A. She kicked total butt and no one was close to her in score. Again this coach didn't take her. The same thing happened this year. I think that I can take the hint. I've told my daughter that this organization doesn't deserve you. It's time to find another team.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

In terms of talent and what we got, tryouts were pretty fantastic. We were in a very nice position and were basically able to hand-pick who we wanted, which made things easy from a recruiting standpoint.

However, because we held such a strong position in the market, I had what was personally my most difficult tryout period in my 14+ year TB coaching career. I had to cut girls whom I adore, had to cut families I've been tied to for years and even had to cut girls who were on my team this year and who had great seasons.

As a head coach of a competitive TB team, I know that sometimes you have to do what you have to do, like it or not. And I do it.

It doesn't mean you have to let yourself sleep at night, though.

 

[BobInMadison]

DD #3 is on a local team that was formed from a LL all-star team last year. Every girl on the all-star team was invited to the new TB team, and every girl accepted. This is one of those teams that is invitation only, and every girl was invited to play again for the next year. DD accepted, and we hope all the other girls do as well.

Some folks have tried to get me to put DD on a stronger team. Lots of reasons why I won't, part of it having to do with an unstable life situation. For the time being, I would rather have DD play with her friends throughout 12u, and see if the team goes the direction we hope it will. All of these girls could wind up on the same HS team, although some may not.

 

[learning]

Our daughter did really great at her tryouts and was offered a spot on each team she tried out for (4). I am very proud of her! We are very happy with the choice and think it will be great for her development. However, we recently became aware that the roster will be 2 people more than what we were originally told (13 vs. 11) - would have been happier with smaller roster but at 16U larger numbers may be more common. It's just a surprise especially because of what we were originally told and we just learned this and so we are dealing wtih this and trying to sort out how we feel about it. And I agree with other posts that it is hard to tell coaches who offered 'no' and also hard to leave the old team!

 

[Momo'sDad]

Because our scheduled family vacation conflicted with all the dates, I did not take DD to any tryouts other than her own team's before we left. We had already decided as a family to stay put anyway, but wanted to take a look around at some of the start-up teams.

 

[CLM265]

She only wanted to do one tryout and be on last years team again. She had a great time last year and they did very well so they should be able to build off that experience.