The worst tryout I've ever seen

[Lreeve]

We had 2 teams at the top of our tryout list this year. Went to the first and loved everything about it. Good 12B looking to transition to A level. She got an offer the next day and accepted. We kind of wondered if we had made a decision too fast and knew some girls trying out for the #2 on our list. From what I heard #2 had a well done tryout. Fast forward to this week finding out that that #2 team didn't have enough for a 12u and 14u at the tryouts so instead of waiting to get more players, they put everyone on 14u even a 10 year old that has only played 1 year of rec. All these young kids parents are bragging about playing 14u on Facebook, but I feel we really dodged a bad situation. My daughter would have been miserable on a team with no real skill level or direction. Especially the price tag on that team was $$$$. So sometimes you could have a technically great tryout and the team not be what you want in the end. Do your research and find out who also made the team if you can.

 

[Lreeve]

I coached a pretty competitive Allstar team that we had a core group together for 5 years. After 7th grade summer I told the parents DD needed to fly the coop. She had several offers and ended up on a team that was new to organization (didn't know that) moving up from 12U. After the first few practices and tourneys I realized that my Allstar team would have whooped up on her team. It was tough year but learned a lot.

My daughter's 12u Allstars entered a 14u tournament as practice and actually beat her travel team's 14u team. That was a good indication to me that is was time to move forward.

 

[CoachJD]

Felt like I should update: The team I was talking about in the OP posted that they're looking for "a few players" and cited a pitcher and "any position."

My belief is that they lost players they thought they had locked up for next year. They half-assed a tryout with several players who at least looked decent (I was actually paying attention to them, unlike the half dozen coaches they had standing around). I'm guessing most if not all of those players found other teams.

If these coaches had run a quality tryout and actually had evaluated the players who showed up that day, when their returning players left them, they'd have a list of players they could've made an offer to. Now they're in a bind where the best players at that tryout are certainly all with other teams.

Maybe I'm assigning hubris to these coaches when it was merely incompetence. Either way, I'm curious to see how long it takes them to fill out their team.

FWIW, there was a pitcher who appeared to be at least decent at their tryout. I also saw her at a subsequent tryout a week later. I don't know the girl so I have no idea if she's found her team yet, but if they needed a pitcher it's criminal that they didn't offer her a spot that night.

 

[earlg3]

Felt like I should update: The team I was talking about in the OP posted that they're looking for "a few players" and cited a pitcher and "any position."

My belief is that they lost players they thought they had locked up for next year. They half-assed a tryout with several players who at least looked decent (I was actually paying attention to them, unlike the half dozen coaches they had standing around). I'm guessing most if not all of those players found other teams.

If these coaches had run a quality tryout and actually had evaluated the players who showed up that day, when their returning players left them, they'd have a list of players they could've made an offer to. Now they're in a bind where the best players at that tryout are certainly all with other teams.

Maybe I'm assigning hubris to these coaches when it was merely incompetence. Either way, I'm curious to see how long it takes them to fill out their team.

FWIW, there was a pitcher who appeared to be at least decent at their tryout. I also saw her at a subsequent tryout a week later. I don't know the girl so I have no idea if she's found her team yet, but if they needed a pitcher it's criminal that they didn't offer her a spot that night.

It's wild how many coaches don't write anything down during tryouts. Even if not offering the kid, having that data for future needs and to reach out during openings or needing a guest player would be so valuable.

 

[Orange Socks]

DD went to a 14U tryout for a well known program back in 2014. They had enough kids to fill out 3 teams in attendance. I was telling a parent that I would take the bottom 1/3 of these and make a pretty good team. They said they were going to make 2 teams. I didn't see the coaches writing anything down either. At the end of the tryout they ask a certain number of players to go to CF and thanked everyone else for coming out. There were kids that were wearing the program's gear crying as they were leaving since they were not picked. Wow that was a surprise. Come to find out they had pre picked girls from a super competitive team that broke up after the Sparkler. One of the girls was named 1st team Big12(Baylor) this past year.

Guess what! Those players didn't accept their offers and they went to another team. LOL!!! Even better, this program didn't even field a single 14U team they entire year!!! How stupid is that? Why not make phone calls and go down the line of players they identified as prospects? This program eventually merged into the Bombers in 2018. One of the players that was at this tryout was Kelly Maxwell (she played for the program the previous season) who ended up with the Aces Express(merged with the Bombers) after the tryouts.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Evidence of TEAM BUILDING vs. PROGRAM BUILDING.

Which would you rather be a part of?