Tryout vs. Workout

[shortslappy]

The question comes from a tryout form that requested a player's committment readiness, and the choices were (from my aging recollection):

New to travel, seeking team
Seeking to change current travel team
Just seeking workout opportunity
Undecided

I found this interesting and wondered if "just seeking workout opportunity" was a common practice. Then it got me thinking about those highly-skilled players from big org teams who came out to our mid-level (but developing) org tryouts. They would get every coach drooling, get offered a spot, only to say they're just going to stay with their team.

I say it's a good way to burn bridges, but then again ... If you're a highly-skilled, impact player, coaches can be pretty forgiving if you came back for that spot.

[CoachGrog]

[I found this interesting and wondered if "just seeking workout opportunity" was a common practice. Then it got me thinking about those highly-skilled players from big org teams who came out to our mid-level (but developing) org tryouts. They would get every coach drooling, get offered a spot, only to say they're just going to stay with their team.

I say it's a good way to burn bridges, but then again ... If you're a highly-skilled, impact player, coaches can be pretty forgiving if you came back for that spot

I think a lot of these situations are driven by parents wanting to "show off" how great their DD is. Some of them are there to gain tryout experience which I think is fine. This all seems to happen mostly at 10's and 12's. I am sure that some players are there as a backup plan in case something changes with their high level team like another stud getting picked up at their position. I see this especially with pitchers parents that get all butt hurt when their high level team picks up another stud or two and all of a sudden their little flamethrower is #3 on the depth chart.

For the higher level impact girls, it seems once they are older in high school, they would rather stay in bed and sleep in than go to some tryout for a lower level team that they have no intention of joining. Either way, more experienced coaches will be able to sort through those players and not get to hung up on them.

As far as burning bridges... softball talent is a very thick bridge and it would take quite a bit (usually big mouth disruptive parents or total player disrespect) to burn it down when it comes to impact players, especially with the newer coaches. The ones that have been around for awhile will blow the bridge up pretty quick if the parents are asses.

[AlwaysImprove]

To me this is another downside of early recruiting. 20 years ago the recruiting started and 18 Gold ball got this huge divide between competitive teams, and rec teams. The 18U rec scene quickly died off. Then it moved down to 16's and the 16 U teams that were good, but not quite 'competitive' died out. Then it happened at 14U.

Nowdays parents are getting cutthroat at 12U. The competitive orgs are hard to get onto, and parents are feeling the pressure to get on them at younger and younger ages.

[Makina]

I can only speak from personal experience, but there is no reason to go to a try-out for a work-out. I always attended these try-outs with an open mind to explore, especially when I was a newbie to travel ball. I would never take my kid to showcase her (I'm not sure what this proves) as I always wanted these try-outs to be more of a humbling experience. I wanted her to see how advanced the competition was and to make her want to improve herself to that level of play.

Most try-outs that attract 50-120 kids are pretty much a lot of standing around, unless the coach quickly starts cutting players (almost unheard of). If the group trying out is between 20-40 kids, hopefully the coach runs it like a practice. This helped me as a parent to see how the coaches actually interacted and whether they actually could teach my kid to improve her skills before committing to the team. I think a lot of parents/players get excited about making a team and quickly accept before truly checking out the team.

I've also been to try-outs of organizations that pretty much have their teams already set and are only looking for that stud pitcher or kid that can slam the ball over the fence. If you don't have any interest in that team, don't be shy to pull your kid from the try-out and move on.

I found out the most effective way to try-out (especially for very competitive teams) was to get her hitting coach to make a recommendation/introduction to the team and be invited to attend a team practice. This allows you to see how she might fit in and her skill level in contrast to the other players. Does she fit it, will she be the best player on the team or at the end of the bench.

Hope all goes well.

[bart16761]

So apparently the tryout season is in full swing. What are your thoughts on girls attending tryouts, with no intention of leaving their current teams, just to get in an extra workout and gain tryout experience?

I think it's never too early to teach a kid to only think about what they want and have zero regard for others. Like in this case the coaches.
I don't know how the universe manages to revolve around so many kids at the same time. But I'm working on a new theory of egocentrism driven simultaneous parallelism. Think of it as the theory of everything where "everything" means one kid.

Merry Christmas.

Snarky Hawking Squirrel

That was hilarious, thank you!

[Red504]

I think it becomes more about the parents ego. They want to have all these coaches calling and asking for their daughter and the power to say no. It cant be good for the girls trying out either. Still stressful getting out there with a bunch of girls you dont know.

[softball65]

I think there is another possibility too. We went to a tryout last summer. I can't say we absolutely would not have gone to this program but it was really low chances. But we wanted to take a look see. I did want to see what kind of talent they were attracting so we approached it seriously. However our main objective was to knock some rust off. DD was coming off an injury where she was out for 2 months and so we used this tryout to knock off the rust. It was a cattle call so one more kid was barely noticeable. Turned out it wasn't a match for us based more on talent level they sought and the schools the team tended to appeal to. We had different goals. But it was useful to knock the rust off.

[Hinky]

go to tryouts hoping to find intelligent coaches, a well-run practice and teammates with good camaraderie. go to as many as you want until you find the right fit and hopefully they will all be a workout.

[Backnine]

"go to tryouts hoping to find intelligent coaches, a well-run practice and teammates with good camaraderie. go to as many as you want until you find the right fit and hopefully they will all be a workout."

Best advice i have read. I am talking 10u level. If the tryout is not "well-run" fast paced and organized with multiple stations and coaches and little down time I would go elsewhere. I want my DD on a team that is coached efficiently. So if the tryout is slow and sloppy - move on.