rules for travel ball

[softballpsycho]

So fairly new to the travel ball arena and our kid has a couple of offers from tryouts this week. It has been very difficult to decide because without knowing anything about the teams you really don't know what you are getting into until you actually start practicing and playing games. I have read some things about player agreements and having to be released by the manager of a team if you decide to leave the team. Is this applicable to this time of the year or when championship time comes around next year? By the way, not trying to assume that things won't work out on a team. After a pretty bad incident on a previous team want to make sure to have as much correct info as possible. Found out that if you don't have your daughter's back no one will. Not too cynical, right?
"Hope for the best. Expect the worst."

[Under the Radar]

If you are talking about the ASA Player Agreement all players are released once Nationals are over or if your team has dropped out of National Contention of the current year.

[artomatic]

The ASA agreements mentioned are handed out at the yearly Socal ASA travel meeting in early spring.
Teams that are going to ASA championships have their players sign these.
Mostly to protect themselves regarding collecting equipment etc if a player leaves, but they are also used by ASA for rosters, etc.

For winter, you really don't sign anything official, but many teams have their own agreements.
It's up to you I guess.
If you join a team, you should at least be prepared to stay through the winter break, unless there are major issues (see drama posts)...

You have to basically live and learn but obviously the more you know about a team the better.
good luck.

[Sid Barrett]

Psycho,
Do your homework and speak with current and former players / parents before you make your decision. When you do decide on a team, give the coach and the team an honest opportunity to allow your DD to grow and improve. Be a team player and don't publicly complain if things aren't working out. IMO opinion, if you commit your DD to a team than you should honor that committment. However, there are always exceptions, and I agree with you that in the end, you need to have your DD's back, because no one else will. Its not being cynical, unfortunately its just being realistic

[PDad]

ASA registrations expire at the end of the calendar year, so there is nothing that would carry over to 2012.

Try to make the most informed decision you can. There are typically more tryouts and player movement at the end of the Fall if things don't work out with the team you choose now.

[Makina]

I am very wary of any team that says we need a commitment right now, before u have a chance to truly check them out. (i.e. just going to try-outs does not give u enough info. on the team). Ask around alot of what other parents think (especially returning parents).

If they ask u to be on the team, ask alot of questions of the coach and attend a practice to really see how they run things, before u give them the big $$$'s. It's really sad to see people give $300-500 in start-up fees and then leave the team in 1-2 months.

Sometimes it's also better to wait until after try-outs and then go to a team practice. Most teams are always looking for addit'l players after try-outs or you can always be a pick-up player for a team at a friendly. This will truly give u a good flavor of how these teams operate. (don't forget there are alot of really good coaches and equally bad coaches) Just because they coach travel, does not mean they know what they are doing.

[Southerncali]

What I have found out that most team will let you practice with them a couple of times and then do a friendly with them. That's how you really know if its going to work out. If girls start blaming eachother, yelling at eachother or the coach goes crazy and starts loosing his cool that when you might considering another team. We have a 98 team that has 4 new girls trying out and they have attended all our practices and will be doing there first friendly this weekend. That's the final test to see if it works for both sides.