All Positions are Earned-Really?!

[Sam]

Let me tell you what will happen if you take your kid to 5 tryouts....you will be forced to go with the last team that offers her a spot...usually tryout #5. If you tried out for me at #3 and I offered your child a spot...and you said you had 2 more tryouts to attend....I will fill her spot immediately with an available player. If I don't, then I risk not filling the spot at all.

Just do your homework, don't try out for teams she can't make (its stupid and takes up time that could have been spent on kids that actually do want to play for that team), and try out only for teams that you are comfortable with your daughter playing with for an entire season.

[Iluvblue]

TO ALL PARENTS. Print out Sams post above, and put it on your fridge. Those are words to live by for a travel parent.

Why go to a tryout if you are not going to accept a spot if offered?

[BigSoftball]

TO ALL PARENTS. Print out Sams post above, and put it on your fridge. Those are words to live by for a travel parent.

Why go to a tryout if you are not going to accept a spot if offered?

To tune up for the real tryout where you want to play.

Not what a coach wants to hear, but that's the way it goes.

One upside is you as the coach have a chance to sell your team, yourself, and your program, to a prospective player you otherwise would never have seen. If she doesn't make it with the other team you may get her anyway. Sam won't, and that's okay, everybody does what works best for them.

[Iluvblue]

To tune up??? LOLOLOLOLOLL
are you serious? So you think showing up at some tryout where your kid is going to get a handful of grounders, hit 10-20 balls off a machine, get timed running home to 1st and home to home, and maybe catch some balls in the outfield is getting them ready for the "Real tryout?"

They are either ready or they are not. IMO, you just wasted 3 hours at a tryout and your kid got very few minutes of a workout for HER. You could have taken her out for ONE HOUR and got way more work in.

JMO, but wow, what a waste of 3 hours.


By the way, I probably wont either, because I pretty much do as Sam said, im making my team based upon who shows up and excepts a spot.

If you move on to another tryout, I also move on to another player.

Keep in mind, these arent hard and fast rules. If suzy stud says she is going to another tryout, but will get back to me in 2 days as she still may want to be on my team.... I PROBABLY have been wise enough to leave a spot open to see if suzy stud wants to play for us. But Suzy better be REALLY GOOD.

[lovsofbal]

To tune up??? LOLOLOLOLOLL
are you serious? So you think showing up at some tryout where your kid is going to get a handful of grounders, hit 10-20 balls off a machine, get timed running home to 1st and home to home, and maybe catch some balls in the outfield is getting them ready for the "Real tryout?"

They are either ready or they are not. IMO, you just wasted 3 hours at a tryout and your kid got very few minutes of a workout for HER. You could have taken her out for ONE HOUR and got way more work in.

JMO, but wow, what a waste of 3 hours.


By the way, I probably wont either, because I pretty much do as Sam said, im making my team based upon who shows up and excepts a spot.

If you move on to another tryout, I also move on to another player.

Keep in mind, these arent hard and fast rules. If suzy stud says she is going to another tryout, but will get back to me in 2 days as she still may want to be on my team.... I PROBABLY have been wise enough to leave a spot open to see if suzy stud wants to play for us. But Suzy better be REALLY GOOD.

i can see his point about a tune up, if a player has never been to a tryout. it helps to see what goes on. gets rid of some of the jitters.

[BigSoftball]

To tune up??? LOLOLOLOLOLL
are you serious? So you think showing up at some tryout where your kid is going to get a handful of grounders, hit 10-20 balls off a machine, get timed running home to 1st and home to home, and maybe catch some balls in the outfield is getting them ready for the "Real tryout?" Yes, it's like knocking the rust off. If she hasn't seen a pitch in the past month, it's good to take some cuts. Ground balls, fly balls, get the muscles working, same deal. It's a tune up.

They are either ready or they are not. IMO, you just wasted 3 hours at a tryout and your kid got very few minutes of a workout for HER. You could have taken her out for ONE HOUR and got way more work in. From a skills standpoint, you're right, she won't be a better player fundamentally tomorrow than she was today. But there is more to it than that. Sure I could hit her balls for an hour, etc. But that isn't the same. The vibe is different, the camaraderie isn't there, there's no measuring stick to see how she stacks up with other kids trying out. btw, we may go to the park before the tune up too, but it's not like we're time efficiency experts worried about spending 3 hours at a try out. She enjoys the process, gets some work in, which makes her feel more comfortable, and confident, and that is the key. It's not skills, it's not physical, it's mental.

JMO, but wow, what a waste of 3 hours. Not if it better prepares her for the task ahead, but that's just my opinion, and hers, which is all that matters to us. But I would think as a coach you would want your prospects to show up on top of their game, physically and mentally, and shouldn't really care how they get themselves to that point. But maybe you prefer rusty kids at your tryouts. To each his own.


By the way, I probably wont either, because I pretty much do as Sam said, im making my team based upon who shows up and excepts a spot.

If you move on to another tryout, I also move on to another player.

Keep in mind, these arent hard and fast rules. If suzy stud says she is going to another tryout, but will get back to me in 2 days as she still may want to be on my team.... I PROBABLY have been wise enough to leave a spot open to see if suzy stud wants to play for us. But Suzy better be REALLY GOOD.

And there you have it.

[dustyshoes]

I've never been to a tryout where my dd has been offered a roster spot and told if she didn't accept it immediately she would lose it. Most of the time the coaches will talk to us to get an idea of what teams she's trying out for and what we're looking for in a team as well as telling us what they're looking for and player/parent expectations. If I were coaching a travel team I wouldn't want to make a take-it-or-leave-it-now offer to anybody, not for fear of losing a talented player but getting one who was a nightmare for me and the rest of my team.

I can also recall one instance of taking my dd to a tryout where she no chance of making the team only to find a better one. Some 60 kids came to a tryout for a 13u team and the 14u coach from the same org who was helping out with the tryout invited dd to his tryout and she ended up making the team and having the best travel softball experience of her life. The 13u team was filled with drama and "done blow'd up" at the end of the year.

Also, why do OP's on thread's like this always get flamed? It's not like she's Dani, Ray-Ray or Pitchermom's (polebarn lady) parent. Even if she was without contributions like this HB tends to be the same old, same old all the time.

[Sam]

I've never been to a tryout where my dd has been offered a roster spot and told if she didn't accept it immediately she would lose it. Most of the time the coaches will talk to us to get an idea of what teams she's trying out for and what we're looking for in a team as well as telling us what they're looking for and player/parent expectations. If I were coaching a travel team I wouldn't want to make a take-it-or-leave-it-now offer to anybody, not for fear of losing a talented player but getting one who was a nightmare for me and the rest of my team.

I can also recall one instance of taking my dd to a tryout where she no chance of making the team only to find a better one. Some 60 kids came to a tryout for a 13u team and the 14u coach from the same org who was helping out with the tryout invited dd to his tryout and she ended up making the team and having the best travel softball experience of her life. The 13u team was filled with drama and "done blow'd up" at the end of the year.

Also, why do OP's on thread's like this always get flamed? It's not like she's Dani, Ray-Ray or Pitchermom's (polebarn lady) parent. Even if she was without contributions like this HB tends to be the same old, same old all the time.

Maybe we coach for different reasons. It has never been my intent to put together a team that would compete for a national championship. In order to do that, many coaches compromise their morals....recruiting kids away from other teams, badmouthing other organizations, etc. I wanted to field a competitive team of players who wanted to get better and play hard. Teams that hold spots open, often times are left with gaping holes. Coaches know that.

[Iluvblue]

Bigsoftball...

Fair enough. We have different perspectives because of how things work in your area vs our area.

No time for a kid to be rusty out here. The girls end their season one weekend, and tryouts are taking place in some cases the very next day.

Out here, just about everybody was having tryouts the very next weekend after nationals, so no time to get rusty.

MOST teams in our area are not waiting around for players, if you do, you will find yourself with no team.

[Hawk17]

Maybe we coach for different reasons. It has never been my intent to put together a team that would compete for a national championship. In order to do that, many coaches compromise their morals....recruiting kids away from other teams, badmouthing other organizations, etc. I wanted to field a competitive team of players who wanted to get better and play hard. Teams that hold spots open, often times are left with gaping holes. Coaches know that.

Amen. Yes, we want to win. Yes, we want to have a good team. But, I agree. I won't compromise my ethics just to get "that player." Sometimes you take the kids who want it, who are willing to work, who need to develop a bit and they kick the a** of the stud team. I 'll take those kids any day. And yes, I will offer to them immediately.