All Positions are Earned-Really?!

[Iluvblue]

I agree 100%. I dont call kids out of the blue... hell, I wouldnt even know how to find their number.

But Our season ended last Fall, and on the DRIVE home from Socal, one of my players was getting called by the head coach of a local team. Hilarious.

Im a 42 year old man, and my self respect and dignity means far more to me than winning games because I can call kids up on the phone and convince them to come to my team. Those guys can have that crap, that just aint me.

[linedrivelouie]

Blue I agree with much of what you say on the bucket. I share many of the same thoughts.

I tell everyone who comes to try outs when I call be ready to accept a spot. Its pretty simple If you are still looking so am I. I think desperate coaches are the ones who say "Ok go to another 4 try outs and let me know we will be here waiting.

I have never understood why parents take kids to tryouts as a work out. I have seen more than a few over the years. Last spring I had a dad call me after and ask why I did not pick his daughter up. I told him point blank she has used my try outs as a work out for the last 3 try outs I didn't think she was actually trying out I never even payed attention to her while we were running tryouts this time.

I agree 100%. I dont call kids out of the blue... hell, I wouldnt even know how to find their number.

But Our season ended last Fall, and on the DRIVE home from Socal, one of my players was getting called by the head coach of a local team. Hilarious.

Im a 42 year old man, and my self respect and dignity means far more to me than winning games because I can call kids up on the phone and convince them to come to my team. Those guys can have that crap, that just aint me.

I loved this one and had to share. Everyone's tryouts just finished in are area I was out at the field the other day working out with my daughter when we saw one of my players who has played for me a while. Her younger sister had practice n the family was hanging out. We stopped to say hi. While talking to her dad his phone rang.... After a few funny looks n moments the dad say let me let u talk to her coach and see what he says about your offer. He handed me the phone... Not know what it was I said hello??.. The line went dead. It was one of those dirt bag recruiting coaches trolling to replace a player he just picked up last week at try outs. We all laughed.
I don't have time to chase parents and try finding players numbers to recruit others I would rather coach the ones I picked for the team.

[Sam]

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.

The other thing is that this is such a small community...the softball community. I don't know about Corey, but if I have a kid at my tryout who has already been to one or two others....I'm not going to offer a spot to that kid. It tells me that they could accept a spot from me and then leave me in two weeks when the one of the previous tryout coaches offers a spot. That leaves me with a hole in my team, that I have to try and fill with kids that likely have found teams.

You may be having your kid go to the tryout to knock the rust off, but I can tell you that my parents will find out, tell me, and your kid will still be looking for a team. Thats how negative reputations begin. After a while almost nobody will touch you with a ten foot pole.

[newkid]

As long as people (coaches, parents & players) realize the 10' pole stretches both ways, I think we'll all get along fine. It's the folks that think they are always holding the pole that end up on the wrong end. Trust and respect can take a team 'far' if it's a mutual feeling.

[fastpitchdad05]

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.

The other thing is that this is such a small community...the softball community. I don't know about Corey, but if I have a kid at my tryout who has already been to one or two others....I'm not going to offer a spot to that kid. It tells me that they could accept a spot from me and then leave me in two weeks when the one of the previous tryout coaches offers a spot. That leaves me with a hole in my team, that I have to try and fill with kids that likely have found teams.

You may be having your kid go to the tryout to knock the rust off, but I can tell you that my parents will find out, tell me, and your kid will still be looking for a team. Thats how negative reputations begin. After a while almost nobody will touch you with a ten foot pole.

What if the kid didn't have a good feel at the first two tryouts and heard about your team and wanted to give your tryout a chance? You're gonna turn her away just because she went to one or two other tryouts?

My DD has never tried out for more than one team, but I think your attitude is too rigid. But hey, it's your team.

[Iluvblue]

Heck no, if a kid showed up at ANY of my tryouts and wanted to play with us, Id take her (if I liked her). Problem is, I PROBABLY will not be having a third tryout as I am usually done by number 2. Simply because in my experience, RARELY does the kind of player im looking for EVER show up at tryout number 3.

I dont hold anything against a kid that didnt come to tryout 1 or 2, but if a kid came to my tryouts 2 years in a row and was offered a spot and never excepted, then showed up to a third tryout the following year, im probably not even wasting any time offering her a spot this year. No need to.

And this especially hold true for pitchers, as it just takes a few weeks for the pitching situation in an area to settle the dust after tryouts. Pitchers wait, teams are trying to get them to committ, and sometimes pitchers just come last minute. This happens every year.

[fastpitchdad05]

Heck no, if a kid showed up at ANY of my tryouts and wanted to play with us, Id take her (if I liked her). Problem is, I PROBABLY will not be having a third tryout as I am usually done by number 2. Simply because in my experience, RARELY does the kind of player im looking for EVER show up at tryout number 3.

I dont hold anything against a kid that didnt come to tryout 1 or 2, but if a kid came to my tryouts 2 years in a row and was offered a spot and never excepted, then showed up to a third tryout the following year, im probably not even wasting any time offering her a spot this year. No need to.

And this especially hold true for pitchers, as it just takes a few weeks for the pitching situation in an area to settle the dust after tryouts. Pitchers wait, teams are trying to get them to committ, and sometimes pitchers just come last minute. This happens every year.

That's cool, but I was actually talking about Sam's quote.

[ontheblack]

Heck no, if a kid showed up at ANY of my tryouts and wanted to play with us, Id take her (if I liked her). Problem is, I PROBABLY will not be having a third tryout as I am usually done by number 2. Simply because in my experience, RARELY does the kind of player im looking for EVER show up at tryout number 3.

I dont hold anything against a kid that didnt come to tryout 1 or 2, but if a kid came to my tryouts 2 years in a row and was offered a spot and never excepted, then showed up to a third tryout the following year, im probably not even wasting any time offering her a spot this year. No need to.

And this especially hold true for pitchers, as it just takes a few weeks for the pitching situation in an area to settle the dust after tryouts. Pitchers wait, teams are trying to get them to committ, and sometimes pitchers just come last minute. This happens every year.

In so many cases I have seen coaches miss on pitchers based on cattle call tryouts. My kid wont do these tryouts. Pitchers usually approach tryouts differently, as do many coaches. Watching a kid throw a bullpen doesnt tell anyone anything about how effective thy will be in the circle.

[Rotatorcuff]

The tile of this post should be IRONY

Every coach advertises this....and for the most part it is true. If someone comes along that is noticeably better than the current player they will get picked up. If they're the same or not much upgrade, or can't contribute in other ways (bat, speed, sponsorship?) there is no compelling reason to pick up. Just the way it is. Even on a completely new start up team, there would be a few positions (players) that are locks, because the coach would know them before any other kids.

My advice for the cattle call workouts is to get on the radar before the tryout. Send a profile sheet to the coach, call him, ask some questions, try not to annoy but make sure they know your dd before she arrives.

And the real irony....the coaches encourage you to do your homework, check out other teams. Well, tryout season now seems to be the week after Nat/Premier till Labor Day (~3 weeks) and all the teams are scheduling their tryouts on the same weekends. You need to tryout for more the one team, just in case you don't make your first choice team. You also need to be prepared to come to the second work out if asked to do so, which may interfere with your schedule for you second choice team. And the pressure builds more when your first choice team offers a spot as the number 2 player and says you have 24 hours to decide or they will offer to someone else, and also worry about the coach from the first team finding out that you're trying out for the second team.

It can be nerve racking, for sure, especially now that tryout season is over.

[swells9232]

I loved this one and had to share. Everyone's tryouts just finished in are area I was out at the field the other day working out with my daughter when we saw one of my players who has played for me a while. Her younger sister had practice n the family was hanging out. We stopped to say hi. While talking to her dad his phone rang.... After a few funny looks n moments the dad say let me let u talk to her coach and see what he says about your offer. He handed me the phone... Not know what it was I said hello??.. The line went dead. It was one of those dirt bag recruiting coaches trolling to replace a player he just picked up last week at try outs. We all laughed.
I don't have time to chase parents and try finding players numbers to recruit others I would rather coach the ones I picked for the team.

A few weeks back I was at a friendly playing a fairly well known team. During the game I heard the other team talking about one of my players (who is an aggressive player) and talked about "getting her back" for a hard tag. The next time she came up, you guessed it, they placed a ball in her side. I looked at the coach and stated, "Really?" who immediately became offended that I would even suggest the idea. I didn't get upset, yell or scream... Just a "Really". After the game, the coaches refused to come out of the dugout and shake the girls hands, which I was astonished about. I found out that after my talk with the team after the game, the head coach approached one of my girls and tried to recruit her. To say the least she did not accept.