My organization does the last half of August for both baseball and softball. No middle school sports here, only rec and travel. Spring season softball for high school.
Summer Tryouts for Travel Ball
- Thread starter FastpitchMomma88
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This would be uncommon here. Not sure I understand why there would be 3 separate tryouts in a year. Unless they are constantly churning their roster for the next best thing. It would be difficult to get good team cohesion with this method. I have my core group of girls, not trading them for anyone, and I hold private tryouts with 2 or 3 girls max until I find what I am looking for. This is after school ball, we play in the fall for HS, I run that team through January and if I need to add/cut girls I look for them through Jan - February, this is our spring/summer team and we play till July.
We have formal tryouts in August, play the Fall. Then evaluate how many kids lost and hold a spring tryout, either private or public(if required to fill the roster). I see that frequently in our area. HS plays in spring here. No MS ball, except 8th can play HS JV.
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^^^^ This. ^^^^
We have to do the same thing or run the risk of losing talent to others who are pushier about their offers.
We go in late July. I essentially make a kid an offer or extend my condolences within 48 hours of the tryout's conclusion. Usually, most calls are made within 24 hours. I do not put any restrictions on the amount of time they have to accept an offer, either. This has actually led to a girl who accepted an offer with another team eventually coming to our team when she found out they weren't going to be all they had promised.
Once an offer is made by me and accepted, that girl belongs on our team from that moment until we have tryouts again a year later. We don't have two seasons or two different tryout times.
December - February for spring/summer TB and July-August for fall TB.
- Feb 3, 2011
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How new is your org?
In northern CA, most 12u teams are pretty much set for spring and summer with 1 round of tryouts, normally sometime between mid/late November and December. There may be need for a pickup or replacement here and there, but the 12u rosters are typically set. A lot of the 14u teams, however, WILL do a 2nd round of tryouts at the conclusion of the HS season in May, as they have often 8th and 9th graders. Because of the rules limiting contact between players and TB coaches during the HS season, many teams will either go dark or form temporary partnerships with other teams with 8th-graders.
The org has had 16u & 18u teams for awhile, but the younger divisions are new. My goal is to do what's best for these young athletes. Since I'm new to managing travel ball, I'm learning along the way. Thanks for the post, my understanding was the same.
