Thread: Dilemma

So DD joined a new team a month ago. She really likes the coaches hands on approach and the girls on this team. Sounds ideal, right? Well, a couple of weeks after she joins, a couple of girls leave. No big deal, replace them. The coach keeps a smaller roster because he wants the girls to get a lot of PT. We then notice a trend that players don't seem to always be at practice. There are a few girls, DD included, that are always there. So I ask the coach about it and he has a couple that are not as dedicated as he would like and wanted to add a couple more so he could let the more dedicated girls play more and do something with the less than dedicated players. Ok, that sounds reasonable. Fall tourneys start. We are short for 1st tourney. No problem, we have a couple of solid pick ups. Then we get rained out. Next tourney is Labor Day weekend. Great. The schedule is out and DD is playing her old team. She is excited. Then we get an email that two girls have other things going on and cannot play. One is the #2 pitcher. Then we get an email the next day that our #1 got injured and we have no pitchers and 5 girls available. We bail on the tourney. Next tourney is the 2nd to last week of Sept. They have had a couple of tryouts with minimal turn out. So they have another planned Labor Day weekend when a ton of players are going to be playing, which means the quality and turn out will probably be low.

This is a big tryout weekend coming up. I am concerned we are going to get stuck holding the bag with a team without enough players. DD is ok with the situation and thinks it will be ok. I am not as optimistic. Since this is the last big weekend of tryouts, would it make sense for DD to hit a couple to see if we can land a back up plan? Her coach is at a tournament with his 2000 team so I won't be able to talk to him.

Any thoughts? I have already paid fees but will walk away from them if it is in DD's best interest.

As a coach I would not want you to leave. However as a parent you have to do what is best for your player. I think if the girls you had on the team were coming to all practices and 100% committed to the team concept then I would recommend staying and be very patient. However based on the team being short and the few of those remaining are not dedicated to being at practice and the team as a whole...then move on. This is a situation that has higher risk of imploding.

I would say yes... tryouts is just another practice. Got to keep practicing, team or no team. We worked two weeks everyday morning and night before tryouts, knowing she was going to be on this team 10U for over 1.5 years. We had told this coach which org. we wanted to play for, and he went and got the job coaching...they didn't do 10U. So he had 6 org. coaches checking out his recruiting skills. He brought 2 other girls also. Yes one was his DD....but I'm here to tell you she is awesome, and her little girlfriend that she wants to be on the team with her, well she is better. The 2adays for 2 weeks of prep really made DD the stand out though.

She did the tryout, got the offer to play for the team at the first outfielding station by the org. catching coach, and come back to as team member, for the next tryout. We went back that Sat...she did awesome again....Sun...I loaded her up and took her to another teams tryout at the State University, and had her tryout for the 12U, not the 11U.... just for practice. We worked hard, and she was ready...The coaches weren't happy, but the Org. promoters were. They wanted to say we had over 2hundred+ girls show up. DD got to be on one of the best fields in the State, plus they got a chance to see one of the best players in the state. Funny thing was, a couple older girls she played with this year, were trying out for 11U. They kept watching as several girls got sent out to the outfield with them...DD stayed with the 12's. Then when they came up for Pitching Tryouts, she caught them, in place of the girls who had already made the team, and played last year... I never told their Daddy I had been working her with a 12" ball, @ 40' the whole time, they were missing practices for basketball & soccer, and little brothers games. Had a couple guys from our 10U see me at the cloverleaf...they were trying out for the org.s 10u...They said, "She didn't make that team??? I said yes... they got a funny look then they realized we were on the 12U diamond... I said, "getting ready for next year".... We didn't get offered, or even called, but we know what to expect next year, and so do they. I just tell her... You did great, but you how it is, they don't like me. She said, I could tell..... Her coach is 16-4 against the elites... He loved it !!! Now that was fun !!!

Originally Posted by PA SB Dad

Not sure what age group you are talking about, but around here it would be hard to get a full TB team committed to every practice in the fall. Other sports and school usually come first (I'm talking 10U to 18U). In the fall we practice once a week and try to schedule the occasional friendly, but to try and get in several tournaments is just not practical.

16U. We only practice once a week (on Sunday) because of other high school sports. Plus all of the girls have HS softball aspirations so there are freshman fall leagues starting soon. I don't think expecting players to show up once a week and on tournament weekends that we have plenty of advance notice on is asking too much. We live in a major metro area so there are plenty of kids to go around.

DD is very dedicated. She runs cross country and track, but would drop either if it interfered with softball. I'm not saying every kid should be the same, but there should be some level of commitment. Most girls have aspirations of college ball at this point and girls who don't show up impacts DD's chance when she cannot get to a tournament because we're short and she's already told coaches what our schedule is. She does not want to leave this team because she made a commitment and she really likes the coach and team, but she committed to play ball not to practice and get told we aren't playing because girls have other things that are more important. On top of that she knows what kind of situation they'll be in if she leaves.

I don't know. She's decided to go out to one tomorrow for a team she tried to get on a couple of years ago. We'll play some pick up if we need to and see what our team tryouts yield in a couple of weeks and make a decision.

The crazy thing is the core of girls have talent and this could be a really good team if there was more dedication.

DD works outside of the one day of practice. She's excited about HS softball so I think she's not as up in arms about it as she would be in the fall.

So is she going to any other tryouts ??? this coming weekend ???