How'd your tryouts go?

[Rocketech1]

DD had planned to tryout for her "dream team" this year but when we heard they weren't having tryouts because they weren't losing any members, we had to look elsewhere.

Around here, all the travel ball teams have open tryouts each August and no player from the previous year's team is guaranteed a spot (at least in theory). There's also a lot of movement between TB organization each year as players are vying for the best fit for them.

For my 12YO DD, she was offered an invite to join a travel ball team last weekend. After having played ASA rec since she was 5YO, she is excited to take her game to the next level.

Curious what kind of upfront dues and monthly fees you guys are paying?

 

[Juggs]

My DD moved up to 16U, but left her team, very good B team. We planned on trying out for 5 to 6 teams. 3 A teams and a couple of B's. She first had 2 private tryouts for A teams. First team, maybe a quick 15 min tryout, she was offered a spot on the roster. But she said we wanted to keep her options open. Had another private tryout with second team (very huge org), they was impressed but didnt actually offer her a position til the next morning. She took that offer, actually I did. Its good I did, because if I didnt she probably wouldnt have made the team. At the open tryouts, she got super nervous and struggled, esp with her throwing.

Super proud of her, she has come a long way. Went to her first college camp on Tues, only '99 catcher at the camp and threw equal times, glove to glove, with the older girls and much bigger.

 

[iMlearning]

Around here, all the travel ball teams have open tryouts each August and no player from the previous year's team is guaranteed a spot (at least in theory). There's also a lot of movement between TB organization each year as players are vying for the best fit for them

Curious what kind of upfront dues and monthly fees you guys are paying?

Generally all of the teams here do that also, but this particular Gold team has a lot of talent and has done well in big tournaments with no one graduating. DD has played with most of them in the past and is excited to play against them soon

 

[guero_gordo]

Pushing DD to explore other options, but she's content with a guarantee of a spot at the current org, even though one of the two teams looks like a lifeboat full of random position players(big turnover and small turnout for that one). Hard to blame her, it's been a new team every season for a while now.

 

[3bmama]

My dd10's team moved up to 12u. We decided to keep her at 10u bc she really wants to pitch, she has only one year under her belt and it would've been real difficult to move back 5 ft and change balls at this time. Plus she was number 3 on her old team already. So we looked for around for a team, and dang it was tough! Very few 04 teams in our area it seems, at least with tryouts posted and specifically looking for pitchers. We were hoping to find a B team but came across a C team that is actually the closest team I could find to our house and she is far and away the best pitcher, so that's good, I hope. At least we know she'll get a lot of circle time. She felt comfortable with the team right away which is great. Now my only worry last night was the 3rd practice. DD wasn't as on as she had been at previous practices and try outs, and Her brother was not allowing me to really watch what was going on. So I know one of the coaches was trying to give her instruction on what was wrong and I am pretty sure it involved closing the hips:/. She said she thought he said something like that but he wouldn't quit talking so she zoned him out after a while(cause he kept talking while she was live pitching). Anyway I will give him the benefit of the doubt and see if it happens again and then talk with the head coach. His dd doesn't pitch, and the pitchers on the team are... Beginners to put it nicely. So I don't know where his pitching knowledge comes from. I was so happy about the team until last night. Don't ruin it for me coach! Lol.

 

[marriard]

Tryouts in general have been frustrating this season. There are several newly formed daddy-ego teams in addition to the existing daddy-ego teams all with what amounts to 4-5 real players. So they are all trying to find players 6-11 and none of these coaches want to get together to form what could be a few solid 'A' teams.

With this happening, DD is 99% likely to stay on her current team which probably has 7-8 real players but is currently missing real quality catching and maybe a bat or two.

So looking like a bit of a waiting game this Fall until some of these teams start to fragment and it all hopefully shakes out for the 2015 season.

 

[Drakemir]

We had a whirlwind tryout season. On a Monday we found out most of our rec fall ball team went to TB and left us with out any where to play this fall. The Wife and I had planned on waiting till she hit 12u before we tried out for any TB, however, with no place to play we tried out for one team on Tuesday, then got a private tryout with her dream team on Thursday. The team from Tuesday had lost about half their roster to girls moving up and I figured she had a shot but they didn't want to add anymore second year girls looking to have a good base for the year after. She participated in her dream teams practice and really showed up to play, did well all the way around. At the end of the practice they offered her a spot. Needless to say she is on cloud 9, going from playing rec fall ball one minute to playing on her dream team the next. We are still in a bit of shock as this will be our first TB experience but we are really looking forward to her growing as a player.

 

[catchermom13]

DD got offered a roster spot on her first choice team - an excellent club team in our state. As a first year 14 it will be her first experience on a true elite level team without "daddy coaches" and one that has two outstanding pitching coaches (she's a pitcher and has worked a little with both of them). We are especially excited as her friend/catcher also accepted a spot on the team, so now we have great friends to share the whole traveling experience with and to share carpooling.

Now the bad - we've recently found out that some higher up in our local community association are extremely upset with us that we didn't stay "loyal" to our "local club team". This is an org that is starting to fall apart at the younger levels and doesn't even provide year round training. So sad that adults can't see past their own egos and realize when an athlete just wants to play at the highest level possible to better themselves and then just be happy for them. I guess that the politics of sports

 

[PA SB Dad]

I'm seeing something this year that I had not in past years. I am coaching a 2nd year 14U team and have no DD on the team. I scheduled our tryouts a month after we finished the season so the players had a good period of rest. I also encourage all my players to go to other tryouts and if they find a better situation, that's great. What I see this year is I had a bunch of folks contact me about tryouts and really pushing hard for their kid, then turn around and say they had to take another offer from a team because the other team needed an answer right away (it's still mid-August!!). This has happened in the past, but this year it feels like more parents and kids are treating this like verballing to colleges and they have to accept to hold their spot! I've never experienced the level of angst among parents like I have this year, and it's ONLY AUGUST 15th!!!

 

[MsDinosaur]

There were several 14A tryouts in our metro area and DD wasn't positive what she wanted to do, but after a day or two thinking about it (and after finding out that a good friend had decided to return), she decided to stay with her current team (2nd year 14B trying to work their way to 14A). She accepted their offer to return quickly enough that her spot was guaranteed. She did go to one of her team's tryouts to help out. So this was an easy tryout season for us.

This is going to be such a strange season though. Since she's in HS now, she won't be able to play with her TB teammates until some time in October after her high school is eliminated from post-season play...or wins, though they aren't one of the traditional powerhouses. ;-)