Glad to hear I'm not the only one that sells stuff on eBay to make the softball ends meet!
Tryout results
- Thread starter fivepotsogold
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Glad to hear I'm not the only one that sells stuff on eBay to make the softball ends meet!
What do you and she want out of it?
There is a dramatic difference in teams, there are teams that are awful, to teams that are national champions, and everything in between.
Do you want to travel a lot, play and compete at highest level? Or do you want to stay close to home and just play on a decent team? Or do you want her to get maximum playing time? Do you need to get your foot in the door on a showcase program? Do you want her to have the best instruction available, pretty important for pitchers.
May depend on what you have to choose from in your area. I thought we had girls come from a long way to play for us (2 hrs +) , but I met a girl recently that has always driven 3+ hrs to play on a very good team.
The better teams will travel more, farther, and play better competition. They may also cost significantly more because of that. Or, if they do a lot of fundraising, they may cost less.
Dont worry about the girls, Ive never seen a bunch of young girls that didnt bond greatly during the season. If they travel a lot, they spend too much time together not too. Some may just be more outgoing than others at first. A good coach will pull a team together and do things that help them bond. A good way to start this is sending them to a camp together without parents, usually dont do this till 14U though.
On teams that travel a lot, and spend a lot of time together, often the coaches, parents, girls, siblings, grandparents, etc end up being one big extended family. They really miss each other when they arent playing! Parents look out for and take care of all the girls just like they would their own. Girls dont hesitate to ask anyones parents for something they need if theirs arent around for some reason, whether its a drink, food, sunscreen, help with something, etc. When travelling they usually break up into a couple of groups and just sleep wherever they are when they finally get tired of fooling around. Many times I havent had anywhere to sleep because half a dozen sleeping teenage girls were occupying my room.
Unfortunately, one or two bad parents can ruin everything. A coach will give parents some consideration in choosing girls because of this. I have seen very good players no one wanted because of a parent that had a loud abusive mouth.
There is a dramatic difference in teams, there are teams that are awful, to teams that are national champions, and everything in between.
Do you want to travel a lot, play and compete at highest level? Or do you want to stay close to home and just play on a decent team? Or do you want her to get maximum playing time? Do you need to get your foot in the door on a showcase program? Do you want her to have the best instruction available, pretty important for pitchers.
May depend on what you have to choose from in your area. I thought we had girls come from a long way to play for us (2 hrs +) , but I met a girl recently that has always driven 3+ hrs to play on a very good team.
The better teams will travel more, farther, and play better competition. They may also cost significantly more because of that. Or, if they do a lot of fundraising, they may cost less.
Dont worry about the girls, Ive never seen a bunch of young girls that didnt bond greatly during the season. If they travel a lot, they spend too much time together not too. Some may just be more outgoing than others at first. A good coach will pull a team together and do things that help them bond. A good way to start this is sending them to a camp together without parents, usually dont do this till 14U though.
On teams that travel a lot, and spend a lot of time together, often the coaches, parents, girls, siblings, grandparents, etc end up being one big extended family. They really miss each other when they arent playing! Parents look out for and take care of all the girls just like they would their own. Girls dont hesitate to ask anyones parents for something they need if theirs arent around for some reason, whether its a drink, food, sunscreen, help with something, etc. When travelling they usually break up into a couple of groups and just sleep wherever they are when they finally get tired of fooling around. Many times I havent had anywhere to sleep because half a dozen sleeping teenage girls were occupying my room.
Unfortunately, one or two bad parents can ruin everything. A coach will give parents some consideration in choosing girls because of this. I have seen very good players no one wanted because of a parent that had a loud abusive mouth.
halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,653
- 0
Beware of politics too
I have seen and heard of many coaches that will offer a kid a spot and rarely play them. Why? Only thing anyone can up with is the politics involved.
The kid might be the best pitcher but not one of the three coaches kids, who are all pitchers. They will recruit a pitcher, promise her lots of pitching time and seldom use her. They just don't want to FACE her in tourneys.
Painful lesson to learn.
For them to say any certain pitcher is the #1, #2 or #3 pitcher is a red flag to me. They cannot determine this from one single try out unless they already have those spots chosen for the pitchers beforehand.
See if you can get a commitment from the coaches, if they are asking for a commitment from you, its only fair. If they cant or want, proceed at your own risk.
Hal
I have seen and heard of many coaches that will offer a kid a spot and rarely play them. Why? Only thing anyone can up with is the politics involved.
The kid might be the best pitcher but not one of the three coaches kids, who are all pitchers. They will recruit a pitcher, promise her lots of pitching time and seldom use her. They just don't want to FACE her in tourneys.
Painful lesson to learn.
For them to say any certain pitcher is the #1, #2 or #3 pitcher is a red flag to me. They cannot determine this from one single try out unless they already have those spots chosen for the pitchers beforehand.
See if you can get a commitment from the coaches, if they are asking for a commitment from you, its only fair. If they cant or want, proceed at your own risk.
Hal
Althought it might be tough at 10U & 12U, another indicator to look for is how many spots are open and why are they open. Did some kids age out? Did some just decide to focus elsewhere? If a lot of kids are jumping to other teams, it might be an indication of coaching issues, politics, etc. If, however, you find a team that has been pretty much together for several seasons, that's an indication that the players & parents are enjoying the experience. Just be sure you and your daughter have a similar appetite for practice time, what factors determine playing time, the number of out of state tournaments, what their roster needs are compared to where your daughter plays, etc. For example, if your daughter wants to be a primary pitcher, she should look for a team that needs to fill their primary pitching slots. If she joins a team that already has the pitching situation pretty stable, then in order for her to get significant innings, she will need to displace one of the current pitchers, which might make for some hard feelings. Seems obvious, but it doesn't always work that way....
- Feb 8, 2009
- 271
- 18
Are you saying only one pitcher pitched in the first tournament?
That post was back in May. Let's hope they didn't go the whole season in that mode. Wouldn't want to be the other pitchers on the team if that's the case...
