How they carry themselves: No. Too many people have no self awareness of their own abilities.
Is it their size? No. A factor that can be considered but too many really good players are not physically imposing.
Do they just have a presence? Maybe. Pretty close to “how they carry themselves” above.
Are they more verbal? No. Coaches love this crap. Over communication is not good communication. “Saying stuff” is not leadership. It usually looks insecure as hell to me.
Do they just have a presence? Yeah, maybe.
RAD, you left out “does the player cheer loudly for her team mates?“ Honestly… who cares?
Evaluation of talent is THE thing that coaches at ALL levels are weak at. I’m my opinion it’s because they are still looking at *subjective* crap that does not matter in a game.
Can the player hit. Can the player hit GOOD PITCHING. Can the player run? Is there a defensive position that I need to fill that this player can fill? Does this player have a personality that I can stand to be around for the next x number of years?
RAD I’m not taking shots at you and I’m glad you posted this. I would like to think that the culture of softball would consider how they evaluate players. I think we are behind the times.
Agree w/ all.
Maybe some people can just tell, but I can't. Had a girl come to a tryout in 12U. She was a little chubby and kinda short. Wore glasses. Quiet, didn't look assertive. Didn't do anything bad in the tryout, but nothing particularly good either, really. Just average. Took her partly because her sister was on an older team in the program. Batted her 7th in the first tournament. She never batted below 3rd again in the 2 years I coached her and later played mid-major D-1. And we must've neglected to time their speed in the tryout because we later did one in a team practice and she out-ran everybody. Of course, once she had established that she was an elite hitter, then all of her mannerisms seemed like swagger. She had a quiet cockiness about her. But if she were hitting .180, we'd probably interpret that as something else.