OK, can we talk turkey? "Open Workouts," "All Positions are Open," and such
We all know that everyone is very busy and there is a finite amount of time that teams have to have tryouts during July/August. As best as I can tell, true TB tryout season is mid-July through about mid-August. After that, most teams are full. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that.
So, there are only 4-5 weekends that we're talking about here. So, a total of about 8-10 days to fit in as much as you can (knowing that girls can only be in one place at one time). Putting aside the fact that it is sometimes possible to schedule a private workout/tryout on a weekday, this fact demonstrates that parents/girls need to use that time wisely.
OK, so what, if any, point is there to attending events that are billed as "open workouts?" In my past experience, those are basically cattle calls (often more than one age group there at a time) and there are dozens of girls there with a few coaches. Often, they aren't even keeping track of who is who. Felt like a complete and utter waste of time to me when we went to a couple last year, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something. I kind of feel the same about organizational tryouts, honestly. Unless a coach has already seen DD privately and wants to see her one more time at the org tryout or something like that, I'd like to skip those.
And "all positions are open," "spots are earned on the field," etc... I don't believe that in most cases other than with brand new teams. I generally only respond to ads that specifically mention needing a catcher anyway, but can we read between the lines here? Does it mean "we've already got girls in those spots, but we might consider bumping them if your kid is a super-stud?"
I'm trying to avoid trying to cram 10-15 tryouts in this year like we did last year. It was exhausting, frustrating, and put both me and DD in a foul mood by the time we were done.
I'm only sending DD to teams this year that she would actually consider playing for. She has a fall-back option with her old coach (of the team that folded), but we are wary for a variety of reasons. Any guidance would be great.
We all know that everyone is very busy and there is a finite amount of time that teams have to have tryouts during July/August. As best as I can tell, true TB tryout season is mid-July through about mid-August. After that, most teams are full. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that.
So, there are only 4-5 weekends that we're talking about here. So, a total of about 8-10 days to fit in as much as you can (knowing that girls can only be in one place at one time). Putting aside the fact that it is sometimes possible to schedule a private workout/tryout on a weekday, this fact demonstrates that parents/girls need to use that time wisely.
OK, so what, if any, point is there to attending events that are billed as "open workouts?" In my past experience, those are basically cattle calls (often more than one age group there at a time) and there are dozens of girls there with a few coaches. Often, they aren't even keeping track of who is who. Felt like a complete and utter waste of time to me when we went to a couple last year, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something. I kind of feel the same about organizational tryouts, honestly. Unless a coach has already seen DD privately and wants to see her one more time at the org tryout or something like that, I'd like to skip those.
And "all positions are open," "spots are earned on the field," etc... I don't believe that in most cases other than with brand new teams. I generally only respond to ads that specifically mention needing a catcher anyway, but can we read between the lines here? Does it mean "we've already got girls in those spots, but we might consider bumping them if your kid is a super-stud?"
I'm trying to avoid trying to cram 10-15 tryouts in this year like we did last year. It was exhausting, frustrating, and put both me and DD in a foul mood by the time we were done.
I'm only sending DD to teams this year that she would actually consider playing for. She has a fall-back option with her old coach (of the team that folded), but we are wary for a variety of reasons. Any guidance would be great.