Tryouts While Current Season is Still in Progress

A few years ago it looked like the A level teams were having their tryouts early in August, while the B level teams were having their tryouts late. That made sense, because the girls could see if they could make an A level team and still get on a B level tean if they couldn't.

Now it's all over the place.

Eric F said:

I just spent a week in Reno, NV. On Monday, co-workers asked how my vacation was. I had no idea what they were talking about.

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I definitely know this feeling. Our last true vacation was a three day cruise over Labor Day two years ago. Only three day because the rest of my vacation is spent on softball. You have to love the weeks spent in exciting ASA destinations like Johnson City, Tn, Columbus, Ga, or next weeks trip to Chattanooga.

We will have the next closest thing to a vacation at the end of August when DD's HS volleyball team goes to Orlando for a tourney. Of course a JV team playing in a varsity tourney may not last too long so we will have plenty of free time. Taking 3 extra days so we get a week down there to actually enjoy. Once again though my vacation revolves around sports.

Maybe it's our area or maybe it's that age but this year seems to have an overabundance of A) Private tryouts long before the organizational tryouts meaning that what looked like 4 openings may be one or two by the time the tryout comes along and B) Coaches just straight up lying to their own parents, long time friends, etc., about tryouts.

The former is a result of Super Diamond Stars trying to beat Dirt Devils Gold in getting Suzie Hotshoe the SS to sign, I sort of get that. The latter just seems counter-productive, and I've seen some really hard feelings already this year already between folks who had been true friends.

The other thing I see is coaches openly lamenting the early tryouts and girls getting recruited by other teams, while they themselves are recruiting girls from other teams early. Overall, it would be hard to imagine a more screwed up system than what is out there now.

Twintrouble said:

Good and bad thing about MN goofy rules is no tryouts can be held until after MN state season is done. Normally last weekend of July. Bad part is all the tryouts for every club team is the same first Mon,Tues, and Wed of August. Have to pick and choose which you want to go to.

One org. got caught contacting and having tryouts early one year and got band from all ASA events. Not a big deal for their top teams which only play PGF. But their lower/feeder teams that normally played local had to travel far for PGF tournys they where not ready for because the other alphabets also honored band.

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Was just going to post this same thing. It is nice knowing tryouts won't happen until after Aug 1st....but you are right, every club has tryouts on Mon, Tues, Wed next week. If your DD wants to try out for a couple different teams...too bad.

Cherry picking players looking for greener pastures will end when NCAA bans coaches from giving verbal commitments to 8th graders. Which is never. Its a stressful time for parents because as one poster said, its musical chair time and you don't want your DD the last one standing... For coaches there is no incentive not to shop for talent unless you have a great team already (which I do - no tryouts this year, no open spots. All players returning & no drama )

tritonfastpitch said:

Was just going to post this same thing. It is nice knowing tryouts won't happen until after Aug 1st....but you are right, every club has tryouts on Mon, Tues, Wed next week. If your DD wants to try out for a couple different teams...too bad.

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You can get a good feel for whether or not a tryout is worth your time by calling ahead. The good ones will be upfront with all your questions. It’s usually enough to know if the tryout is worth attending. If they don’t have time for you as a prospective customer it won’t get any better AFTER they have your money.

I don’t know what age level you’re at, but if you want recommendations in MN drop me a PM. I can tell you which are top notch and which are run by clowns. Very top teams like MW Speed I’m sure you’re already well aware of. It’s the others you need to be more careful with.

MNDad said:

You can get a good feel for whether or not a tryout is worth your time by calling ahead. The good ones will be upfront with all your questions. It’s usually enough to know if the tryout is worth attending. If they don’t have time for you as a prospective customer it won’t get any better AFTER they have your money.

I don’t know what age level you’re at, but if you want recommendations in MN drop me a PM. I can tell you which are top notch and which are run by clowns. Very top teams like MW Speed I’m sure you’re already well aware of. It’s the others you need to be more careful with.

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Yeah...I was making more of a blanket statement. Daughter played for Speed this last year...plans on doing it again

tritonfastpitch said:

Yeah...I was making more of a blanket statement. Daughter played for Speed this last year...plans on doing it again

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She’s in good hands then. They have some amazing coaches. Can I ask what age she group? DD coached a 14U Force team so they may have played each other.

Virtually every "big" org in Atlanta is having their tryouts on Sun., 8/13. Literally at least 6 or 7 of the biggest orgs. Can't be in two places at one time (and one "big" is charging a $25 tryout fee! I mean whatever).

CMMom1740 said:

Virtually every "big" org in Atlanta is having their tryouts on Sun., 8/13. Literally at least 6 or 7 of the biggest orgs. Can't be in two places at one time (and one "big" is charging a $25 tryout fee! I mean whatever).

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I noticed that. Ours is this Saturday, but the org is 1:30 from where we practice. Predictably we don't have many girls registered. We have 7 already, I figure we'll fill the rest with open workouts starting in late August. I personally wouldn't pay for a tryout. I think the teams that are part of orgs that can charge for tryouts and still attract girls also aren't likely to have very many open slots and they probably already know who they want to fill them. For most girls that's going to end up being a waste of money I bet.