I have seen post after post over the past couple weeks about how players, and coaches need to make their decisions quickly, so as to be fair to one another. How do you do your due diligence and make your decision quickly? I have no issue with people asking as many questions as they like, my point is, if you ask, or don't ask, the ramifications are the same. Ask about the schedule and get "We plan on playing tournament X,Y, and Z. Then come January when the tourneys are scheduled and paid for, you find out you are playing A,B, and C. What are you going to do??? The same thing you would do had you not asked in the first place. Ask where Suzie fits in, "She will be my #1 and play SS when shes not pitching." Tournament #2, Suzie is playing LF 3 innings and sitting the bench the other 3. What are you going to do??? I just think people get too caught up in trying to get the answers that make them feel good, instead of just rolling with the punches. We all say that athletics teaches life lessons. Sometime good, sometimes bad. Life throws you curve balls every day. You either learn how to hit em, or strike out.
Call me crazy- but we're trying something different this year
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I have seen post after post over the past couple weeks about how players, and coaches need to make their decisions quickly, so as to be fair to one another. How do you do your due diligence and make your decision quickly? I have no issue with people asking as many questions as they like, my point is, if you ask, or don't ask, the ramifications are the same. Ask about the schedule and get "We plan on playing tournament X,Y, and Z. Then come January when the tourneys are scheduled and paid for, you find out you are playing A,B, and C. What are you going to do??? The same thing you would do had you not asked in the first place. Ask where Suzie fits in, "She will be my #1 and play SS when shes not pitching." Tournament #2, Suzie is playing LF 3 innings and sitting the bench the other 3. What are you going to do??? I just think people get too caught up in trying to get the answers that make them feel good, instead of just rolling with the punches. We all say that athletics teaches life lessons. Sometime good, sometimes bad. Life throws you curve balls every day. You either learn how to hit em, or strike out.
Wow, what interesting views there are so far in this thread. Tryouts are such a dance. With paying just a little attention and doing a small amount of homework, parents can easily tell which teams/coaches churn players and which ones are able to keep a stable environment. But, just because a coach says one thing doesn't mean it's going to stick the entire year. It may not even be within their control. Who can tell the future? The kid that busted their tail in tryouts soon stats mailing it in at practice after they've made the team. Their #3 pitcher starts putting in extra work, develops some consistency and then pushes ahead of the #2 pitcher.
As a former AC and now just a parent, I can see both sides of the issue. Our DD has been to multiple tryouts the past few weeks and has received an offer every tryout so far. But my response to each coach has been the same - she has a couple of more tryouts to go and then we are going to sit down together and make a decision. We have asked the coaches questions and what their expectations are. We've been upfront with our expectations. If they find another player in the meantime then so be it, but we are going to look at every opportunity we can. We have a checklist to help us evaluate and then we'll see where all the teams land. Still no guarantee that it will work out in the end though, too many variables. But we are going to go with the best decision we can, with the information we have at the time.
As a former AC and now just a parent, I can see both sides of the issue. Our DD has been to multiple tryouts the past few weeks and has received an offer every tryout so far. But my response to each coach has been the same - she has a couple of more tryouts to go and then we are going to sit down together and make a decision. We have asked the coaches questions and what their expectations are. We've been upfront with our expectations. If they find another player in the meantime then so be it, but we are going to look at every opportunity we can. We have a checklist to help us evaluate and then we'll see where all the teams land. Still no guarantee that it will work out in the end though, too many variables. But we are going to go with the best decision we can, with the information we have at the time.
I agree it has to be a family decision. However, the only way you'll ever have this...." It's complete craziness to me as I have to know and control everything all the time." Is if you coach the team yourself and play "Daddy" or "Mommy" ball and you won't have a team for long. Quit being a control freak. Ask the questions that concern you and your DD of the coaches. If they not only give you the answers you can accept and they follow through on, then you're lucky. If not, move on. BTW, you'll NEVER know or control everything when other people are involved. Just because you think your DD is this Ace pitcher and you hold 4 Aces in your hand doesn't mean that the coaches of the team aren't holding a Royal Flush by having 10 of the top 30 D1 college coaches on speed dial to get their players recruited. What I'm saying is, no matter what happens, don't burn any bridges whatsoever.
Last edited:
- Feb 7, 2013
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When my DD played travel ball and now that my DS plays travel BBall, I do my homework, research teams, orgs, talk to parents of current players, talk to the coaches, determine if there are feeder programs for the high school (yes found out there is for BBall), etc. You goal is to seek as much knowledge as possible, narrow the list of teams that match your kids goals, and go to those tryouts. It's like searching for a new job, you don't go blindly to interviews not knowing anything about the company or the people you will be working (playing) for. Common sense and the right approach goes a long way into finding the right travel ball team for your kids...
Yes, "life throws you curveballs" but if you are prepared, you increase your odds of successfully dealing with that curve ball..
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