Please help with proper etiquette for “tryout week”

Elk Grove Hurricane said:

Timely question. Most teams that I know ask for a specific deadline (within 24 hours, by this Friday, before we hold our next tryout, etc.) One or two that I know of ask for an answer immediately and tell you the offer is off the table if you go to another tryout for another team.

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ian said:

Well if the offer is off the table you better say yes. You can always reassess and do what is best for your child. Should go to all the tryouts you can make to keep your DDs skills sharp.

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fuzzy2651 said:

I'm fine with the 24-48 hours. That's mainly for the coaches or org. I wouldn't want to be kept waiting for longer than that and I wouldn't make someone else do it either. The head of one of the org's we tried out for over the weekend warned the girls that if any coach is pressuring you to make a decision right away, to run. I actually appreciated that because it shows what they expect from their coaches and the standards they have.

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CMMom1740 said:

But that's easier said than done when tryouts (especially the big organizational ones) are spread out over a three-week period. And I agree that the pressure for an immediate response reeks of desperation. My DD is a catcher and we want to know how the pitching situation is shaping up. If the coach currently only has one good pitcher and is still looking for two other "A level" pitchers, we don't really want to commit before we know that's actually going to happen, especially at the older levels (we're first year 16U).

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FP26 said:

I completely understand the thought process here, but I also think this is what causes some of the aggravation for all parties involved. If a team is in need of pitchers, they will typically want to get them committed first. But if the pitchers are also attending multiple tryouts and don't want to commit, it will drag out the entire process for everyone else. So not much will really happen until those top pitchers make up their minds. And if they would happen to change their minds after a commitment was made, you can really expect the musical chairs to begin. Reminds me of the LeBron James free agency situation.

Luckily it isn't a problem I really ever had to deal with. As a 'B" team, we always offered to retain all current players. And with few exceptions, the majority of our players/families have been honest with us regarding their intentions (except for our very first year...). So in most cases we would enter tryouts only needing 2 or 3 players to fill our roster, and never needed more than 1 pitcher. The last year we held official tryouts, we did have four pitchers try out for one available spot. One of them was clearly better than the other 3, but we also knew she was attending other tryouts. I spoke to her dad to gauge their interest. I felt that the interest was limited, so I offered her a spot and asked for an answer in 24 hours. At that point I moved on to the next player, who accepted immediately. Since we only ever needed a few players, we never really worried much about other team's tryouts. We filled our spots and moved on. The last three years, we didn't conduct tryouts at all. All available spots were filled by players that had reached out to me. I knew each of them personally and had no need to conduct a tryout with any of them.

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