14U Tryouts Observations

[ian]

Tryouts are fun! DD joined a new team for fall ball. DD always performs well during tryouts for some reason. She gets very competitive when she is on the field with coaches and players she doesnt know. We both liked her last team but she needs a team she can go to 16s with next year so she made the move. Looks like a good group of girls and two good coaches.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

How I look at tryouts/practices sometimes

 

[joe720]

I had a weird one. My DD wasn't sure she wanted to play travel. She just turned 10 and we've been pitching just over 6 months. So we wee going to wait until next year and just play LL fall ball this year and 10U next spring. Strangely enough a 12U team just formed locally and was short some a couple of roster spots. Talked to the coach this weekend and he was familiar with my DD and her pitching so now next week, she'll be playing in travel. Really like the coaches too, not DD's on the team and guys i've known from around LL. Looking forward to the beginning of her TB career.

 

[Snotbubbles]

I had a weird one. My DD wasn't sure she wanted to play travel. She just turned 10 and we've been pitching just over 6 months. So we wee going to wait until next year and just play LL fall ball this year and 10U next spring. Strangely enough a 12U team just formed locally and was short some a couple of roster spots. Talked to the coach this weekend and he was familiar with my DD and her pitching so now next week, she'll be playing in travel. Really like the coaches too, not DD's on the team and guys i've known from around LL. Looking forward to the beginning of her TB career.

Seems like an indoctrination by fire. No TB experience, limited pitching experience (+bigger ball and further back), playing up in age. Good luck.

 

[CMMom1740]

So, the team we had an offer from that we are just not sure about (for a variety of reasons, but mainly b/c they're a brand new organization and they are promising the moon re: A ball and showcases/big tournaments) texted this morning stating that they're holding their first practice this Sunday. DD has three "callback" tryouts this week plus one additional tryout. I'm hoping we'll have a solid offer in hand by Sunday, but am debating hedging our bets and saying DD will come to the practice (stopping short of committing to the team). We already told him we need until 8/15 to decide. I understand his motivation, but we're just too unsure. Ugh, I hate this BS.

 

[catchermama]

So, the team we had an offer from that we are just not sure about (for a variety of reasons, but mainly b/c they're a brand new organization and they are promising the moon re: A ball and showcases/big tournaments) texted this morning stating that they're holding their first practice this Sunday. DD has three "callback" tryouts this week plus one additional tryout. I'm hoping we'll have a solid offer in hand by Sunday, but am debating hedging our bets and saying DD will come to the practice (stopping short of committing to the team). We already told him we need until 8/15 to decide. I understand his motivation, but we're just too unsure. Ugh, I hate this BS.

I don't think you have a lot to worry about since your DD is a catcher and that seems to be the need for a lot of teams. I think you just need to figure out what kind of team will be best for her. There are pros and cons to new teams and existing teams - what matters is where she is going to get the most attention and development.

We did a new team for 2nd year 10U and it was the right decision because they weren't chasing dreams of nationals and had a lot of patience with my DD as she was learning to catch. Fast forward 2 years...we started looking for a team that is playing a tougher schedule because she needs more "push" than "patience" right now so she can elevate her game. I'm sure you've made a list of what you're looking for so I would just keep re-visiting that list and make sure the team is lining up (as much as you can tell from the used car salesmen coaches) and make a decision. Being in limbo is absolutely the worst part. Once we made the decision, it was like "we're in, for better or for worse!"

 

[CMMom1740]

Just tired of the games and the constantly shifting tryouts. Make us an offer or tell us she's out of the running so we can look at other options.

 

[IRONMAN]

Would be nice to have a solid offer in hand by the end of this week. I'm SO ready to be done with this...

As Karen Carpenter would sing "we've only just begun". Wait until college coaches start coming out and watching your DD and their teammates play. You get that same feeling just wanting to know what they are thinking.

 

[santirx]

My DD sprained her ankle a few weeks ago. She played 12U with Travel Team last season, and she is going up to 14U for next season. She is a catcher and the last season team director had already approached her telling her that he wants my DD on his 14U team next season.

We still wanted our DD to tryout with other teams, so we registered her for at least another team's tryout, before she got hurt.

We were not planning to take her to the tryout, but as she felt much better, she attended it with an ankle brace and tape, and notified them of the injury. The organizers said it was fine and that she needed to notify each drill station about the injury. She couldn't do basically any drills that involved high impact running because we told her we didn't wanted her to re-injure her ankle, but she did overhand throwing, batting and catching drills, as well as infield fielding drills, which she did well in my opinion. She had to attend twice to be able to complete everything.

There were other tryouts we were planning on taking her, but we decided to call it quits and take her to the previous season team tryouts (where, since they know her, she will be able to do a light tryout). So this year she will only have these 2 tryouts.

Currently waiting on the results of the first team tryout, but at this point we have little hope. Not sure if they are taking the fact that my DD couldn't do some drills into consideration, but if they do I would've prefer they tell us in advance, because then we would've made the decision not to allow her to tryout. Anyone has any similar experience in the past?

BTW... This is my first post. I've been lurking around for a few weeks now, but never posted anything. This forum helped us with our decision on a catcher's mitt brand... Recently bought the Vinci mitt.