- Jul 29, 2016
- 231
- 43
My daughter has been on four different teams in four years. We are not team-hoppers. Every single team she's been on has fallen apart. Four years ago we moved from B-ball to A-ball. Three years ago, two pitchers left and the team imploded. Two years ago, our team decided to stay down in 14U and my daughter aged out. This year, drama is making the team splinter (I could write pages about that, but none of it would be anything all of you haven't heard before).
The biggest problem with moving from team to team is the try-outs. My daughter has gotten steadily better from year-to-year, but she doesn't do well in a try-out situation. Her pop time with a runner stealing is 1.8. Without a runner it is 2.2 She gets nervous with the bat during tryouts, too. As a result, the coaches can't really see what she's capable of, and we've ended up on the second-tier A-ball teams. As we wind down this year's TB season (we have one tournament left), our current team has seen some success - playing in the final game of a couple of tournaments. We had looked forward to playing our second year of 16U with these girls, but drama has resulted in several girls leaving and the coach going a little crazy.
So, with a heavy heart, we started sending out feelers. Lots of teams were looking for a catcher, so we sent out an email with lots and lots of video asking for confidential tryouts (would rather avoid ramping up the drama while we're still playing for our current team). And then a magical thing happened to my daughter for the first time -- teams were interested. Lots of really good teams wanted a look. But we still dreaded the grind of the tryout circuit. My wife took her to a tryout on Saturday (liked the coach, but he's with an untested organization). Then on Saturday afternoon, we saw a posting from a very very good team with a very very good organization specifically looking for a catcher. I sent them a text followed by the videos. Ten minutes later we were on the phone. 24 hours later, we were at a private tryout that they threw together for us (and as it turned out, three other hopefuls). At the end of that, they made an offer, and daughter accepted on the spot.
Who knew it could be so easy? Only took four years of grinding. For once my wife and I don't have to spend my entire August covering hundreds of square miles driving my daughter from try out to try out with her growing more discouraged (and sore) at every stop. And my daughter is excited about softball again!
The biggest problem with moving from team to team is the try-outs. My daughter has gotten steadily better from year-to-year, but she doesn't do well in a try-out situation. Her pop time with a runner stealing is 1.8. Without a runner it is 2.2 She gets nervous with the bat during tryouts, too. As a result, the coaches can't really see what she's capable of, and we've ended up on the second-tier A-ball teams. As we wind down this year's TB season (we have one tournament left), our current team has seen some success - playing in the final game of a couple of tournaments. We had looked forward to playing our second year of 16U with these girls, but drama has resulted in several girls leaving and the coach going a little crazy.
So, with a heavy heart, we started sending out feelers. Lots of teams were looking for a catcher, so we sent out an email with lots and lots of video asking for confidential tryouts (would rather avoid ramping up the drama while we're still playing for our current team). And then a magical thing happened to my daughter for the first time -- teams were interested. Lots of really good teams wanted a look. But we still dreaded the grind of the tryout circuit. My wife took her to a tryout on Saturday (liked the coach, but he's with an untested organization). Then on Saturday afternoon, we saw a posting from a very very good team with a very very good organization specifically looking for a catcher. I sent them a text followed by the videos. Ten minutes later we were on the phone. 24 hours later, we were at a private tryout that they threw together for us (and as it turned out, three other hopefuls). At the end of that, they made an offer, and daughter accepted on the spot.
Who knew it could be so easy? Only took four years of grinding. For once my wife and I don't have to spend my entire August covering hundreds of square miles driving my daughter from try out to try out with her growing more discouraged (and sore) at every stop. And my daughter is excited about softball again!
