Indoor Tryouts.....fresh ideas?

[BaldNBeautiful]

Snowing again here in the Southern Appalachians and I have day two of my MS tryouts today. The gym is the only option I have for the foreseeable future....may be able to get on the field next week sometime.
I have a decent size gym with an additional 16' of space on each sideline, nothing on the baselines though.
I worked the 8th graders yesterday (have 14 girls trying out, really don't see keeping more than 9 of them) but today is a combined 7th & 8th grade session. I expect at the very least 30, maybe 35 today. I have a three hour time slot to work in.
I have a plan (lots of hitting stations, and use the lite-flite machine) as well as warm-up, stretch, throw, etc.
Any ideas that you folks have used to keep the gym from getting so tiresome?
BTW Monday will be 7th grade only, and I will evaluate them as I did Friday: timed H to 1st, H to 2nd, H to H. ground balls throw to target, etc.

 

[quincy]

Tryouts inside are awful, just lived it.

I do not have an answer for you but I felt the players were handcuffed. One of the things I would have liked to be able to figure out was how good of an arm a player had. It would have been nice for the player to show off their arm strength/ accuracy.

 

[BaldNBeautiful]

I do hit Incrediballs to the players (with a tennis racket) to work on fielding, but that takes up a lot of the usable space.

 

[Coach Fastpitch]

Have you thought about adding a little competition to the drills to break it up. Do some in a rows, or score two points if you hit the target lose a point if you miss and the number at the end is number of push ups. We usually finish a drill out with either a timed test (do x in y time), in a rows (do x in a row and we will move on), or a game like i mentioned. It helps find the true competitors and the true teammates /leaders. And it might add a little fun to the routine of drills. Mine love throwing at a target because the game at the end is the players get 1 minute to field and throw at the target as many as possible every hit i do a push up, every miss they do 2.

This is written on my phone, so I apologize for the misspellings and stream of consciousness writing style.

 

[quincy]

Off topic a little bit, well a lot, but a tryout question.

Evaluated 70 players last Friday, 1st 10 I put some comment about how they threw the ball not quite right. Then being lazy I decided just to comment on the players I thought threw the ball more or less correct. I didn’t care how they threw the ball to get where it needed to and do not think the players are going to get enough attention by the coach to change how they threw the ball anyways.

Do you really care how a player throws a ball? Do you think you will have the time to improve it?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

How they throw the ball is #1, with me. It is the entire basis for softball, whether it is pitching or hitting.

I can tell 99% of the time, whether I would keep a girl, based solely on her overhand throw.

If they are a little off, I would see how they respond to a little coaching, and then rate them 1-3 on their throw. 1 is great. 2 is will make changes, 3 is forget it.

 

[Coach Fastpitch]

How they throw the ball is #1, with me. It is the entire basis for softball, whether it is pitching or hitting.

I can tell 99% of the time, whether I would keep a girl, based solely on her overhand throw.

If they are a little off, I would see how they respond to a little coaching, and then rate them 1-3 on their throw. 1 is great. 2 is will make changes, 3 is forget it.

Great point as always by Amy. Reminded me of a comment Jacquie Joseph, head coach at Michigan State made at a Nsca presentation. The statement was something to the effect of when she walks up to scout kids, she watches them warm up and if their first three throws she sees lack accuracy or pace she crosses them off the list.

 

[chinamigarden]

One way is to excuse the studs after day 1 they made the team cut the obvious ones after day one then spend the rest of the truiuts only with the middle group. Those are where the tough decisions will be made so spend the most time with them

 

[BaldNBeautiful]

Thanks for the comments......my first year coaching MS ball I had 15 tryout and I kept 12. That was a combined 7th & 8th grade team. All five 8th graders are still playing HS ball, one has signed with an NAIA school and one is planning to.
Over the last two days I have had 32 girls show up to tryout for a Varsity and a JV team. Probably 25 of them are better the last two players on that first team. That is the good part.
The bad part is we got two more inches of snow today, the high temperature tomorrow might be 30. With almost no chance of seeing the field until Tuesday evening after the HS finishes. I really need to limit the rosters to 22 girls total. I just don't think I can make cuts until I see them on the dirt....

 

[Vance Lee Evans]

I feel for you. We had one scrimmage yesterday before the snow came in. Our ladies fell apart because they focused on the cold and sleet. How much longer can you extend the tryouts?