Team change again!

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
IMO, players should be earning their playing time and positions every day in every workout, every practice, and every game, not just during a tryout.

Completely agree and the first step to proving your worth is earning the right to being a member of the team from your performance at tryouts. See too many teams that carry the same players, year after year, with no recourse for bad attitude or poor performance.
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,151
38
New England
Completely agree and the first step to proving your worth is earning the right to being a member of the team from your performance at tryouts. See too many teams that carry the same players, year after year, with no recourse for bad attitude or poor performance.

Tryouts aren't the answer for this type of team. Entitled players only become entitled by their coaches/parents.
 
With that said, LAS comments have me scratching my head. No player is committed to a team longer than the season, so they shouldn't feel obligated to stay with their current team and should be encouraged to tryout for many teams each year after their current team's season ends, so they can find the right fit and organization for the coming season.
It's simple, really. Recruiters like myself and college coaches see team jumping as a sign that a girl cannot or will not compete for her position or playing time. It is a sign of a girl moving around in order to get more of both far more often than it is a sign of a girl looking for a good fit. It is also a sign of nutso parents quite often, as well.

In the case of a team aging up and a girl being left behind (or a girl who has the bulk of her team staying down and she has to age up), it is much easier to overlook this. Same holds true if a coaching staff leaves or the girl was on a very weak team and wants to be on a better team. But moving laterally or near laterally is a huge red flag with us and we will avoid girls who are simply looking to switch teams (yet again) like the plague.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,223
38
Georgia
Sorry she has to go through that upheaval when things were going well.
IMHO, you should ask a lot of questions about the "team hitting coach". Frequently this type of position is filled by a cookie cutter type of coach.

All of the girls on our team are expected to take private batting lessons. We have coaches who throw BP and may offer some suggestions, but not sure I would give them the title "team hitting coach".
 
Last edited:
Oct 10, 2011
3,113
0
All of the girls on our team are expected to take private batting lessons. We have coaches who throw BP and may offer some suggestions, but not sure I would give them the title "team hitting coach".
JAD I'm hearing this from DW so I'm not sure if they have a team hitting coach or just a coach that's good working with hitters :)
 
Jul 16, 2008
1,520
48
Oregon
Completely agree and the first step to proving your worth is earning the right to being a member of the team from your performance at tryouts. See too many teams that carry the same players, year after year, with no recourse for bad attitude or poor performance.

You must also take in account where the team is from. I coached a "local" hometown team through 14U. Our town is pretty small, and out of the way. I would advertise for try-outs several weeks in advance, put up flyers in the neighboring towns... guess who showed up for try-outs? Yep the same girls over and over. I disbanded the team and told them they need to play on the best team they could get on. My DD ended up making a team 1+ hours away. So sometimes keeping the same girls isn't a choice if you want to have a team.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
It's simple, really. Recruiters like myself and college coaches see team jumping as a sign that a girl cannot or will not compete for her position or playing time. It is a sign of a girl moving around in order to get more of both far more often than it is a sign of a girl looking for a good fit. It is also a sign of nutso parents quite often, as well.

In the case of a team aging up and a girl being left behind (or a girl who has the bulk of her team staying down and she has to age up), it is much easier to overlook this. Same holds true if a coaching staff leaves or the girl was on a very weak team and wants to be on a better team. But moving laterally or near laterally is a huge red flag with us and we will avoid girls who are simply looking to switch teams (yet again) like the plague.

Nothing wrong with evaluating your options each season to see what is the best fit for both the team and the individual. Unless you are in a small market of talent, the expectation is that players can and should tryout for several teams each season and re-evaluate their options to make the best informed decision. Many times what coaches advertise at the beginning of the season isn't what happens during the season. Having tryouts each season also makes the coaches work hard to recruit and retain talent.

The only issue I have is the players that change teams 2 and 3 times a year, and don't honor their commitment to the team. But as you know playing in SoCal, their is lots of movement of players in-season which changes the dynamics and make-up of most teams. So the team you thought you were on in Sept. is radically different than the one in May. An example is our 12U team "inherited" some 14U 8th graders for several months which blind-sided our parents. This was never explained to us at the beginning of the season.

IMO, you need to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of the team and see if their are better options in the future. Don't see how this is a bad thing. If you look at the backgroound of many D1 players, they have played for many different teams over the years.
 
Mar 23, 2010
2,017
38
Cafilornia
All of the girls on our team are expected to take private batting lessons. We have coaches who throw BP and may offer some suggestions, but not sure I would give them the title "team hitting coach".

It was in post #1 of this thread, and definitely can be a red flag, though not as flagrant as "team pitching coach".
 

Latest posts

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,864
Messages
679,906
Members
21,575
Latest member
zwhickcar
Top