Things you think you might mention on your tryout notice....

[marriard]

So we had the Tryout Translator (http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-discussions/24898-tryout-notice-translator.html)
On to the 'Just Plain Bad Notice'

Some of these things border on criminal but over the past few days I have seen the following:
(note: my DD is staying with her team but I post tryout notices for our org so I am seeing all the other teams):

Failing to include one or more of the following:

• Team Location.. some vague idea would be nice
• Team Age Group
• Tryout Date(s)
• Partial tryout dates: e.g. Saturday... not which Saturday
• Tryout time
• Tryout location - no address, no field name, no city, no county...
• Contact details of any kind
• Partial contact details (misformed email addresses, phone # without area code or short a number, website with address that isn't right, etc)
• Coaches names and why they are any good (I am SURE coach Stuart is great... but be nice to know why)
• Team name
• Org Name
• Level of play

Seriously... I just saw one post on the local board where EVERY team locally posts their tryouts that read (and this is directly cut and pasted):


Subject: Tryouts on Saturday
Post: We will have tryouts on Saturday at 11am for our team. Pitchers and catchers should turn up 30 minutes early. Email Coach Joanne if you have any questions.

Not sure they are going to get anyone out based on this.

Other mistakes:

• Spelling your team name wrong
• Airing dirty laundry (calling out past players by name, mentioning replacing coaches, stating team formed because of issues with team X ('Core of team X comes from the ex-OrgName X-U team which broke apart because of Coach X's attitude... yes this was in their tryout notice)
• Posting completely in the wrong area... county, geography... occasionally state (and not because you are a statewide/multistate showcase team). I am sure your 10U team 1,200 miles away is very nice, however...
• Setting a tryout time which is clearly designed to stop you going to other tryouts (10:30am shoud be banned)
• Clear lies about last season that can be checked in 10 seconds... Hint: USSSA results are ON THEIR WEBSITE
• Forgetting to mention that your State Championship was in the 'C' division
• Conflicting tryout dates for the org and your team (posts from the org inidicate tryouts that don't match the individual teams tryout)
• Limiting position ... e..g 10U team is posting that they need ONLY A 2B.. Seriously. Just a 2B???
• ONE BIG BLOCK OF TEXT AND RUN ON SENTENCES... normally ALL IN CAPS

And these are just the ones I saw this week

 

[CatchTheFever]

"Forgetting to mention that your State Championship was in the 'C' division"

This is my personal favorite. Love to see people bragging about stuff that is really not a big deal and making it seem like it is. Like winning their World Series against a full field of 6 teams....whoohoo! ....I'm in FL too btw.

 

[grcsftbll]

How about getting their pronouns wrong? There's a local organization that historically has a baseball focus. They've recently gotten into softball and apparently copy/pasted their tryout info from a past baseball post. It was all "he" instead of "she." Then another post for a different organization (a big one) said something about a feeling of brotherhood on the team. Yeah? Alrighty then. It's really not that big of a deal I suppose but my husband and I both noticed independently and it did stand out. I also don't like seeing poor grammar/spelling/errors. Most tryout announcements probably take about 3 minutes to write and about 30 seconds to read. Have someone proofread them, please.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Spell check. Grammar check.

For example, try this one. (#5 and #6 are my favorites.)

Oganizational Core Values:
1) Have dedicated trusthworthy coaches that have the best interest of the team.
2) Teach players the skills and techniques necessary to be successful on and off the field.
3) To promote spirited competition through goal focused practices and tournament competition
4) To market players to college coaches through tournaments and web based marketing
5) To enhdance the players throug intense physical fitness that will strength the player for years to come.
6) To promote an learning enviorment is fun, but instructional benfical.

 

[grcsftbll]

It's always a good idea to strength your players.

 

[JAD]

Since my DD has to move up to 18U this year I am just noticing that there is no such thing as an 18U B-level team. Everyone is 18-A, 18-Gold, 18-Premier......

 

[CoachKevin]

Since my DD has to move up to 18U this year I am just noticing that there is no such thing as an 18U B-level team. Everyone is 18-A, 18-Gold, 18-Premier......

I noticed that too, some probably should be B. But, on the other hand, I didn't see a Tournament where there was an 18B, they were all open. Heck even the State Tournament combined A and B together......

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

To promote an learning enviorment is fun, but instructional benfical.

I'm pretty sure these guys are the ones who promised me $3MILLION in a bank in Nigeria. I'm still waiting on the check...

 

[guero_gordo]

Hey come on now, Ben Fical is a great coach.

 

[Seattlecoach]

Since my DD has to move up to 18U this year I am just noticing that there is no such thing as an 18U B-level team. Everyone is 18-A, 18-Gold, 18-Premier......

My theory here is all the true B teams have folded before 18U. Now the worst teams are made up of players who have fallen off good team rosters and people who have stopped really trying hard. But they are still A because they aren't *gasp* B players. There has to be a distinction somehow hence the real "A" teams calling themselves Gold and Premier...

The real new one for me is 16 Gold.