This Softball Tryout Process Has Gotten Out of Hand

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Ken Krause

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May 7, 2008
3,911
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Mundelein, IL
So there I was a couple of weeks ago (early June 2022), scrolling through Facebook mindlessly (as if there is another way), when suddenly I saw it: a notification about upcoming tryouts for the 2023 travel season. “What the what?” I thought. The high school season hasn’t even ended for everyone here in Illinois, they’re […]

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Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
I know soccer and volleyball have a large start up/dues cost up front. In So Cal softball, tryouts are year around and parent have to dole out around $500 for uniform and start-ups. So if Jenny isn't getting enough playing time they can switch teams. It's costly but not the financial commitment that volleyball requires. Teams are in a constant state of flux. Kinda like the portal.Lol
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,409
113
Texas
Years back a high level softball coach got blasted on the Texas Heybucket forum for allegedly announcing his tryouts one week early. The softball illuminati black balled him for a while. He actually came on to tell his side of the story. There is a standing agreement among the coaches of the "Gold" team that you DO NOT hold Open tryouts until the week after the last National Tourney.

Now, if a player wants to go to a workout or private that doesn't count. At that level coaches know who is supposed to show up to their tryout. At the younger ages not so much.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
===Instead of thinking up enticements to draw new (and presumably better) players, why not think about how to help your current players become better?===

Not what coaches do in 2022. Including college coaches. They want finished players, not players that will “embarrass” them. They want to assemble a team and go win games. If that doesn’t work, go get some new players. Do some more team assembly.

The Plan isn’t to coach. The Plan is to get some of those those 200 players that made the Phony Baloney Top 100. When that doesn’t work, go get someone better, even if they have never laid eyes on that player. And btw, they are “better” because someone else says so. “Super Sports Drink POY?”. Damn! Must be super good. I better get her before someone else does.

People, coaches at all levels struggle with evaluating talent. Yet that’s what 90% of what “coaching” has become. Picking players. Getting them before someone else does.

It is indeed a different world.
 
Last edited:
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
At 16u and above, what percentage of how good a team is ( not including strategy decisions) actually comes from something the coach actually does from a teaching/instructing perspective? 15%?

You put me as OU’s HC, let me run practice and let Patty coach in games and how many less games do they win this year? 20? 10? 5?
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
Patty is probably a bad example! I think she IS good at evaluating talent. I also think she is smart about in game adjustments in strategy and attitude…. She can talk and knows what to say and when… But yeah, I think you could coach 3rd and I could coach 1st and even if we didn’t have wristbands we could win a bunch of games with a Patty prepared team, lol!
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Patty is probably a bad example! I think she IS good at evaluating talent. I also think she is smart about in game adjustments in strategy and attitude…. She can talk and knows what to say and when… But yeah, I think you could coach 3rd and I could coach 1st and even if we didn’t have wristbands we could win a bunch of games with a Patty prepared team, lol!
I asked it the other way around though…let me and you coach them up every day in practice and let her coach in games. What happens? People are always complaining that the coaches of top teams just collect talent and don’t do anything to make them better players. IMO, for the most part by 16 YO you are not going to take Peter Attar and turn him into Alex Rodriguez with your extensive knowledge of the intricacies of run downs, cutoffs, how to field a GB etc..Can they help? Sure, but you are not going to turn a team into a TB powerhouse that way..

By collecting talent where every kid knows that they could lose their job if they don’t work, you might be doing more to improve them than anything you instruct them in..
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
True! I did! Not for any logical reason though, I was just typing away as if I had a brain. I’m also scheming about how I can coach a base. I truly enjoy that.

I still believe that good practice makes a difference. And that has to be part of Patty’s success too. I think she’s the whole package even though I have no way of really knowing that.

Also, I kind of expanded the discussion by including college coaches. The coaches of younger teams where technique and coaching CAN make a difference are really what we are be talking about here.

DD’s oft quoted (by me!) 10u coach believed softball players are made, not born. I’m clinging to that! Of course, he was probably speaking from a different perspective since he was “recruiting“ 8 and 9 year old players.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
True! I did! Not for any logical reason though, I was just typing away as if I had a brain. I’m also scheming about how I can coach a base. I truly enjoy that.

I still believe that good practice makes a difference. And that has to be part of Patty’s success too. I think she’s the whole package even though I have no way of really knowing that.

Also, I kind of expanded the discussion by including college coaches. The coaches of younger teams where technique and coaching CAN make a difference are really what we are be talking about here.

DD’s oft quoted (by me!) 10u coach believed softball players are made, not born. I’m clinging to that! Of course, he was probably speaking from a different perspective since he was “recruiting“ 8 and 9 year old players.
I think they are made, to some extent, too. Just that by 16’s they are almost fully made already at least from the perspective of the ability to be on a top tier team..
 

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