Tryout Etiquette

[4 girl's dad]

Watched our org try outs yesterday. i agree with catchermama about having current players in team uniform to show the parents and players that are trying out what they need to do/be to make the team.

There were 11-13 just in 12u that were not on teams in our org. They wore bright pink, light pink, old team uniforms for our org, current team uniforms for other orgs, little league team shirts and tourney t shirts. Their level of play dictated who got looked at. I'm not on the selection committee but I tried to watch for things that made players stand out more than others. But it all boiled down to quality of play, hustle and attitude IMO.

 

[Orange Socks]

Coaches are looking for two things: Line Drives and Dives. That will get you noticed.

 

[#10]

Always hate it when coaches say they are going to make calls that night and never do. Instead they wait 2-3 days before calling. Very unprofessional

Better than never getting a call at all, especially when you're personally asked to return for a second day of workouts. Been there, done that with an "elite" So Cal org.

 

[JAD]

I would not recommend wearing an organizations uniform to a tryout unless your DD played for that organization last season. It makes your DD look like a "wannabe"...

 

[Andy S]

We've had a couple of offers so far after the old team broke up (totally unforeseen). One team was an obvious "no" (call it team 1), as it was a new team that looked like would be playing lower level ball than we were used to with a lower level of TB experienced players. New team being put together after the coach had taken some time off between daughters. Nice coach well recommended, just not for us.

Second offer we got today from a "workout" yesterday (team 2). A former teammate from the old team just accepted an offer after picking up for a tourney, but there were only a couple of other girls from the new team there, and three tryouts (including ours). Seem like an OK bunch, but the daughter felt like it was a strangely quite workout with nobody really talking much to each other. Could kind of understand, as there were really only two there that had played together long term, and four newcomers. This team is moving into playing more ASA/PGF, etc level tourneys this fall, going to higher level competition.

We've got three more tryouts planned:
- team 3 & 4 that are organizations playing at a similar level to team 2, but more established at doing so.
- team 5 is more of a local tournaments (NSA, USGF, etc) type of team that the daughter picked up with an likes the girls.

What's fair as to what to tell the coach with the offer on the table (team 2)? It will be a week before the workout with team 3 and tryout for the "for fun" team 5, and two weeks before the official team 3 & team 4 organizational teams have official tryouts (simultaneous, so we would go to team 4's since we're working out with team 3 early).

How do coaches take being put on hold until we finish try outs? "Uh, we like you guys, but there's some others we like better if we get offers..." doesn't sound like the way to go, and isn't actually what we're thinking. However, holding out to try other tryouts might seem that way to the coaches. We just want the best fit for the kid. But on their side, they need to build a roster, and if we don't accept, they don't need to wait until after try out season to scramble, either.

We've not done a lot of team switching. But this is birds in bushes vs in the glove, etc. Kind of confusing.

 

[999]

It seems like some coaches and teams intentionally do their tryouts earlier than the majority of the teams. If they can pressure players to accept and it works great for them. But they've got to be setting them selves up for some of the stronger girls to wait til most of the tryouts are done before committing.

I'm with everyone else, I wouldn't commit unless you were serious, but by the sound of it it's your 4th best choice.

Down the road you can probably play for a team you turned down an offer for, but not likely to play for one you accepted a spot on them dropped two weeks later when something better came by.

 

[Andy S]

It seems like some coaches and teams intentionally do their tryouts earlier than the majority of the teams. If they can pressure players to accept and it works great for them. But they've got to be setting them selves up for some of the stronger girls to wait til most of the tryouts are done before committing.

I'm with everyone else, I wouldn't commit unless you were serious, but by the sound of it it's your 4th best choice.

Down the road you can probably play for a team you turned down an offer for, but not likely to play for one you accepted a spot on them dropped two weeks later when something better came by.

This team supposedly wasn't doing tryouts. But they've had two sessions of private workouts instead with multiple girls.

We liked them, but the daughter didn't get to see the whole team, just 3 out of maybe 11 girls.

 

[FP26]

How do coaches take being put on hold until we finish try outs? "Uh, we like you guys, but there's some others we like better if we get offers..." doesn't sound like the way to go, and isn't actually what we're thinking. However, holding out to try other tryouts might seem that way to the coaches. We just want the best fit for the kid. But on their side, they need to build a roster, and if we don't accept, they don't need to wait until after try out season to scramble, either.

I have been on both sides of that fence; parent and coach. They are both equally stressful in my opinion.

 

[4 girl's dad]

It's called silly season but should be psycho season for parents.

 

[grcsftbll]

I would think most coaches would be understanding about finishing tryouts before deciding. Obviously parents want the best possible fit for their kids. I wouldn't expect them to hold the spots, though. You make an offer to a catcher (for example), she doesn't decide for 3 weeks. In the meantime I imagine most coaches will be looking at other catchers and if they make an offer to one who accepts, the one who waited might be out of luck.