Tryout results

[SoCalSoftballdad]

There are certain attributes you cannot teach and cannot coach, and size and speed are two of them.

Disagree with this statement. You can absolutely teach improvement in speed and quickness of the athlete. I see lots of kids who do not use their arms and legs properly and can be much faster with good running techniques.

One advantage of a small player is they have a smaller strike zone at the plate and I frequently use them at lead-off to get on base.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Just because you are small doesn't mean you can't hit for power. I've seen girls 5' 3" 105 lbs hit them over the fence at 200' I will take that kid with speed any day. If you read Marc's forum on this site, yes you can teach them speed and quickness. He worked with my dd on quickness, she was already fast.

 

[RookKev]

I'm definitely not saying a smaller girl can not hit, nor hit for power. But it is very difficult for a person (male or female) who only weighs 70 lbs to hit with real authority on a bunch of swings. They can hit one or two on the button, and a good coach would hopefully recognize that... but in a tryout at 12U, when you have so many girls lined up and you get 15 pitches, it is pretty tough to show off your swing.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Disagree with this statement. You can absolutely teach improvement in speed and quickness of the athlete. I see lots of kids who do not use their arms and legs properly and can be much faster with good running techniques.

One advantage of a small player is they have a smaller strike zone at the plate and I frequently use them at lead-off to get on base.

I agree that you can improve speed and quickness of a player with training. However, you cannot teach "being fast". Improved technique will help a fast player become faster, and a slow player to become not so slow, but you will NOT teach a slow player to become FAST. And in any sport, being small, and being slow, are not advantageous. You will generally lose out to the bigger and/or faster kids, particularly at tryouts, where you have a limited number of opportunities to impress.

Also, it does not help to get a small kid on base as your leadoff hitter from a walk if they are one of the slowest kids on the team. You can't steal and are left going base to base with that player. Given the choice, all other things being equal, I would use a faster player with a bigger strike zone as a lead off hitter than the slow player with a smaller zone.

 

[Michael N]

All right folks , lets get this thread back on track .The good news so far is 2 separate tryouts for my DD and 2 offers to play . The bad news is that it seems like there aren't very many 12U players so most of the clubs are looking for anyone who has any talent at all . The really bad news is that my DD may have slightly torn her ACL sliding into home while goofing around with the HS girls the other day so we are off to the Sports Medicine Doctor tomorrow to get her checked out . Luckily her tryouts this weekend are for the team she played for this season and she is guaranteed a spot already . She still wanted to see where she stacked up against the other girls but if her ACL is torn she is gonna be wearing a knee brace and watching the tryouts from the stands .

 

[absdad]

What does big buy you?

A larger strike zone.

I'm biased though.. my dd is the shortest and fastest on the team. Batted 1 or 2 for years.

DD went to three tryouts. Her #1 team, never got a call back, oh well. Second tryout offered her on the spot. She was a bit unsure of the level that they would play at, so wanted to go to a few more tryouts. Third tryout was a private tryout, for a high level team, they offered her a spot right then. She decided that night to accept.

Usually, we've had a pretty good schedule of tryouts. DD this year was very methodical about it (let her do most of the decision making, she's first year 14u this year), and looked at some other factors she hadn't in the past.

 

[Westwind]

DD's are 9 and 13. DD9's first tryout was her #1 team, we had all met the coaches who have much more experience than most coaches in the area. They have a track record of building great fundamentals, having a bunch of fun and the girls tend to stay with this coach through the end of 14u when he goes back to 10u. 10 girl roster. Heard only positive things about this team from both team parents and parents and a coach that played against them. The tryout was very organized, well staffed, measured all kinds of athletic performance as well as throwing, catching and hitting. Got an offer on the spot and we immediately accepted. Great fit for DD and I think she knows how fortunate she is and is already showing pride in being part of something like this.

DD13 was already on a team and she really wasn't really looking for a change. Still, being a second year 14u that had never been to a tryout, she wanted to see where she compared and didn't want to go to her first tryout next year having never done it before. Wanted to look at three different teams. First tryout we attended was not well organized. Both DD13 and I took it as an immediate warning sign. I had talked to the coach on the phone and liked what he had to say but the disorganization scared me. We did not hear back from that team.

Second night, we went to another tryout for DD13. I had also talked to that coach on the phone. I really liked what he told me about developing the girls who were chosen and that over the years most of the girls played several positions per year and he liked flexible players. He said they would practice hard and the girls would sweat. Said they were filling positions of girls that had to move up next spring. He likes an 11 girl roster. He told me the prior year they started off very slow in fall, practiced hard all winter and by spring they played very well. Sounded good to me. There were a ton of girls at the tryout- I really didn't think my daughter stood out that much. She is a solid middle infielder and she had an average night hitting. She did have a couple really nice shots. Coach came over and talked to remaining parents, told us that all would hear from him either way and thanked us all. Got an offer later that night. Turns out that both DD9 and DD13 will practice at the same location and the winter indoor practices are back to back at the same place. Both teams tend to play an ASA schedule and DD13's old team played a light U-trip schedule. We really think that we will have both girls in the same tournament facility on quite a few weekends. It was like it was meant to be. We accepted. Went to our first practice for DD13 this week. It was awesome- well run practice, coaches do well with the girls and the parents are the kind of people we want to spend our summer with. DD13 loved it. The more I find out about this team, the more I realize how lucky we are to be part of it. Going to be a lifestyle change having two girls playing and practicing all the time! We are going to get really intimate with the windshield, our crock pot, granola bars and ham sandwiches.

 

[spin17]

My DD was on an 18u team last year. She is a pitcher and played a moderate amount of games, sitting more than she wanted to. Regardless, when she played she pitched well. This year the organization decided to have two 18u teams. She was upset to find out that she was going to be put on the so called B team. I think she felt it was a personal failure. The coach told her that it would be best for her so that she would get more pitching time, that she would be a leader on this team. The issue is that this is her senior year, so the tournaments she plays in the fall are very vital. they only kept 4 seniors on the team and I don't think any of the pitchers are seniors. Is it better for her to be on a gold team with less pitching time, or an elite team with more pitching time? The coach said both teams will be doing the same showcases. Do colleges really look at the difference between gold and elite? Does it matter? She has about ten coaches interested in her no. DIII, but thats ok some of them are still really good teams and some really great colleges.

 

[Michael N]

DD finally made her choice last night . The team she was on this past year had some coaching changes and she did not want to play for the new coach even though she would have gotten to play on a team full of older girls . In the end she chose a new team in an established club that has been around for a long time . The new team was looking for younger girls that could play together for 2 years but was really impressed with my DD speed and leadership qualities on the field so they offered her a spot on this team with the opportunity to move her up onto the 14U team next year . I would have liked to see her stay with her team from last year but I let her pick since in the end she has to play for the team , not me . Practices start Sunday with the team gearing up to play 2 tournaments in October before going indoors for the winter .

 

[SoftSocDad]

It was a little surprising to me, but DD chose not to work out for any TB teams. Some of the area coaches have seen her play over the past couple of years and are familiar with her skills. The recruiting starts very early around here. She's going to play on a traveling REC team this fall as the #1 pitcher and will play regular rec again in the spring. She loved her summer team, but after that experience, her new motivation is to be one of the top 2 pitchers in all-stars next summer, so that's why she's staying in rec. Personally, I hope she'll stay in 10u rec for two more years, but that may depend on what happens with the league.