tryouts for practice

[iMlearning]

Well, I think we all know that it is good experience to try out for several teams. Our travel team requires the girls to try out each year and they do actually cut girls fairly often. I know one girl is not going to be coming back that is trying out according to the new head coach. Anyway, the other day the former head coach said that when he takes his DD to tryouts, he tells the coaches that she has no intention of joining, but is using it for practice. Now doesn't this ruin some of the reason you try out? His DD is outstanding for sure so she wouldn't get cut and is probably going to move to 18U gold at age 14. But, how do you know how you stack up against other players trying out, and where is the motivation to try your best. I know these girls are very motivated so they would do a great job, but I think it takes away some of the edge, excitement, nervousness, and is part of dealing with the jitters etc....
Anyway, I was just curious what you think. My dd will be trying out for several teams because we don't know if she'll stay or even make the team again. One girl that got cut, got put back on when her dad agreed to assist coaching- what a bunch of crap LOL! I don't have that card to play but I can put a ball on a tee if necessary

 

[quincy]

Someone mentioned before that some larger organizations charge the Player to tryout for their club to limit the amount of Players just showing up without any interest in joining. I am OK with that just as I am OK with Players trying out for teams they will not likely join. You are better of saying it up front and if the Team has an Issue with it they will ask the Player to leave.

One girl that got cut, got put back on when her dad agreed to assist coaching- what a bunch of crap LOL! I don't have that card to play but I can put a ball on a tee if necessary

Similar thing happen to DD, she was cut and I told the HC that I would not help at practice then she made the Team.

I do not have a problem picking one player over another because of the help the family is willing to provide the entire Team.

 

[maksoftball]

I took DD to several tryouts a couple of years ago just for "practice" but only told her that to avoid any heartache of not being accepted. Not sure if that makes sense or not. LOL. However, now that she's older and has experienced rejection, we will tryout for teams she wants to be on.

Now with all that said, I have a question to parents/coaches...do you get any tell-tale signs from coaches that your dd will NOT have a spot on a team? Only asking due to experience we had last year...and I was wondering if it's commonly done or if I need to communicate more. DD was on a team that she thought she liked fairly well...at least on the field and practice (not socially); coaches never indicated once that they didn't like DD at all. The only clue I got was at tryouts and by then it was too late (around here tryouts usually end the weekend before school starts...tryouts for this team was for that weekend only). Well, she got cut and we were told it was due to inconsistent hitting (at 12 years old).

Anyway, I am just curious as to how it's communicated, if at all...

 

[iMlearning]

"Anyway, I am just curious as to how it's communicated, if at all... "
We are going to have a meeting with our coach. All I've heard so far is "her progress has been fine." I don't know how to take that so a meeting will clarify that.

 

[GTRH8R]

However, now that she's older and has experienced rejection, we will tryout for teams she wants to be on.

My DD is a 14U and that is the approach we take now. Pick three and make one. She is ok with the rejection now because not every player is for every time and vice versa. We've studied up on the coaches, teams, and determine whether she is a fit or not. Plus we get to see what the team she wants to join is really like. For example, we had a team that was the #1 on the list. She attended a few practices and made it past all of the other girls and it was her and one other player. However, the girls on that team were whiney and lazy (but they are a fundamentally sound and solid team that wins a lot) when the practiced and that absolutely turned her off to wanting to be on the team (the coach never contacted me back either, which leads me to believe he went with the other player - they were about equivalent defensively, but she was a slapper - that is a whole different post though). Which leads me to the original question...what are the cues or warning signs to finding a new team?

We've had one experience with an actual cut. Two teams were being combined for an organization we played with. A slightly older 14U and a younger 14U (DDs team). The older 14U was the head of the organizations DD's team. So they decide they are going to take the best 12 girls at a 45 minute practice/tryout. Kiss of death right there - the team has already been decided on and wouldn't you know it? All but 2 of the older girls get kept and a few younger girls made it. It was communicated via a crappy email because the did not have the decency to call.

Most current...I cannot tell if it was going to be cut time, but it just seemed like DD and her coach just did not mesh from a personality standpoint and I just kept getting a bad vibe. She was playing well and kept getting stuck on the bench when we had a rec pick up (oh, totally different post that make me mad thinking about it) and it was just getting more and more obvious that there was an issue. I had other parents asking me what was going on because DD could make on error and get pulled while any othe girl could go on an error rampage. I don't know what happened. Her attitude was good through all of it, she didn't pout and cheered her teammates on. She hit over .600 the last four tourneys of the season. I was puzzled. The only thing I can think of is that she was working out with other teams for extra practice since she felt we did not practice enough and wanted more reps. A point that I was very up front and honest about with the coach. We were not shopping. However as it got worse, we got an offer from a team she was working out with for fall ball and we tried out for a couple of others and made a switch after the last tourney.

So, I don't know what that would have resulted in, but it felt all kinds of wrong and my instinct told me to get her out of dodge while we had the chance. Otherwise there was zero communication about why and what was going on.