Tryouts

[iMlearning]

They just announced our tryouts for 14u but haven't said who the coaches will be. They announced every other age group but ours. They told our current coaches that it's because they don't know if we will have one or two teams. Won't they have to announce it before tryouts because who would pick the teams? We wrote on our evalutions that we won't be back under the current coaches- they may not care if we do come back- however, their tryouts are the same time as another team my DD was considering. I could be reading into this, but maybe they don't want to rock the boat before Nationals, but the current coaches seem confident they will be returning. For us it's all about being in the right situation to get better playing time even if we move to B. We did get confirmation that my DD had one of the highest on base averages, and the only one to get 2 triples, yet didn't even bat in 4 tournaments.
Yes, it is the "Silly Season" and we are getting silly

 

[quincy]

I would certainly want to know who the coach was before DD tried out. Once you start knowing the people you get a feel for who you do and do not want to play for. Players having choices is great.

 

[JAD]

It is not uncommon for teams to wait until after Nationals to announce organizational changes. Is your reason for not wanting to return to the team under the current coaching staff a playing time issue for your DD or something else? Are you the only parent that is disgruntled, or are there others? If it is just a playing time issue, are you being realistic in your evaluation of your DD skills? A girl may have a great OBP, but if she is not one of the top 9 fielders it may be tough for a coach to find her a spot to play during 'crunch time'.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I am not a fan of coaches picking players (especially if they have daughters in the mix). Coaches may have input during evaluations but there should be an independent group of people evaluating and picking the team.

Once the teams are assembled they should then look at who volunteered to coach and go from there. Ideally the coach wouldn't be a parent but those are hard to come by.

 

[MsDinosaur]

IMO it's good that they're announcing there will be a 14U team. DD was in a local organization last year that we liked very much. They had two 10U teams which had enough 2000 birthday girls aging out between the two of them to make a first year 12U team. We kept asking if they had found a coach/if they were going to have a team, but we never heard anything official. It turns out they had decided to wait until after Nationals to announce tryouts for their '00 team. By that time, most of us anxious parents had given up and taken our kids to other tryouts. They ended up not having enough girls to field a team.

 

[maksoftball]

It's been my experience that they will announce tryouts but not the coaches (if there is any change) until after Nationals are over. Wouldn't want any disgruntled coaches coaching at Nationals because they found out they were being replaced... LOL.

 

[iMlearning]

It is not uncommon for teams to wait until after Nationals to announce organizational changes. Is your reason for not wanting to return to the team under the current coaching staff a playing time issue for your DD or something else? Are you the only parent that is disgruntled, or are there others? If it is just a playing time issue, are you being realistic in your evaluation of your DD skills? A girl may have a great OBP, but if she is not one of the top 9 fielders it may be tough for a coach to find her a spot to play during 'crunch time'.

Playing time is not the only reason. I was wondering if we were looking through rose colored glasses at one point, so I asked the President of the organization and his assistant (college coaches) to give me a straight forward assessment of her skills while they were at a week long clinic. In short they said from what they've seen in comparison to the girls on her team, she should be playing and then another coach said she will be playing varsity her first year (their high school team was undefeated). Later one of the coaches told me that there was a lot of favoritism on our team as the girls have been together a long time.
There has been a lot of fighting this year between the coaches...at times getting into pushing and bucket throwing. The head coach quit "due to stress" and the assistants took over. The new head coach rarely speaks while the assistant takes control of everything. I was told last night by a parent of the best player on the team that they were going to quit because things have been so bad (this girl is freaking amazing). The former head coach said his daughter would be leaving also and others say they are unhappy. I don't believe anyone though

 

[iMlearning]

It's been my experience that they will announce tryouts but not the coaches (if there is any change) until after Nationals are over. Wouldn't want any disgruntled coaches coaching at Nationals because they found out they were being replaced... LOL.

That's what I've been thinking.

 

[starsnuffer]

The good news is every other team is having tryouts throughout August as well. You do not need to feel enslaved to the elusive "They" syndicate.

-W

 

[iMlearning]

I am not a fan of coaches picking players (especially if they have daughters in the mix). Coaches may have input during evaluations but there should be an independent group of people evaluating and picking the team.

Once the teams are assembled they should then look at who volunteered to coach and go from there. Ideally the coach wouldn't be a parent but those are hard to come by.

I completely agree. When the new coaches took over, all of the sudden their daughters never sat. One had been cut from the team but then taken back because the father said he would help coach. She's a sweet kid but looks very awkward on the field. This is a team that was one of the top 12u teams last year at Nationals and now is having one of their worst years as a 14u team.