Tryouts

[southwestsoftball]

So our team had our first tryout. A little bittersweet. I had 7 girls who were confirmed to come to try outs, not show up. Most of them called and let us know, but it certainly was dissapointing that so many called to confirm they would be there 2-3 days before and then didnt get there. The good news is that every single girl who showed up was a JOY! Every single one fo them worked their butts off today. Hustle all over the field, every single one of them were extremely coachable and picked things up right away, and all of them had great attitudes. It was also nice to see that they enjoyed themselves and they all clicked very well with eachother.

Now its decision time. I know for a fact the girls we are going to keep for sure. They are no brainers. Its a total of 5 girls.

-One girl is my DD. As of right now her and another girl look like our top 2 P's. They will be 1-2 unless we find another girl who is better and trys out. Anyways, my dd is a P/C/UTL. At catcher she is solid but would rather have her as a #3 Catcher as opposed to what she looks like now( #2 C)

-One girl is the other P( 1or 2). She has a very good bat and is primarily a 1B/3B/2B type player. Possibly some RF as well. LOTS of power. Just plain and simple a stud.

-One girl is a UTL who I feel confident putting anywhere outside of P. She has a lot of power and hits for contact as well. So thats our 3rd good hitter, which is nice. Has a laser arm. She doesnt catch but I may have to start teaching her because she could be an assett there for sure, among other places.

-One girl has a laser arm, very good fundamentals and knows the game well. Another one I feel confident putting anywhere on the field. She as of right now looks like a #1 catcher. She also Pitches and while not quite to the level of the first 2 girls, she has potential for sure and would IMO be an ideal #4 P who could get some time in the circle for Pool play and still put us in position to do well and make defensive plays.

-One girl is a project. I know her because she has played soccer with my dd in the past. She hasnt played before( only Tball). However I explained to her parenst that if she enjoyed herself, I THOUGHT with her athletic ability she could develop into a solid player. Dad LOVES baseball and had doubts( as did I however I thought it was worth a look).
I started her off slow and had my dd be easy with her and help her early. You wouldnt beleive this kid didnt at least play rec ball the way she catches and throws the ball! She is a complete natural! She doesnt know the game, she needs a lot a lot of work and teaching but IMO has TONS of potential. She is very fast. Little but fast. I can only imagine how good she will be by summer.


Last but not least Im very conlicted about one girl. She is a OF/2B/C. Little girl with quite a bit less ability than all the other girls. However, she was at very least tied for the hardest worker there. She has an amazing attitude, willingness to learn and you can just tell LOVES the game. Her parents are great folks. Very supportive already of all the girls at try outs and 90% of the time its hard to read people early. However, I can just tell after a few conversations with her parents they are good people. The ideal people you want on a team. No question she will be our #11-#12 player on our roster when its filled out. Last player on the roster if she makes it. Not sure what to do. Thoughts? Im leaning 60/40 on keeping her. I got the feeling my AC's thought no for her, but again in my mind kids like that are amazing for a roster and you never count kids like this out.


Now time to die for the next 2 days. My body is killing me and the treatments I have been doing make me lose my lunch quite often. Time for my body to recover and to think.

 

[42'sdad]

Last but not least Im very conlicted about one girl. She is a OF/2B/C. Little girl with quite a bit less ability than all the other girls. However, she was at very least tied for the hardest worker there. She has an amazing attitude, willingness to learn and you can just tell LOVES the game. Her parents are great folks. Very supportive already of all the girls at try outs and 90% of the time its hard to read people early. However, I can just tell after a few conversations with her parents they are good people. The ideal people you want on a team. No question she will be our #11-#12 player on our roster when its filled out. Last player on the roster if she makes it. Not sure what to do. Thoughts? Im leaning 60/40 on keeping her. I got the feeling my AC's thought no for her, but again in my mind kids like that are amazing for a roster and you never count kids like this out.

If she really is as hard working as you say, and as good of an attitude as you say, a strong will to learn, and great supportive parents to boot. With good coaching, she will not remain #11 or #12 long!!! Those are the kind of kids we target in tryouts!!

 

[quincy]

The way you are describing her give me 12 clones of her and my Team will beat yours by midyear.

 

[Momo'sDad]

The best all-around player on our team (stud catcher) is a girl who is only in her 2nd year of softball. She is a great athlete, but never did any sport until she was 9 and has picked up the game very well. She's an intelligent girl, and I think a key to her quick success is the fact that she got good coaching early and had no bad habits to break. By good coaching, I'm talking about her professional instructors, not me!

There's a potential gem there for you to take. I know many coaches would love to have that player.

 

[southwestsoftball]

Just to update everyone:

Our team is coming alomng okay. I sure wish the roster was complete but at the end fo the day I would rather make sure we have the right people and make a good informed decision, as opposed to just picking people so we can field a team right away and start competing.

I have decided to have a roster of 11 girls. If a young women comes along that is just flat out amazing, wants to play for us and fits in then we will make an exception. However, I want the girls on this team to play and get experience. 11 girls allows us to have enough cushion but not too much. I did land up keeping that girl who I was on the fence about. I think it was a great decision and again appreciate everyones input. She is a great worker and when I called to officially offer her a spot on the team, she thanked me up and down and told me she would work very hard all the time for me and that I wont regret letting her be on the team. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite kids I have ever coached. Great kid!

I have had 16 girls try out for the team and we currently have a roster of 7 girls. 4 more to go. We have been recruiting this group of 3-4 girls for a few weeks now and finally they are expected to be at practice this Sunday. If their parents are on board and they are what we think they are.............we should be sitting at about 9 or 10 girls. Most recent girl we added is a dd of a 12u coach. Her sister plays for dad on the 12u team and she has guest played many times for that team. Average size, good arm, good speed, good hustle. She as you might expect, has a good softball IQ and can play almost anywhere and do well. The nice surprise is that she will very likely be our 3rd or 4th Pitcher and is a kid who can at least put it over the plate for us. She also catches and thats what we needed more.

As a staff we are VERY excited. I sure hope we have a complete roster by the end of the month. We are pushing hard for that and again are making sure the girls we get are good fits( from what we can tell).