Sham Tryouts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, they will always take new players and drop old ones.

My DC is on a team like this. Parents and adult siblings and other relations coaching their relatives (and making team placement decisions) and relatives friends. Even though there is a "tryout", it is definitely predetermined that those kids will be on the team and, further, on the A Team. My child could hit every metric for excellence in those tryouts and we already know where DC will be placed.

It's a bit of a morale killer, for sure. And pisses us off. But, there are not a lot of opportunities that are nearby to play the sport. And of the ones that are close, there is a lot of politics involved that could trickle over into the high school teams if we were to leave. So we are kind of stuck with it. DC loves to play so we just go with it. Nothing we can do. But, if you're that parent coaching your kid and kid's friends . . . just know that you suck.

We dealt with this too with a coach turnover several years ago. A few established teammates cut to make way for sons and friends. Two Dad coaches that played their sons and the few recruited friends for most of game which kept several kids, (initially) equally talented, on the bench for much of the game. But by the end of season, the coaches' kids skills had developed to outpace the benchers. While we appreciated the time and effort put out by the two coaches, our DS (a bencher) was unhappy and under-played, and we were spending a lot of time driving to and waiting for games only to see DS play for minimal game time. Since DS was not developing, we ended up jumping towards the end of season to another team (not ideal but better).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience with basketball is the team breaks up year after year. There is always many vacancies and tryouts aren’t a sham. Is that not standard?

Hockey is our sport and that is not our experience. Sometimes tryouts are highly political and switching teams isn’t always so easy. In some cases, rules about changing teams are written into the league’s bylaws. It’s not uncommon for tryouts to run about $150 a pop. I wish my kid had picked another sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its sketchy to charge a fee to tryout. That's a red flag.

Tryout fees are standard in club volleyball and so are sham tryouts. Especially as the players get older. As someone else said, some of these teams have been playing together from a young age, and there may really only be 3 openings on a 12-player team, if that.

The sham tryouts used to bother me more, but what really irritates me is a club holding open enrollment clinics even though they're also doing "invitation only" clinics. They know what players they're really interested in, and they're just holding the open clinics to collect the fees and possibly spot one more "little Messi" even though they've already got dozens of others coming to the invitation only clinics. I feel for the parents whose kid is new to the sport and don't realize the shenanigans that go on.

[Anonymous]

Ick on the fees but you are not obligated to pay it--i.e. tryout elsewhere.

You also can try to contact the coach or team manager and ask them how many players they are looking to add/replace. What types of positions do they need etc. You can preface those questions with, I don't want to waste my time or your time. The worst thing that can happen is you won't get an answer.

Caveat emptor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I feel this. McLean select basketball.

I agree with this. Gross.

Not even close to true in my experience. DD1 was cut twice before making the team as a 7th grader at the expense of a player who had been on the team previously. And, if you get cut, you get a full refund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I feel this. McLean select basketball.

I agree with this. Gross.

Not our experience. Three boys in Select. One year, two didn’t make it.

My kid did not even try out this year as there is major favoritism for certain kids. My kid plays on a shoe circuit grass roots team and made a pybl team instead… Mclean Select = Rec League+. Real players play on PYBL or just play for their grass roots team for the winter…

Did not bother…..

[Anonymous]

A few of the top teams in the area or Durant, Takeover, Loaded, DNA Elite…….those kids don’t bother with FCYB teams…

[Anonymous]

DC plays on a team with a professional coach. Very clear play time and team is based on the best players and who work the hardest in practice or perform best in try outs. This is made clear to everyone when they try out and before fees are paid. Try outs are run by head coach who brings in other outside coaches to evaluate the players at tryouts. Kids have absolutely zero guarantee they will make the team regardless of current status. DC works her tail off all season and has to prepare to make the team again each year. There are shake-ups every year. So much better than dealing with the politics of a parent run coaching league. Youngest DC plays in a combined professional and parent volunteer coaching league. Same thing. They hold try- outs with director of program and professional coaches who act as outside evaluators at try outs. Rosters are formed and only then are parent coaches assigned to teams. Best players and teams get the professional coaches. Other teams get the parent coaches. Parent coaches understand there is no guarantee kid makes the team and they do not know what team kid makes until after tryouts, just like everyone else. I refuse to allow DC to play in any other type of league. The rest are politics and bs and everyone knows that. We refuse to be part of such a system. In my experience, parents are the ones literally killing youth sports. The less involved we are in making any decisions the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, they will always take new players and drop old ones.

My DC is on a team like this. Parents and adult siblings and other relations coaching their relatives (and making team placement decisions) and relatives friends. Even though there is a "tryout", it is definitely predetermined that those kids will be on the team and, further, on the A Team. My child could hit every metric for excellence in those tryouts and we already know where DC will be placed.

It's a bit of a morale killer, for sure. And pisses us off. But, there are not a lot of opportunities that are nearby to play the sport. And of the ones that are close, there is a lot of politics involved that could trickle over into the high school teams if we were to leave. So we are kind of stuck with it. DC loves to play so we just go with it. Nothing we can do. But, if you're that parent coaching your kid and kid's friends . . . just know that you suck.

We dealt with this too with a coach turnover several years ago. A few established teammates cut to make way for sons and friends. Two Dad coaches that played their sons and the few recruited friends for most of game which kept several kids, (initially) equally talented, on the bench for much of the game. But by the end of season, the coaches' kids skills had developed to outpace the benchers. While we appreciated the time and effort put out by the two coaches, our DS (a bencher) was unhappy and under-played, and we were spending a lot of time driving to and waiting for games only to see DS play for minimal game time. Since DS was not developing, we ended up jumping towards the end of season to another team (not ideal but better).
That’s part of the game. Better to experience this now, than it happen at a more crucial time in your kids athletic career and not knowing what to do.

[Anonymous]

Player development is the most important thing. If they aren’t in a situation where they are getting that, it’s time to move, and always be open to a better situation where your kid is able to develop.