A general note to clubs about tryouts

[Anonymous]

Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a talented/competitive child, you attend practices prior to tryouts and then go to the tryout as a formality. Your interaction with the coach prior to tryouts will likely inform you how much they want you.

For your less talented child, just avoid tryouts by finding a small club where there’s only one team and they play on a league and division where the kid is not the best kid but gets plenty of playing time.

Parents just really need to manage their kids expectations better and have a realistic view of their kids abilities.

How does this work, exactly, for a regular kid? You are supposed to email the coach well before tryouts and just ask to practice with the team, for free? That seems weird to me. If your child is a super super star, I guess it works? But 99.99 percent of kids are just regular players.

[Anonymous]

The real issue is that the sports businesses present the tryouts to parents as some kind of meritocracy where the best players make the best team.

In fact, they are more like a MLM pyramid scheme. They try to lock down their first team by trying to get the kids to commit before the tryouts even start.

Then, they are trying to figure out how to reel in new suckers (paying customers) without losing any old suckers (last years paying customers).

So that might be dangling "guest playing with team 1" to a kid they want to place on team 2. Or taking too many kids per team to play reasonable minutes in the games. Or making a 4th or 5th travel team of kids indistinguishable from rec players. All that takes time to sort out, and the longer it takes to hear, the lower on the totem pole your kid is on that team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

And another question, do they wait to make offers until after the third tryout? Why is the third tryout so much later in time than the first two?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a talented/competitive child, you attend practices prior to tryouts and then go to the tryout as a formality. Your interaction with the coach prior to tryouts will likely inform you how much they want you.

For your less talented child, just avoid tryouts by finding a small club where there’s only one team and they play on a league and division where the kid is not the best kid but gets plenty of playing time.

Parents just really need to manage their kids expectations better and have a realistic view of their kids abilities.

How does this work, exactly, for a regular kid? You are supposed to email the coach well before tryouts and just ask to practice with the team, for free? That seems weird to me. If your child is a super super star, I guess it works? But 99.99 percent of kids are just regular players.

Yes. You tell the coach a bit about your child and the level they play at. For example what league and division they play in, what position they play and whether they are a starter, etc. They’re usually nice about it (I haven’t been turned down). Your kid gets to practice for free and they are often open to letting them practice more than just once.

You have to make sure you reach out to the coach of the team where you think your kid is at. Don’t try to practice with the first team if your kid is a C player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a talented/competitive child, you attend practices prior to tryouts and then go to the tryout as a formality. Your interaction with the coach prior to tryouts will likely inform you how much they want you.

For your less talented child, just avoid tryouts by finding a small club where there’s only one team and they play on a league and division where the kid is not the best kid but gets plenty of playing time.

Parents just really need to manage their kids expectations better and have a realistic view of their kids abilities.

How does this work, exactly, for a regular kid? You are supposed to email the coach well before tryouts and just ask to practice with the team, for free? That seems weird to me. If your child is a super super star, I guess it works? But 99.99 percent of kids are just regular players.

Yes. You say Larla currently plays for xcz club and is thinking about their options for next year. They train with/pay winter with/played at camp with Mildred and Roberta or they were impressed when they played your team (make sure they played well if you say this). I think this approach works best if you want to jump to the top team of a higher level club. I know people who have done it and I've seen kids come to DD's team through practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

Why don’t you look at where the first and second teams play (league and division), look at their schedules and the other clubs they compete against. Chances are they play against a few smaller clubs with competitive teams. Have your kid try out for those. Smaller clubs don’t have rigid tryouts and are open to see any kid whenever.

If you were hoping for second or even first team, it sounds like your child is probably pretty decent.

Then next year, you can ask Pallor if you can practice prior to tryouts and say my kid played against your team, etc.

Short answer, I would think the same as you. Last pick on second team…probably not a great spot to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a talented/competitive child, you attend practices prior to tryouts and then go to the tryout as a formality. Your interaction with the coach prior to tryouts will likely inform you how much they want you.

For your less talented child, just avoid tryouts by finding a small club where there’s only one team and they play on a league and division where the kid is not the best kid but gets plenty of playing time.

Parents just really need to manage their kids expectations better and have a realistic view of their kids abilities.

How does this work, exactly, for a regular kid? You are supposed to email the coach well before tryouts and just ask to practice with the team, for free? That seems weird to me. If your child is a super super star, I guess it works? But 99.99 percent of kids are just regular players.

NP. My kid did this for every club he played for and also when choosing a high school. For clubs, it worked like this: he was working with a trainer and asked about joining a house league team. She said to do travel instead and told him when her org had tryouts. The tryout was a formality - we learned later that she added him to a B team roster before the tryout.

For high school, DS met the varsity coach on shadow day and asked about the team. Coach invited him to an open gym, and kid was practicing 3 times a week from then on. It was actually a little weird b/c DS did well playing 5 on 5 with the varsity kids in open gyms as an 8th grader, so he started high school with very (too) high expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

$4k? Seriously?

FWIW, I know a family who had a negative experience at Pallor. But I also know several players heading that way for next year, so….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

Our small club plays in similar leagues, does about as well as pallor and costs 2k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you tell kids you're going to give them an answer in two days...give them an answer in two days! We've repeatedly had tryouts where clubs waited a week to tell them. These are often little kids. Mine, at least ask, are constantly asking if I've heard yet, and say, "It's Wednesday...why haven't we heard when we were told we'd get an answer Wednesday?" This happens year after year. Adults should know better.

I realize it’s frustrating to be a second or third choice for the team, but understand the coaches are also waiting for commitments from their first choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, don’t give kids a verbal “no thanks” at the end of a tryout. Send an email and let parents break the news.

And parents, talk to your own kids about sharing intel with friends. If they get an offer at a first tryout, suggest they keep that to themselves for a bit if friends are still going through the process.

Nooooo. Coaches should deal with the players directly. They should extend offers to the children they want to play for them. But they should also speak to those who are being rejected, ideally to be kind and encouraging, tell them what to work on before trying again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

$4k? Seriously?

FWIW, I know a family who had a negative experience at Pallor. But I also know several players heading that way for next year, so….

Its a HUGE org. They just make more and more low level teams each year. Its a factory with soccer players instead of widgets.
So for pp, yes, the tryouts were probably for 1-3 open spots on the second team (new players competing with 3rd team kids trying to move up) and 1-3 open spots on the third team, and maybe an entire new fourth level team. The first team was full of returning paying customers and a few kids pulled up from the second team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: my child tried out for a sports club that rhymes with "Pallor" that had three teams already. They had two tryouts last week and a third one much later (this Saturday). We were told that the first team received their offers before tryouts began and the tryouts were actually just for the lower teams and that was standard for "Pallor".

At what point should we assume our child has not made the second team? We wouldn't pay $4k for the third or possible fourth team. Or if the offer for the second team hasn't come yet, is it safe to assume our child was a last pick and won't play much?

$4k? Seriously?

FWIW, I know a family who had a negative experience at Pallor. But I also know several players heading that way for next year, so….

Its a HUGE org. They just make more and more low level teams each year. Its a factory with soccer players instead of widgets.
So for pp, yes, the tryouts were probably for 1-3 open spots on the second team (new players competing with 3rd team kids trying to move up) and 1-3 open spots on the third team, and maybe an entire new fourth level team. The first team was full of returning paying customers and a few kids pulled up from the second team.

Not only that but the open 1-3 spots on the white team (second team) might be for very specific positions, a GK or a left footed midfielder, etc.

[Anonymous]

Similar experience with Pallor, only my dd was told specifically by a coach at the second tryout that she could have a spot on the black team (3rd team).
The second tryout was early last week and we still haven't received the black team offer (which we will be turning down since she took a second team spot elsewhere). So presumably they are still waiting for yeses/noes from their handful of second team offers.