Injured for tryouts -- what to do?

[Anonymous]

Our DD broke her leg last month and is in a cast for another few weeks. While her current club is willing to (probably) give her a spot next year on the same team, we were really hoping to look at some other stronger clubs and frankly, don't really want to stay with the current club because of next year's coaching assignments.

Anyone been through something similar? Not sure if we should drop down a level and play rec or lower-level travel that might have openings or just spend some time off and let her recover fully and play another sport for a few months until the Christmas break / ID sessions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD broke her leg last month and is in a cast for another few weeks. While her current club is willing to (probably) give her a spot next year on the same team, we were really hoping to look at some other stronger clubs and frankly, don't really want to stay with the current club because of next year's coaching assignments.

Anyone been through something similar? Not sure if we should drop down a level and play rec or lower-level travel that might have openings or just spend some time off and let her recover fully and play another sport for a few months until the Christmas break / ID sessions.

She obviously needs to fully recover before she can tryout or play. Her recovery should be your priority No. 1. Given your circumstances, this might not be the best time to tryout for a stronger club. It sounds like her current club has handled situation appropriately and showed some loyalty to the injured player, but you don't like the next year's coaching staff, which is a valid consideration. It's a tough one. If the coaching is not a deal breaker, the best thing could be to stay with her current team and focus on full recovery. She can tryout for a stronger club next year. If the coaching is the deal breaker, then you can try to make a travel team with a small club (many have openings even after the big clubs are done with tryouts). Rec is another option, but it might be harder to move from rec to a high level team, because of differences in speed of play.

[Anonymous]

How old?

In any case, agree with PP. Forget about tryouts and tryout season. Rest, recover, rehab, reassess. Injuries have their own timelines.

[Anonymous]

We had a similar situation (ankle) and we contacted the new coach/club, they basically wished us a speedy recovery and and when he was ready we contacted the coach and did a tryout over the summer. We didn't want to get locked into the existing club so we winged it. It's a risk, but there is nothing worse than to be stuck.

[Anonymous]

We tried out over the summer once fully recovered. They often hold spots open for this stuff.

[Anonymous]

We just stuck with existing Club, but we should have done what the pps did and tried out somewhere else over the summer.

It was a miserable year we could have avoided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation (ankle) and we contacted the new coach/club, they basically wished us a speedy recovery and and when he was ready we contacted the coach and did a tryout over the summer. We didn't want to get locked into the existing club so we winged it. It's a risk, but there is nothing worse than to be stuck.

Pretty similar situation for us, but coach was very aware of DDs abilities as a player so I think really he was just holding the spot for the official tryout.

[Anonymous]

When does her doctor say she will be able to play again? Keep in mind she will probably need to be cleared after doing PT and she will need some time to get back to where she was. I would also look into strength and conditioning programs—we are lucky to have a great organization that does this where we live and it helped DS a lot after a foot fracture before his U13 season.

[Anonymous]

Get her as healthy and as a strong as possible. Even after PT, it takes some time and work to get her spun back up to 100% --- take it slow, fight your urge and her urge to make it happen faster.

Physical Therapy < Conditioning < Practice & Scrimmage < Game

The worst thing is getting re-injured while coming back from an injury.

Good luck to all of you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD broke her leg last month and is in a cast for another few weeks. While her current club is willing to (probably) give her a spot next year on the same team, we were really hoping to look at some other stronger clubs and frankly, don't really want to stay with the current club because of next year's coaching assignments.

Anyone been through something similar? Not sure if we should drop down a level and play rec or lower-level travel that might have openings or just spend some time off and let her recover fully and play another sport for a few months until the Christmas break / ID sessions.

If a regular club and playing travel, they'll take you at any time if you are willing to pay. Talk to the coach of the club you were trying out at and get your kiddo healthy.

[Anonymous]

As others said, I would focus on getting her back to full health. Don't feel compelled to commit to your existing club if you aren't sure. Many clubs try to pressure you into committing for the next season during the tryout process. But the truth is that most clubs have openings that can be filled during the summer or even later. People move, change clubs, or otherwise drop out. Also, unless your DD is big, strong, fast or has some other abilities that stand out at a tryout, supplemental tryouts can be a better way to be seen.

Worst case scenario, your daughter could always play rec. if she can't find the right team after she is healthy. But don't get trapped into a situation you don't like just because of her current injury. There is always something else out there.

[Anonymous]

Tryouts are for suckers.
Mean way to say it, but it's true.
If you want to find a team on a new club, call the coach, any time, and ask if you can train with them a few times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tryouts are for suckers.
Mean way to say it, but it's true.
If you want to find a team on a new club, call the coach, any time, and ask if you can train with them a few times.

This is the most valuable thing I have learned from this forum, by far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tried out over the summer once fully recovered. They often hold spots open for this stuff.

This was my response. We were with the same club, but got private lessons for a month after being cleared to work on getting back up to speed from the broken bone. I think the official try-out was a couple weeks after the overall club practices had started up in July. DD was moved up a team from the previous year since they had one space left on that team. So technically being injured worked to her advantage, she was the only one from the prior team that was moved up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation (ankle) and we contacted the new coach/club, they basically wished us a speedy recovery and and when he was ready we contacted the coach and did a tryout over the summer. We didn't want to get locked into the existing club so we winged it. It's a risk, but there is nothing worse than to be stuck.

Nope, nothing worse. Can't think of a single thing.