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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is better if they know your kid and where he/she plays. Also, make sure your coach knows because coaches talk.[/quote]

Is this right?  If you tell you daughter's coach that you want to practice and tryout at other clubs (even if solely as a fall-back option in case your daughter does not make the top team in the spring, in the OP's case), then I'd be surprised if that would be received positively by the coach or the club.  This would seem to be true in both the positive situation in which your daughter likes her coach and vice versa (in which case, the coach could perceive her desire to tryout at another club as a slight or as a criticism of the coach), as well as the negative situation in which your daughter does not like her coach or club (in which case, you could see the coach or club becoming petty over the request to tryout elsewhere).  Maybe your point is that it does not matter, since all coaches talk and it will be widely known that she is attending practice/trying out at another club.

It just seems that telling her current coach could create more negative results, than positive ones.  But I admittedly doesn't know, as we have never been through this situation.  [/quote]

This is tricky.  It really depends on the situation and, ultimately, where your child stands and what the relationship is between the 2 clubs (and coaches).

In my daughter's situation last spring, we did not tell her coach that she was attending practices at another club.  The 2 clubs involved are the largest and most competitive in our state (big rivals).  That said, she was given a pre-offer for her current team during this time, which we did not accept (told the coach at that point that we would decide closer to tryouts), so he knew that we were keeping options open for her.  I'm confident that her new club's coach did not reach out to her current coach--that probably would have been a turn-off for us.  Once she decided that she wanted to move, I let her current coach know (prior to tryouts, so that he knew that he would need to replace her).  [/quote]

Thanks.  You mentioned that your daughter had a pre-offer from her current club.  Is this how it works for ECNL/DA teams, including the U12 teams that become the ECNL/DA team at U13?  The current club gives some players on their top team a pre-offer before the official spring tryouts for the next season?  [/quote]

Keep in mind that I am in another state, so people from the DC area will have to weigh in.

At our previous club, they definitely try to lock up players ahead of tryouts.  I'd say that its typically the top 2/3 of the team that are given pre-offers, leaving flexibility for them to move around the bottom 1/3.  When my daughter moved clubs last year, she and one of her teammates (who also moved) were given pre-offers about 3 weeks prior to tryouts (they actually didn't attend tryouts), and I know that another friend of theirs (who was with the club already) had accepted a pre-offer at least a month ahead of tryouts.  This was for U12 (pre-ECNL), so this is the age group that the club pulls kids from all different regions of the state to form the team, so I assume they are trying to get a core group established prior to tryouts.  I believe they will make pre-offers (based on what I have heard from parents of older ECNL players) to some kids going in to U13 as well.

If it works the same in your area (I would think it does), then the takeaway is that it's much better for your kid to be seen prior to scheduled tryout dates.  Even at U10 and U11 at my daughter's old club, there were new players "checking out" practices at pretty much every practice in April/May.  I expect the same this year.   Fair or not, coaches have a pretty good idea of what the top couple of teams will look like prior to tryouts.[/quote]

We've been at two DA/ECNL clubs in the NoVA area, and neither has done "pre-offers". All current players try out alongside new ones. Some of this is mere formality of course, as current players have the advantage and those at the top of the depth chart know very well where they stand. They are often used as calibration points for the new players. The process really only affects players in the bottom half of the depth chart.

For new players, it's great to know where you stand, and of course, the best way to achieve this is to arrange to work out with a team prior to tryouts. It's easier to do this in January than it is in April. Based on this exposure, you will have a better feel for where you stand and can adjust your priorities to suit.[/quote]

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