It seems tryouts in my area (suburban Milwaukee) are hit and miss regarding transparency. Certain sports are a disaster (vball), certain sports seem ok (baseball, softball), and lax here is growing as well so all comers seem to be welcome.
Like I said to my 9-yr-old daughter before her rec league softball tournament day: “The game is the same. You and your teammates are the same. It’s the adults who will act differently.”
Felt this sentiment even more after observing her first all-star tryout. I have many more thoughts on it — way more than the comment section is designed to hold!
How about doing away with tryouts and sorting kids into teams of roughly equal ability. No more dumb A, B, and C teams. This would allow late bloomers to develop and stop adult classification systems that are inappropriate, expensive, and absurd.
It's been a while since I've been a mom watching my daughter try-out to participate in a sports activity, but wow do your words bring this circumstance back into vivid view. Thanks for your focus on this and suggestions of how to make it a more humane process. All best, Melissa
Very true. But at least there’s clarity at the end of the rainbow. Like if you get into whatever college and complete the coursework, you’ll walk equipped with a diploma. In youth sports, you may go through all the tryout drama, pay a ton of money, and still sit on the bench and not develop.
I never considered an alternate to tryouts before. I figured it was something inevitable that I’d just have to deal with for my kids (if they choose it).
I wonder if trying out for a league is a better option than a single team. That was the dynamic in a men’s league I played in, and I realized that the team I got drafted to needed somebody in the position I played. It’s a better match for everybody involved.
It may not be feasible everywhere, but it’s easily the best experience I’ve had.
Ah, that all sounds so sensible. The issue is most teams are part of leagues. Feels like they’re always trying to upgrade … and not letting the families know where their kid stands. If a league marketed its needs (positional, age group, etc) it would make a lot more sense.
I've long toyed with the idea that for youth sports, tryouts should not be a one session gamble for the kids or the teams. There is enough data (and video evidence) out there on athlete performances - the general opacity should be a relic of the past. We’ve explored ways to usher more transparency by analyzing how an athlete’s performance evolves over time. Sharing such insights with coaches, teams, and families can support more objective decision-making.
Amen. I was asked if we 'Talent id' our weightlifters! I laughed. If they can train consistently, they're in the squad. I don't care if they're just trying to get strong enough to 'Carry the hoover up the stairs,' or to win a national medal.
I'm happy to help them, rather than cherry-pick those who I think might make me look good as a coach.
(N.B. the latter is almost impossible to predict. None of us know where these kids will be in a year's time, let alone 5 years).
I feel like the more youth sports tries to up tier their offering and make it more like college and pro sports the worse it gets. Tryout fees might be the biggest money grab in youth sports. That’s like FIFA level fraud. What does that money go? Marketing?
It seems tryouts in my area (suburban Milwaukee) are hit and miss regarding transparency. Certain sports are a disaster (vball), certain sports seem ok (baseball, softball), and lax here is growing as well so all comers seem to be welcome.
It really sounds like volleyball is among the worst across the board.
Like I said to my 9-yr-old daughter before her rec league softball tournament day: “The game is the same. You and your teammates are the same. It’s the adults who will act differently.”
Felt this sentiment even more after observing her first all-star tryout. I have many more thoughts on it — way more than the comment section is designed to hold!
Oh boy, I bet. Adults get so wild.
How about doing away with tryouts and sorting kids into teams of roughly equal ability. No more dumb A, B, and C teams. This would allow late bloomers to develop and stop adult classification systems that are inappropriate, expensive, and absurd.
Totally! But then parents wouldn’t be able to brag about their kid making the A team.
It's been a while since I've been a mom watching my daughter try-out to participate in a sports activity, but wow do your words bring this circumstance back into vivid view. Thanks for your focus on this and suggestions of how to make it a more humane process. All best, Melissa
Another close comp would be college admissions -- and those "try outs" are not only costly but also clandestine!
Very true. But at least there’s clarity at the end of the rainbow. Like if you get into whatever college and complete the coursework, you’ll walk equipped with a diploma. In youth sports, you may go through all the tryout drama, pay a ton of money, and still sit on the bench and not develop.
I never considered an alternate to tryouts before. I figured it was something inevitable that I’d just have to deal with for my kids (if they choose it).
I wonder if trying out for a league is a better option than a single team. That was the dynamic in a men’s league I played in, and I realized that the team I got drafted to needed somebody in the position I played. It’s a better match for everybody involved.
It may not be feasible everywhere, but it’s easily the best experience I’ve had.
Ah, that all sounds so sensible. The issue is most teams are part of leagues. Feels like they’re always trying to upgrade … and not letting the families know where their kid stands. If a league marketed its needs (positional, age group, etc) it would make a lot more sense.
I've long toyed with the idea that for youth sports, tryouts should not be a one session gamble for the kids or the teams. There is enough data (and video evidence) out there on athlete performances - the general opacity should be a relic of the past. We’ve explored ways to usher more transparency by analyzing how an athlete’s performance evolves over time. Sharing such insights with coaches, teams, and families can support more objective decision-making.
Amen. I was asked if we 'Talent id' our weightlifters! I laughed. If they can train consistently, they're in the squad. I don't care if they're just trying to get strong enough to 'Carry the hoover up the stairs,' or to win a national medal.
I'm happy to help them, rather than cherry-pick those who I think might make me look good as a coach.
(N.B. the latter is almost impossible to predict. None of us know where these kids will be in a year's time, let alone 5 years).
I feel like the more youth sports tries to up tier their offering and make it more like college and pro sports the worse it gets. Tryout fees might be the biggest money grab in youth sports. That’s like FIFA level fraud. What does that money go? Marketing?