The 2 "A"s come to mind initially to me. In my area it is "ability" and "availability" when looking at a player.
Around here we struggle to sign players for summer because the basketball programs seem to take precedent. Many camps and such go on in the summer and girls are drawn to attend them first over any softball play. Our area is very rural and the girls are participating in more than 1 sport in school. Few are 1-sport athletes. In our area the presence of some desirable basketball coaches have won the girls' hearts. Girls seem to be drawn to the authority figures that make them feel special. Add this to some past success in school tournament play in all divisions and basketball wins out. Add more success in volleyball and again the camps win. With school sports being so political, the kids are afraid they'll miss something or suffer from not attending.
Locally, fastpitch does not get the same consideration. Perhaps if it would have started and gained support years ago with basketball, things would be different. Most school programs started out as slowpitch. You have to remember; we didn't have pitching instructors available to teach the girls back in the day. Even men's fastpitch wasn't a sport of choice around here. Slowpitch was the main draw for both men and women in adult Rec. If I recall, OHSAA sanctioned slowpitch first before offering fastpitch and the schools could choose which one they wanted until they migrated to our sport of choice.
I bring this up in an effort to explain "why" the 2 "A"s are important when hosting tryouts for travel ball. We see some great talent but if they are only going to be available for 3-4 weekends a summer, we realistically may pass on offering the girl a spot on the roster. We want talent to compete. We need numbers to field a team.
I like a girl that is willing to put in the work. I want to develop their potential. That's rewarding to me to see her grow as a player and a person. There's no guarantees that even with all the hard work and time dedicated to fastpitch she'll ever be able to overcome those talented athletes that just have a natural God-given ability to play this game. My thing is; those girls already have "It" and choose to develop "It" to the best of their ability or choose to stay at that level and pursue other interests. All of us make choices in life we have to live with. I'd rather work with the ones that desire more. If the natural ability girl with talent wants to dedicate herself to being better, I'll pick her. If she merely wants to pursue travel ball as a part time social gap-filler in her summer, there's a good chance I'll pass.
You would think girls would be more interested in fastpitch compared to the other sports because it takes so many girls to simply play the game. We field 9 players and with the rules allowing specialty spots in the line up you can involve even more in a contributing manner. They can be a part of a team effort and influence the outcome of any game! No matter your height, weight, arm reach, size of your shoe, there is a position for you if you want to hone the skills needed for that position.
I know this probably isn't what SoftballBomb was expecting when starting the thread. I opt'd to go a different direction with my post---------different from the obvious. Talent, speed, quickness, coordination, agility, flexibility, intelligence are some of the factors that are easy to say determine the players virtues that will win over the coaching staff of a travel team. Parents social ability and monetary contribution to the venture will be scrutinized. I wish coaches would look at their time as mentors. Look into the soul of a young girl and see if they can plant the seeds of life into their heads thru sports. When the game is over they should be left being able to contribute to society in a positive manner.
Having said all of this, our job as coaches can be made easier if the core of the player has been honed at home with basics such as quality values, respect, humbleness, work ethic, and the willingness of fair play.
