Coaches: would you & have you?

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two questions for coaches:

1. Would you: consider a player who tried out for you in the summer but wasn't offered a spot again in the spring if she brushed up and honed her skills over the winter?

2. Have you: just been wrong on a player and regretted it? That is, did a player try out for your team and not make it and then go on that season and prove to be a great player - leaving you kicking yourself. Better yet, did that player ever come back and "hand it" to your team (whether it be hitting, fielding or pitching)?

 

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With all the postings that are still looking, they may want to go back and take another look.

Some of these teams may want to join forces and create a new team. But that's another subject.

 

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Karen ... yes and yes.

1) If my team still had an opening and I thought the player showed enough in the original tryout that it would be reasonable to think they could improve enough to make the team now, I would take another look at them, with the understanding of "no promises" of course.

2) I think anyone who has coached for more than a couple of years would be lying to not admit that they have both passed up on players who turned out to be more than good enough, as well as have discovered that players who they did take but who they thought would only be role players, have turned out better than they thought and earned a more significant role on the team. I wouldn't say that I necessarily "regretted it" when a player I passed over helped beat our team ... in the few times where I can remember this happened, I made it a point to personally congratulate them after.

Tryouts are an "imperfect" process. You only get so much time to see someone, and the games of baseball/softball are games of 'inches" ... we all know really good hitters can have bad stretches, and vice versa. Sometimes there is bias built in as well ... does the coach know the player or their family, have they heard good or bad things about them, etc. Sometimes we ask players to come back for a second tryout if we didn't get good enough of a look, and/or if we're not sure what we saw was accurate or sustainable, but even then it can still be tough.

 

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I would keep a player in Feb that I passed on in August.

As far as passing on a player that later beat me. Never happened. Furthermore, I would say that we have cut many players that were better than players we kept based on team chemistry. But we have never regretted it or lost a game due to the decision.

 

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By the way, the 1st question is definitely not about my daughter! : )
She is fine and dandy and happy as a clam where she is.
She has a friend who only tried out for one team and didn't make it but really wants to try again.