Less than one day?

[coachjwb]

A coach usually isn't going to ask you to come back for a second tryout unless they're truly interested, but I think you also have to look at it as a yellow flag that a) your DD didn't overwhelm them enough to get an offer right out of the gate and she is likely being evaluated as a borderline player, or that b) they didn't do a great job of running the tryout and had players leave without having an accurate assessment of them. If you're not that interested in the team or you have another team to try out for on the second night, then you should probably pass, but if you're interested and available, you should respond right away.

 

[Louuuuu]

Jeff, you may be right, but...

This may not be such an ominous sign. Here at work, we always schedule a second interview for potential employees. It gives the employer (coach) another look at the prospect (player) after the initial buzz has died down. Maybe you'll see something - good or bad - that you missed at the first meeting.

 

[TnTs_Dad]

Not to mention.... more than once I've seen a player shine at a tryout, get an offer on the spot and kinda stink it up for the next year.... it happens. If your interested in the team jump on the opportunity for the second look. It can be difficult for the best of coaches to get a good look at every player if many girls in attendance.

 

[flarays]

Sorry - my opinion is one day after the tryout. I explain it to the parents at the tryout. If they are at the tryout and see what we do and they are not sure if it is a fit for them as a coach I owe it to the other 11 players to go to the next highest rated player and get one that wants to play with us. I understand a parents need to test the waters and maybe go see other tryouts. I don't have a problem with that. That said they shouldn't have a problem with me wanting to move on.

 

[hawaiidreaming]

It may need to depend on age group and level of competition. At a younger age the parents and kids may have just gotten into travel ball and, as far as I know, there isn't a "So You Want to Play Travel Softball" book...yet. They may not even have heard about The Softball Zone <gasp!> But certainly at the age and level that flarays plays at, the players have targeted that tryout and know exactly how they would respond to an offer.

 

[Heat#12]

Can someone tell me if it is normal to have a day or less to respond to an offer from a tryout? I don't think it is realistic for coaches to think that a girl will only tryout for teams that they are willing to accept an offer from immediately before trying out for any other teams. I can maybe see that if you are 16 or older as you should pretty much know if a team you are trying out for will accept you. However, at the younger ages there are so many girls trying out for teams and you never know what they need, etc. you would be crazy to try out for only teams you would say yes to without any question or any further attempts at other teams. That seems to me to be an easy way to come out of tryouts without an offer.

I understand not stringing a coach out for a long time, but one day seems unreasonable. It looks like it will just force us to say no and keep looking even though they may have been a contender after all of the tryouts are over. What is a reasonable time period and how do you handle this without offending the offering team?

I have always went with a three (3) day window in responding to a coach.

 

[Westler33]

If you are looking for just one and have two or three kids about the same talent level that you are asking then maybe you say one day or first to commit gets the spot but 2 or 3 days is not to much to ask JMO.

 

[wow]

I agree with the thinking... Make the offer and if you have done your homework 24 hours is plenty of time for both players and coaches. If you need more time and don't know then you may not have done enough on the front end to justify less work on the back end. If you are just running around to try outs and think you have two or three weeks to make a decision the best teams are looking to fill 2-3 positions and will need to move on. On the other side ask the coach when he needs to know by. If your comfortable with the time table, then by all means take the time you need. If you don't like the time line move on to the next offer you are comfortable with.

 

[randadea]

we accepted an offer given to us, pending an email on fees and tournaments. went to a different tryout the next day to just to have something to fall back on. The coach was out there. we never got an email for 3 days, so we finally called him he said that he had picked up someone else instead. that is f'd up.