@tw2010:
We started kicking this idea around on OFC last year (I haven't had my first cup of coffee and I'm too lazy to try to find the thread) and I think it is a very good idea to consider.
It is also, however, something that would take an incredible amount of effort and expenses to organize.
Done correctly, I think the expenses would absolutely require a "pay to tryout" fee or a "pay for travel team coaches to attend tryouts" fee. Those expenses would probably include: 1) field expenses for at least four fields (with adequate parking and bathroom facilities) to run tryouts at 12U, 14U, 16U, and 18U; 2) radar for bat speed, pitching speed, and running speed (maybe you could use one set of this radar equipment and run the different age groups through but I am expecting that at least two sets of radar would be required); 2) umpires to call balls and strikes on pitching; 3) preparation of a decent web site for pre-registration that would include a player resume that would in turn include references from prior coaches; 4) a corp of volunteers to do tryout intake, trash clean-up, and a myriad of other tasks that I am sure I'm forgetting; and 5) some kind of agreement among the travel coaches attending as to how offers would be made (on the spot with some time to to consider competing offers?; on the spot with a requirement of an immediate answer?; conditional offers based off of the player profile and resume?) Getting an agreement on that last issue about how travel coaches would use the tryout information might be a deal killer.
Again, I am sure my assessment of what would need to be done to hold what is essentially a combine falls far short of what would actually be needed (for instance I just realized that I haven't provided for tryout balls, pitching machines or a format of live pitching).
I would think this approach would require someone with the organizational skills and experience such as Kirt Whiteside's family with their "theqsport" organization or other organizations that have conducted college showcases.
I haven't even begun to contemplate whether such an approach to travel ball tryouts would violate any NCAA regulations (if there were no way to bar college coaches from just coming to watch).
And then there is the underlying question: how much and how early in a softball player's TB experience do we want to make this look more and more like a competition amongst players with native athletic abilities (plus private skills coaches) rather than an enterprise aiming at developing players?
I don't have any easy answers but I do agree that the "tryout season dilemma" currently existing for young ladies who want to play TB warrants the consideration of alternatives to team-based tryouts. If one concludes after considering the alternatives that it is up to each team to develop a record and reputation for ethical, values-based, successful teams, I don't think that conclusion would necessarily be wrong.