sad627 said:
It is sad when there are a lot of girls, my dd included, who would love to play, learn and develop. ?She is not afraid of the ball and is in no danger playing any position, she just needs coached! ?There are plenty to fill rosters, coaches just don't want them.
I understand your frustrations. However, there are things you need to understand about travel softball.
I coach a 12U team and in the past I have coached at every age level with the exception of 10U. I had to turn away many players over the years. It is not something that is easy to do and it is not fun to make the phone calls to tell a player and their parents that their DD did not make the team. What a coach tries to do is to select a team where the players are of comparable skill levels. This will allow a coach to develop a practice plan that will apply to the whole team. If I were to take a player that was not up to the skill levels of the rest of the players ? everyone loses and I am not talking about games. I will then have to divide my time in practice between the 11 skilled players and the 1 player needing work to even begin to catch up to the others. Both will not get the full work that they deserve. I will have to neglect others to work with the 1 player on parts of the game that the others already know. This leads frustrations for everyone. The best analogy that I can come up with is, would want to put a 8th grader in a class of HS seniors?
Let me also ask you, would you be willing to pay $500 for your daughter to just practice with this team and not play or play much in the tournament games? If you are, then you are a very rare person. I am betting that you expect your DD to play in the game. If she does not yet have the skills to play in elite tournaments, it would be very difficult on the entire team.
I am guessing that your daughter is relatively new in softball. There are other alternatives that you should explore. There are leagues for teams where the players are not quite ready for full tournament softball. In the Columbus area, there is a GCGC league where they play other teams during the week. This is a great developmental league. Some of these teams will play in an occasional tournament where the competition is comparable. The owner of this forum puts on a tournament for non-travel teams to help so the girls can experience and enjoy the fun of playing in a weekend tournament.
The last thing I would advise you to do is to contact some of the coaches of the tryouts you attended. Ask they what you daughter needs to work on to help her chances of making the team in the future. Use this knowledge in working with your daughter at home. You might also want to consider taking her to lessons or a private coach to help her improve her skills. If you follow this path, I am betting that one day, your DD will attend tryouts and be successful.
Good Luck!