Wish we had an independent evaluation process.

[dalemurphy3]

I really hate tryout season you spend hours trying to figure out who you want to tryout for and how to fit them into a tight schedule and all under the knowledge of knowing you really cant afford to make a mistake that might cost your daughter a wasted year when she only has limited years.

I really wish ASA or one of those sanctioning groups could put some sort of Class ranking and sort of group the teams.

Wouldnt it be nice to have a list of organization, past success or failure, what type of team they field and expect to field. What they expect and what you should expect to have to do.

I know it would hurt the feelings of some people who work very hard to put teams together. But having some sort of Level Ranking,(A, B, C level team) how many tourney wins, how many years the organization has existed, and what level of play they have played at in the past would help. Its like shooting in the dark right now, I always look at who is at the major tourneys but really that does not give you much info any more, with all the rebranding and the number of organizations that combine and change direction. Crap, as I look for teams Im running into people I have never seen or herd of before and Im not sure if its because they have played lower class ball or because they are some super travel team that travels outside of the tourneys Im accustomed to.

I also would not like to wast my time and the coaches time showing up for something that is wrong for my DD.

Seems like someone needs to put some sort of list together and have enough separation from the organizations listed to make it realistic. Maybe this should have been put in a rant. Just seems like a centralized tryout process might be better, sort of a combine for travel. Berliner in Columbus would seem like a logical fit plenty of fields, centralized location, and I bet we have all visited that spot at least once. Just having all the good organizations in one spot would be nice, (yes I know that is dreaming).

Pushing all tryouts into September would also be nice. Just for the sanity of being able to finish the season before the bombs start blowing up teams.

Have a Peachy Evening Friends,// wandering tryout dad.

 

[CARDS]

Several sanctioning bodies do have team rankings. USSSA has the best set up.
You can pull up the team see what tournaments they attended, who they played and what the team is sanctioned at.
You can even look at past rosters.
USSSA http://www3.usssa.com/fastpitch/Team1/#/?gdSport=16

ASA http://gfp.tournamentasa.com/PowerRanking/index.php

http://gfp.tournamentasa.com/PowerRanking/index.php

NSA http://www.playnsa.com/PointsList.aspx?type=y&s=0&z=0&div=210&class=216&prog=212&age=232

One issue with the power rankings is a lot of tournament Directors do not enter the info after their event....But you can see if the team is an A or B level team by how they sanction.

Also just because a team is with a large organization or wins a lot of games does not mean they are a perfict fit. The parents / Player need to find teams that match the needs of the family and player and you do that by having a list of questions to ask coaches like roster size, returning players, fees, travel, practice, other sports, fundraisers etc.


If the team you are looking at is doing college exposure again they should have a list of tournaments they attended in past years. While there is no guarantee they will be asked back generally if a team has attended larger invite events in the past they have a leg up on future events. Also if there is no player bio or player committ area to review that can be a red flag.

As far as sanctioning bodies getting involved in the tryout process? I think that is best for the parent to do their homework.

If a team does not have any website, facebook or information about past tournaments, what their future plans are that is a red flag.
With our teams it was pretty easy to find you tube video of games, team and tournament info if you searched Static Fastpitch.
You can google the team or coach and see what comes up you can also search coachbook or the NFCA site to see if the coach is a member. If there is nothing they most likely have done nothing.