- It all depends on how you set up your tryout. I always make sure that before I conduct my tryout that the parents & players receive a handout explaining our FCA Baseball Team Expectations, Goals & Mission. I ask them to read the handout after filling out our FCA Baseball Prospective Player Information Sheet, as other participants arrive for the tryout. This handout also spells out for my FCA Baseball Coaching Staff the criteria we will use in selecting our players for the upcoming season.
- Before having the kids stretch and throw, hold a brief Welcome Meeting with the players and parents, explaining a few of the key points in the handout, and letting them know that NOT everyone will make the team. Try to say this as graciously as you can, but they need to know that "cuts" will be made. I try not to use the word "cut", but rather say that "some kids will not measure up to what we are looking for on this team, but to stay encouraged". I try to tell them that one of the purposes of our tryout is to provide players & parents with an honest and realistic assessment of the players' strengths and weaknesses, so they can go away from the tryout with a knowledge of what to work on to make the player better ... which will hopefully help them with their next tryout experience. I also, try to encourage them that there is a team out there for everyone to play on, but that you might have to be a little patient and persistent in finding that team.
- Another tool that is important is a good Evaluation Form that your coaches use in evaluating the various skills you are looking for in your recruits. By evaluating your kids in a fair and consistent manner, you are demonstrating that you are taking your prospective players' baseball skills seriously, which is something you NEED to do in putting together a competitive, travel or select team. If you are only putting a recreational level team together, you don't have to put as much weight on skills when initially putting your team together (but teaching the skills of the game should still be a high priority before and during the season).
- Run a quality, professional tryout. Excellence demonstrates that we know what we are doing, and that it is an important value to us as an FCA Baseball Team. Often times, this alone can make it evident in the minds of both the player and parents that maybe their son doesn't quite measure-up talent-wise with some of the other tryout participants. They kind of "cut themselves" from the team. (Obviously, this doesn't always happen this way, because parents are "just a little bit" biased).
- Once you have set the table regarding what you are looking for in a player through your handout & initial pre-tryout team meeting, and have run a quality tryout with a good evaluation form, you now have something substantial to use when communicating with the player and parents why he did or did not make the team. If you share this information in a Godly, loving way, providing the player and parents with the knowledge & assessment needed to improve their baseball skills, then you have a better chance of receiving a gracious response from those you choose to turn away from your team. Again, not all parents will agree with your decision to NOT select their son because they are usually looking through rose-colored glasses. However, we are not responsible for their reaction, only on how we present our decision.
Ron Hobar, FCA Baseball National Youth Director
