<p>Really just venting here, but D is trying out for her hs hockey team, and tryouts have been going on since November 2nd. So far there have been 10 skates, of which she has made 6. Apparently they have to make 10 sessions before they can qualify to play, so now they are also running at the school track, and D has made 2 of those, and will make another one on Monday. They are not going to announce the team until Tuesday’s 6:00 am skate, at which time they will go from around 43 to 20 plus a practice squad of 5. </p>
<p>D doesn’t even expect to make the team, since there are a lot of travel team girls trying out and she is on a house team. I think that if they knew they would only pick travel girls, they would have said “no one else need apply”. OTOH, I would not expect them to give a carp, so would fully expect them to invite all to apply and then pick only travel kids per original plan. Anyways, it seems ridiculous to me that they need 11 ice sessions to pick a team. Is this normal? This is our first experience with varsity sports. I know for a fact that some of the other schools have already selected their teams.</p>
<p>to be honest, if there has been 10 skates and your D has only made 6…that would show a lack of dedication. I’m not sure what your point is, but more practices means the coach has a better opportunity to see what everyone can do…that is a good thing, not a bad thing.</p>
<p>sylvan … I understand your concern and your frustration. However I am having trouble seeing your point of view about your concerns about the tryout. I assume this is a public high … let’s turn the concerns around.</p>
<p>1) A public HS team announces that only kids who played travel are allowed to tryout and that kids who only played recreation/house are not even allowed to try out … there would (and should) be an uproar about such a policy. IMO any public high school team should have open tryouts and anyone who wants to tryout should be able to. 3 years ago at my kid’s HS there was a 3 sport starter/captain who graduated … and as a younger player she chose to only play sports at a rec level … it would have been a shame if she had never been given the chance to play in HS.</p>
<p>2) A school annouces they will have only 1 session and then pick their team … would you then think your child got a fair shot especially with 43 kids at a tryout? Frankly, the more sessions raises the odds that an “outsider” can crack the roster … it gives those kids more chances to be seen. BTW - I agree 10 sessions is a lot but if my kid is fighting an uphill battle to make the team this can only help.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen the biggest issue with tryouts are ones where the coaches have made up their mind before the tryout even starts … if this is happening whether the tryouts are open or not or how many sessions are held are pretty much moot points.</p>
<p>PS - there are lots of reasons kids only play rec before HS … some mature later as athletes … in our town virtually all the upper middle class/rich kids who play sports play travel if they are picked … however that is not true for a lot of the kids from families with less money (often single parent homes); concerns about logisitics for practices and games and the increased expense limit these kids from travel … each year we see a significant number of non-travel kids making HS freshmen teams.</p>
<p>I think it’s a lot of sessions for a tryout. Supposedly, they will pick one team to represent three high schools with a combined student body of about 3500 students. Apparently, some of the other house girls didn’t bother trying out because the thought is that their chances are pretty slim. D is only a sophomore, so is also competing against the older, larger, and more experienced juniors and seniors.</p>
<p>I don’t think that 10 sessions is that many for a tryout. DS played baseball at a public high school, tryouts normally lasted two weeks. DD played soccer at the same high school where tryouts were usually 3 weeks. Baseball tryouts were 6 days a week, soccer 5 - so 12 and 15 sessions respectively. I’d rather see a lengthy tryout than a 1 or 2 day event where the player might only get a brief glimpse and luck could play too much of a role.</p>
<p>My experience is only with my D whose coaches all were recruiting her anyway, and she only had to attend the try-outs she could make with her schedule. But, even for the top soccer clubs in the country, it’s a two day try out, and for the ODP pool, while it is a process, each event is only a few days long…so…</p>
<p>It seems long.</p>
<p>But, as I said, for a high school program, it’s too bad they don’t go with an A team and a B team.</p>
<p>Again, good luck to your daughter. I hope, regardless, she will be able to continue to play somewhere. They are so young to have to just stop doing the things they love to do.</p>
<p>I think the difference in HS sports is that the number of eyeballs watching the players is typically much fewer than at the larger showcases. At least at our high school it was three coaches for soccer and 5 for baseball - counting the JV coaches. In both cases, the varsity head coach made all the final cut and placement decisions with only input of the other coaches. So the “stations” that are used at showcases aren’t of as much value in HS sports. </p>
<p>The other thing is, HS coaches like to see game time action - and in a tryout situation it is hard to make sure everyone gets enough chances to really evaluate them. Showcases, at least in baseball, judge on far less.</p>
<p>I’m sorry you are frustrated. As we head into the holidays I can imagine you would just like to have things finalized.
I can say that having kids that have played league football, from a young age they go through a draft process where they are evaluated over three weeks 5 days/week, 4hrs/day. That’s a lot of time on the field. Kids at this age are not cut, but essentially they are all ‘trying out’ for the A team.
Our experience with LAX was a bit different, but kids are in school and snow is usually still flying during evaluations. There are usually 5-6, again for league ball.
If your daughter isn’t selected for the team this year, I hope the experience gained while trying out will give her encouragement to try out again next year. As a more experienced Jr. her chances will be increased even more.</p>
<p>Thanks to blueiguana and everyone else. I’m sure that the stress and overbookiness of this time of year is getting to me (admit it, parents of seniors - you are stressing just a bit!). We will know sometime this week if D has made the team or not - if so, then more work for mom, yeah!??!:(</p>
<p>I think DD is feeling a bit left behind in all the hub-bub about her brother’s senior year.</p>
<p>sylvan- as a follow 2011/2015 parent I can neither confirm nor deny any amount of stress… yea, right!! I have a freshman son who is rather glad to be flying under the radar during all of the ‘noise’ going on during admissions season for his older brother. That would be the difference between boys and girls. He does see the writing on the wall however…after his brother finished his last SAT, I transfered the SAT question of the day to go to his email. He is begging me to get a puppy to try to diffuse the attention he fears headed his way! Again, mars vs. venus! My Sr. son just laughs.</p>
<p>I do hope that your daughter gets good news this week. If she doesn’t make the school team I hope she’ll try out again next year. Making a varsity sport for a group that large (our school is actually 3k kids) is very competitive and puts a lot of stress on the kids…the same number of spots are available in a school with 1/3 the number of students. This is why I’ve always loved league teams. It gives a great chance for kids to participate that may never be able to in the ultra competitive nature of our very large high schools.</p>
<p>good luck to your daughter! keep us posted.</p>
<p>high school sports involve a lot of frustration–tryouts can be just the beginning! in spite of frustration, it can be a great experience for everyone!</p>
<p>" D is only a sophomore, so is also competing against the older, larger, and more experienced juniors and seniors. "</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about hockey, but my daughter (now a college junior) played HS volleyball, soccer and ran track. What I noticed for girls in those sports, which is very different from boys, is that they kind of “peak” sophomore year. That seemed to be when they were fastest and most athletic. After that sometimes they would gain weight or lose interest.</p>
I have a freshman son who is rather glad to be flying under the radar during all of the ‘noise’ going on during admissions season for his older brother. That would be the difference between boys and girls. He does see the writing on the wall however…after his brother finished his last SAT, I transfered the SAT question of the day to go to his email. He is begging me to get a puppy to try to diffuse the attention he fears headed his way! 
Again, mars vs. venus! My Sr. son just laughs.</p>