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robert30096
66 Posts |
 Posted - 08/06/2019 : 15:37:02
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| Just wanted to say something about an issue that has been on my mind for a while. Why do travel organizations feel the need to charge $50-$150 for a player to attend their tryouts? If these organizations are trying to fill their 15-16 player rosters, I just dont see how that makes sense. These coaches arent willing to give a couple hours of their time to find the best players for their programs? Especially when they are charging 3k-4k to play for them. Personally, my son is a major level bracket pitcher, and I will never pay to tryout. I know other parents who feel the same way. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts on this. |
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Ross
60 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2019 : 17:27:17
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| Coaches time cost money. Field space and / or facilities cost money. Why would you expect it to be free? Other reason is to keep kids who have no shot of making it from showing up and wasting everyone's time. Do you offer what you do for a living for free? |
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Renegade44
211 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2019 : 20:41:43
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Why? Because new parents who don't know better keep piling into the new rec ball and will pay any price for little johnny to be on the big name team.
That's the simple why. Keeping up with the Jone's and trying to outdo the Smith's.
Let me say it loud and clear. 80% of the current travel ball players age 8 to 14 should be playing at Little league, Cal Ripken, Babe Ruth, Jr Legion, rec ball, or whatever. But they aren't which makes this high priced adventure nothing more than the new rec ball. |
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Punishers
688 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2019 : 11:53:50
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| I get an A or B team in an age group, but that C team; “we don’t believe in the kid but we like your money”. |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2019 : 15:10:55
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Because they can and also to weed out the dreamers. Back in the day, i sent son to a local academy for a paid tryout and found out afterwards from a somewhat spurned Dad/Friend of mine who thought his son had a very good chance to make the team, that it was already mostly full and only a few spots were actually open. Everything had been decided prior to the tryout. I chuckled as he was definitely more in the loop than me/us and moved on and never paid again. Lesson learned.
On another note, way back at 14U, a Dad on our team on this site described his son as a Major team's "Sunday" pitcher. I still chuckle at that today. |
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Fci678
4 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2019 : 23:51:05
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| The "Big Name" organizations can and do charge for tryouts simply because they can, and it is a huge moneymaker for them. Sure, if your kid can throw 88mph or hit a couple balls off or over the fence out of the five decent pitches he sees, you might get a look, otherwise you just wasted money, If your kid has the talent to play for a Major team, arrange a private workout...the dirty little secret is this is how most, if not all spots are actually filled. The "tryouts" are just a money grab. Lesser teams also charge for workouts and can get a decent turnout, but make no misstake, you are trying out for the B or C team and they will load as many players on those rosters as are willing to write the check. The A team roster will have 12 position players, at most and a bunch of PO's. The B team will have 18-24 players and probably no PO's. Seen it many times.... |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2019 : 09:05:23
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quote:
Originally posted by robert30096
Just wanted to say something about an issue that has been on my mind for a while. Why do travel organizations feel the need to charge $50-$150 for a player to attend their tryouts? If these organizations are trying to fill their 15-16 player rosters, I just dont see how that makes sense. These coaches arent willing to give a couple hours of their time to find the best players for their programs? Especially when they are charging 3k-4k to play for them. Personally, my son is a major level bracket pitcher, and I will never pay to tryout. I know other parents who feel the same way. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts on this.
There are certain parks that require it, it's not up to the coaches.
For example, you may have a private FREE tryout at ECB, but if you decide to play there you will be asked to pay the tryout fee for the tryout that happened two weeks ago that you weren't even there for. |
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Gatravelbaseball
56 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2019 : 10:42:26
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quote:
Originally posted by robert30096
Just wanted to say something about an issue that has been on my mind for a while. Why do travel organizations feel the need to charge $50-$150 for a player to attend their tryouts? If these organizations are trying to fill their 15-16 player rosters, I just dont see how that makes sense. These coaches arent willing to give a couple hours of their time to find the best players for their programs? Especially when they are charging 3k-4k to play for them. Personally, my son is a major level bracket pitcher, and I will never pay to tryout. I know other parents who feel the same way. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts on this.
I don't have a problem with teams charging a tryout, necessarily, I just wonder about the wisdom of it -- at least for the non-big-name organizations.
You build a solid program by building solid teams, so why would you risk missing out on even ONE really good player/teammate/family because they decide not to roll the dice on you and pay for your tryout?
It's not that hard to imagine that one kid ultimately being worth more to your organization in the long term than your entire take on tryout fees.
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Edited by - Gatravelbaseball on 08/14/2019 11:05:16 |
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Gatravelbaseball
56 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2019 : 12:39:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Ross
Coaches time cost money. Field space and / or facilities cost money. Why would you expect it to be free? Other reason is to keep kids who have no shot of making it from showing up and wasting everyone's time. Do you offer what you do for a living for free?
Coach's time does not cost money, it costs time. What else are they going to do with that time -- NOT hold a tryout at all? (I guess you could probably form some sort of team without one.) Plus the time they invest directly in tryouts is a tiny, tiny fraction of the total time they'll dedicate to the team for the entire season.
Most of the teams holding tryouts will not spend one red cent for fields or facilities (or insurance, or balls, or equipment, etc.) on top of what they'll already spend for their entire season. Usually their only incremental cost for the tryout is the gas money to get there.
There are other ways to pre-qualify kids before they come and waste your time at your tryout, like a registration form with questions about their playing experience, position in lineup, etc.
Coaches don't make a living holding tryouts, they make a living coaching baseball teams. Much like general contractors don't make a living giving estimates, they make a living doing the jobs.
You CAN defend charging for tryouts. And I think many would agree that a small fee of maybe $25 for new prospective players is totally reasonable.
But let's not pretend that those pushing back at the ever-higher and increasingly prevalent tryout fees are way off base.
As others have pointed out, the number one reason organizations charge for tryouts is because they CAN, because most people will pay it.
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22358
3 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2019 : 18:54:49
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What do you think about a 15U team charging $25 for a tryout and when you get there the team manager tells you that the team does not have a coach yet? He brought in a coach from another team to evaluate the players but he will have nothing to do with that team after the tryout. Registration and payment was due prior to the tryout. Not a lot of money but...
About 2 weeks later we get an email stating he cannot find a coach and there will not be a team. My opinion is they should have never scheduled a tryout until they found a coach.
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WarEagle34
16 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2019 : 07:21:48
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| Question, how does everyone feel when a team charges a fee for the first and second tryouts, then (for whatever reasoning) does not charge for a third tryout session? Some kids pay then some don't depending on when you tryout. |
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Gatravelbaseball
56 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2019 : 09:58:00
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quote:
Originally posted by WarEagle34
Question, how does everyone feel when a team charges a fee for the first and second tryouts, then (for whatever reasoning) does not charge for a third tryout session? Some kids pay then some don't depending on when you tryout.
Just purely speculating, but maybe they failed to fill out a team from their two paid tryouts, possibly because the turnout wasn't great. So then they decided to do a third, free tryout to make sure the cost didn't deter anyone from coming.
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2019 : 15:18:00
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| Paying for a tryout with an established team/org is one thing. I wouldn't pay a dime to tryout with a random team. |
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Crazyforbball
391 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2019 : 19:08:38
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| The well known, well established organizations ALL charge a fee, some more than others and while at some, you actually have a great chance at ending up on one of their teams, at others, there might be 1 kid out of 100 new players who find a home. If you are newer or not sure, just ask around. Everyone knows who is legit there. As far as paying for more than one tryout at the same place, NO, never. |
Edited by - Crazyforbball on 08/16/2019 21:09:05 |
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Punishers
688 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2019 : 12:36:02
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| Unless you are dealing with one of those established programs that will take any kid that comes to their tryouts. You might not make their top team but they will create a team for you to be on so that they will not loose any money that parents are willing to give them. |
Edited by - Punishers on 08/18/2019 13:20:42 |
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Charging to attend Tryouts
