HS & Club Softball

The Benefits of Having Fall Softball Tryouts

The fall softball season is right around the corner after the conclusion of the national tournaments this past week. Most community programs hold their summer tryouts in the late winter months or early spring. The fall ball teams at the association levels are typically put together at random, by having coaches and board members come together and pick teams off the list of players who have signed up. The purpose of doing it this way is to help build and develop community teams equally. Most teams selected this way will have a mix of players of A, B, and C caliber. Once tryouts roll around in the spring, the teams will be formed based on where players rank at the tryout and by coach picks.

Once players reach the club level, tryouts will be held after the conclusion of the summer season and before the fall season starts. This way, teams can be formed and coaches and players can get to work. Once the teams are formed, this is how they will remain for the year. The teams will play fall ball, go through winter training, and compete in the summer together.

There are many benefits to having tryouts in the fall versus the spring. The list of benefits below applies to all age levels in softball.

Get Familiar: When teams are formed in the fall months, this gives players, coaches, and parents an opportunity to get to know each other over an extended period of time. The summer season is short for some teams and by the time everyone starts to get on the same page, the season will be over.

Time to Develop: Joining your team in the fall will give players time to develop. They will have the fall months, all winter, and the early spring to practice with their team and coaches. Softball is now becoming a year-round commitment and teams and programs as a whole are taking advantage of training and competing year round.

Build Trust: Developing and building trust takes time. It takes multiple hours of practice and games played for teammates and coaches to build and develop trust with one another. Trust goes along with the points above, getting familiar with everyone and taking time to not only develop, but to learn from and grow with your team.

Compete: They say champions are made in the off-season in softball. It gives teams a huge advantage when they can practice together in the fall and winter months, leading up to the summer season. Practicing and playing year-round together will give teams a leg up on their competition come summer season, and they will compete at a high level of play.

Having fall tryouts can be very beneficial to all softball programs and age levels. For those concerned about the association or program as a whole, keep in mind all teams and players will benefit from the list above, not just the top teams with the top coaches. Most club programs hold their winter training sessions with all of the teams and players together. This will also benefit the different skill levels and hold everyone to the same standards while giving equal opportunity. Teams who come together in the fall and play fall ball, and who train in the winter and spring months together leading up to the summer season, are more likely to succeed.

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