Post by gq on Jan 21, 2014 18:54:19 GMT -6
An interesting topic that has come up recently on the “other” message board is the subject of a player planning to change teams for the following season well in advance of that change. For example, a player who decides in January 2014 that she will play for another club in August 2014. This topic raises all kinds of questions for the three parties involved: (1) the player; (2) the player’s current team; and (3) the player’s future team.
I will walk you through how we presently handle the roster formation process for the two teams that I manage and what sort of ethical questions arise for the “pursuer” and “pursuee” in the process. I believe you will find that we operate our roster formation process like many other club teams.
Your comments,arguments and questions are welcome.
Planning Ahead – Estimating Our Needs
I have to plan my rosters much like a college softball program might. At 18U, I have to look at who is graduating at what positions and make sure that is addressed in the next round of players that get added to that roster. With respect to the 16U team, I have to project who might move up to 18U and also consider who has to move up age wise. Can we fill the open spots at 18U adequately within the organization or do we need someone from the outside? Since I added the 16U team in 2012-13 that has somewhat relieved the need to go outside the organization to replace graduating players at 18U. However, that does create a need to add close to a half roster at 16U each year. I find that 16U is a more forgiving level of play and that we can still take a player with talent that is not well developed. It has always been my preference to develop the players we get anyway so adding the 16U team and being responsible for the player’s early development has been a blessing in that regard.
It should be mentioned that I am always willing to bring a player with great potential and good character into the organization. In addition, certain key positions like pitcher and shortstop, require a certain caliber athlete to be successful with our schedule. So, much like a college coach, I will always be open to adding players with the ability to succeed at certain key positions.
The players from outside our organization that join our rosters in August typically contact us and ask us to look at them. Less frequently, I am out and about at a camp or clinic and see a player I like and find out if they might be interested in having me evaluate them as a potential player. I would say in most cases players come to me rather than the other way around. Prospective players contact me on a year-round basis. Therefore, it is possible we may fill a roster spot in January for the following August, but in many cases it occurs later than that. Much like the college coach, the real challenge in planning ahead is trying to estimate just how well people who are presently in the organization are going to develop in the summer before the next roster cycle. It is hard to know what your needs are until you see how competent your returning players are. This is especially true when you are projecting younger players since much of their growth occurs during the 8th to 10th grade years.
I don’t make a lot of phone calls to pursue players. I don’t have the time for that and since our roster needs are somewhat limited each year it is unnecessary.
Planning Ahead – The Open Tryout as an Option
I prefer not to run an open tryout for the following reasons:
1. Many kids will attend an open tryout and are not going to make the team. It is not a good use of their time to attend our tryout when they could be trying to find a roster spot somewhere else. I will miss out on some kids by not holding an open tryout, but the inefficiencies associated with the open tryout are so compelling that I am willing to run that risk.
2. We usually do not need many players. An open tryout would result in players who play positions that may not even be in demand wasting their time at our tryout.
3. If you wait until two weeks before your season starts (when most open tryouts are held) to find your players you are not going to be able to compete at the level we seek to compete at. One thing I learned in the early years is if you do not know what your roster looks like for the coming year by July 15 you are in trouble.
Anatomy of a Roster
I will use our current Chill rosters to illustrate how things typically fall into place when we make our teams.
Right now the Chill has three teams operating. I am responsible for filling the roster of the 18U team I manage as well as the 16U team which I consider an extension of my 18U team. Brian Edwards, a fine coach and gentleman, also coaches a Chill 18U team.
I started the 16U team in Fall 2012 so that we could start to develop players to play 18U without forcing them up to that level before they were ready to enjoy success. So far so good in that respect. Three players from the 2012-13 16U team have transitioned this year to the 18U team without a hitch. All three have committed to Big 10 schools and should enjoy good success at 18U this year. Most of the rest of the 2012-13 16U team is looking forward to a second successful year at 16U.
So, with that as a backdrop, I need to look at filling two rosters each year with about 13 to 14 players a piece. A typical graduating class for me at 18U might be five players so that is how many I might need to replace in a given year. That number may grow a little in future years if the 16U team continues to serve its intended purpose. The resulting trend would be for the average age of my 18U team to start to increase a little.
This year’s 18U roster of 14 players was filled from the following sources:
- 8 returning players from last year’s 18U team
- 3 players from last year’s 16U team
- 2 players from Pat Morris’s Chill 18U team which is no longer operating
- 1 player from outside the organization
Therefore, with respect to this year’s 18u team, we only went outside the organization for one player. This was due in part to the successful launching of the 16U team as well as the fact the Chill Morris team had completed its run and had some quality players with one or two years of high school left. It should be noted that Chill Edwards 18U also assimilated several players from the Chill Morris team. The one “outsider” to my 18U roster I had contacted by email in late July right before PGF Nationals. I had seen some favorable things about her on the Scout Softball website and thought we might be a good fit for her. She made a relatively quick decision to join our team.
This year’s 16U roster of 13 players was filled from the following sources:
- 7 returning players from last year’s 16U team
- 6 players from outside the organization
The new 16U players were kids who contacted us and asked us to look at them. In some cases they already knew someone in the organization and contacted us through them. In a few cases they were kids without prior contacts in the organization and contacted us independently. In each case, we made a date to evaluate them, measured their “measurables”, and then offered them a spot. There were probably another 20-25 kids that we looked at that we did not offer a spot to, or in one case, the player declined our offer. Some of the kids we added we looked at as early as January 2013 for the August 2013 roster. A few additions were looked at as late as July/August 2013. There was not one instance of us aggressively going out and finding players for the 16U team. In each case they initiated the activity.
I do not choose the players for Brian Edwards’ Chill roster, but I always try to support Brian’s team in both the rostering and recruiting process. Brian will typically start looking at players in semi-private tryouts in July for the following year. With Brian’s consent and approval, I hope to integrate some of my 16s on to Brian’s team in future years.
The Ethical Side of Things
There certainly are awkward moments for all the parties when a player makes a decision to change club teams. The player, the team she is leaving, and the team she is going to join all have their own slant on things. Let’s analyze this situation under three different scenarios: (1) player decides in advance of the summer season that she is changing teams for the upcoming summer; (2) player decides in advance of the summer season that she is changing teams the following fall; and (3) player decides during the summer season that she is changing teams the following fall.
1. Player decides during the winter months to change teams for the upcoming summer.
This situation potentially causes the most problems, especially if the team being left behind is challenged roster size or position wise. We have had players join our roster during the off-season on occasion. Our need to add a player for the upcoming summer is typically due to injuries, but on occasion we did not fill a roster need in the fall and remained on the lookout into the offseason until we could find a suitable player. I won’t take a player unless I can convince myself she at least has some chance to play at the D1 level. Therefore it is possible we could come out of the August rostering process short at a position.
In each case a player has left her present team to join us during the off-season it has been a case where the switch clearly was in the player’s personal best interest. In other words, they weren’t leaving a highly competitive team in January to join us. In addition, it was always the player looking to make the switch that contacted us first. Does that mean the team she left behind is good with it? No, not at all. As I said, this is the worst kind of player switch and not one I would ever want to initiate. However, when the player comes to us I have been willing to accept that player to fill our specific need.
We are fortunate to be a program that is viewed presently as a destination rather than a stepping stone so we don’t find ourselves on the raw end of this type of player movement. It would be very rare for one of our players to leave us during the off-season unless she has decided she may be in over her head. In that case, I would have no problem with her leaving.
2. Player decides during the winter months to change teams for the following fall.
This situation has come under fire recently on the “other” board. Among the questions raised are (a) is it ethical for a club team to recruit a player for the following August during the preceding winter months; (b) can a player who is committed somewhere else in August play out the string with her full energy and effort for her current team the preceding summer; and (c) when is the proper time for the player to disclose to her present team that she will be leaving after the summer season.
(a) Is it ethical for a club team to recruit a player for the following August during the preceding winter months? My short answer is “yes”. As I mentioned before, I am not going to wait until August to put together a team for the following year. Matter of fact, if we all did things that way, there would be no way to adequately plan the following year. As all managers know, in order to secure spots in certain tournaments you often have to pay a year in advance. From an efficiency standpoint, it is a lot easier for me to look at a prospective player in the winter than it is in the summer when everyone is out chasing their summer schedule.
(b) Can a player who is committed somewhere else in August play out the string with her full energy and effort for her current team the preceding summer? I would hope so or I would not want her on my team in August. Any kid switching to my team would be someone who is going to play hard because presumably she is working towards a college scholarship. I sincerely doubt she would lay down on her current teammates.
(c) When is the proper time for the player to disclose to her present team that she will be leaving after the summer season? This is the tricky question in this subtopic. Even though I am confident that the player who will be leaving will continue to play hard, her teammates (and their parents) reaction to her leaving can make things awkward and unpleasant for all those involved. So the family that is leaving is faced with the choice: (1) tell them now so they can plan the team without me, but risk the resentment of the other families; or (2) keep it quiet until the end of the summer to keep the scrutiny and pressure off the player who is leaving. When we have a player who is coming over in August decide well in advance that she is coming, I always leave it to them to decide how to handle it. If the player’s parent is the head coach of her current team as is sometimes the case there is something to be said for early disclosure. This gives the rest of the players adequate notice that not only will they be losing their player but their head coach as well. This may make for an uncomfortable summer season, but it is probably the most accommodating thigns for the rest of the roster. The remaining players can look for a new coach or look for new teams with some advance planning rather than having to scramble on August 1.
3. Player decides during the summer season to change teams for the upcoming fall season.
I doubt any of the parties have an issue with the idea a player may change teams from year to year. Again, the question comes up as to when does the player let her current team know? I believe it is in everyone’s best interest if the player lets her current team know as soon as she makes her decision. I believe most managers poll their players in July to confirm who is coming back anyway. So dropping the news to the current team in June or July would hardly be poor form. I would think if the current team plans to continue next year, finding out early you might be down a key player would be important.
Conclusion
I think it is important to recognize that each case of a player changing teams has its own unique set of circumstances. In the case of the players who have joined the Chill through the years, rarely have they come from what would be considered powerhouse travel programs. They have usually been good prospects on pretty unexceptional teams. In all cases, they were kids who needed development and were not getting what they needed with their current team. These are the types of kids I try to focus on. That way, leaving their current team is not that tough of a choice from a logistical standpoint. It may still be tough on them emotionally however. The kids that come from middle of the pack (or below) travel programs are very grateful to be here. They work hard and they appreciate having teammates as talented as they are. I think this is one of the reasons you will never see players on our team not hustle or act like they are better than anyone else. They come from humble roots and I do my best to keep them thinking that way while they are with me.
It is also important to understand that team choice decisions often times need to be made sooner rather than later if you have lofty goals as a player. Much like the current college recruiting process, if you don’t take the offer that is out there from a good team when it is made, it may not be there a month later. Do feelings occasionally get hurt in the process? Of course they do, but whether an exit is considered gracious or not is often in the eyes of the beholder. Sometimes jealousy of those being left behind plays a factor in an uncomfortable exit, but more times than not it is the ambition of the player making the move that is the driving factor. Most of the time the player’s current team, up and down the roster, just does not want what the exiting player wants out of the sport. The natural flow of things is for there to be a narrowing of the talent pool as kids move up the age levels. Some kids on a 14U or 16U team may have maxed out talent wise, or perhaps they don’t want to keep putting in the time required to be high level players. When a player who wants more and has the ability to do more decides to go to another team, it is easier for those left behind to blame her for being a traitor than it is for them to accept the fact they are no longer on the same page.
In conclusion, a valuable player leaving a team in most cases is going to cause some hard feelings. If that player indicates her intention to switch teams months in advance, she is taking the chance of invoking the wrath of her teammates and their families. However, she is being honest and giving her teammates and coaches the advance opportunity to address her future absence. To me that is an honorable route to go.
I will walk you through how we presently handle the roster formation process for the two teams that I manage and what sort of ethical questions arise for the “pursuer” and “pursuee” in the process. I believe you will find that we operate our roster formation process like many other club teams.
Your comments,arguments and questions are welcome.
Planning Ahead – Estimating Our Needs
I have to plan my rosters much like a college softball program might. At 18U, I have to look at who is graduating at what positions and make sure that is addressed in the next round of players that get added to that roster. With respect to the 16U team, I have to project who might move up to 18U and also consider who has to move up age wise. Can we fill the open spots at 18U adequately within the organization or do we need someone from the outside? Since I added the 16U team in 2012-13 that has somewhat relieved the need to go outside the organization to replace graduating players at 18U. However, that does create a need to add close to a half roster at 16U each year. I find that 16U is a more forgiving level of play and that we can still take a player with talent that is not well developed. It has always been my preference to develop the players we get anyway so adding the 16U team and being responsible for the player’s early development has been a blessing in that regard.
It should be mentioned that I am always willing to bring a player with great potential and good character into the organization. In addition, certain key positions like pitcher and shortstop, require a certain caliber athlete to be successful with our schedule. So, much like a college coach, I will always be open to adding players with the ability to succeed at certain key positions.
The players from outside our organization that join our rosters in August typically contact us and ask us to look at them. Less frequently, I am out and about at a camp or clinic and see a player I like and find out if they might be interested in having me evaluate them as a potential player. I would say in most cases players come to me rather than the other way around. Prospective players contact me on a year-round basis. Therefore, it is possible we may fill a roster spot in January for the following August, but in many cases it occurs later than that. Much like the college coach, the real challenge in planning ahead is trying to estimate just how well people who are presently in the organization are going to develop in the summer before the next roster cycle. It is hard to know what your needs are until you see how competent your returning players are. This is especially true when you are projecting younger players since much of their growth occurs during the 8th to 10th grade years.
I don’t make a lot of phone calls to pursue players. I don’t have the time for that and since our roster needs are somewhat limited each year it is unnecessary.
Planning Ahead – The Open Tryout as an Option
I prefer not to run an open tryout for the following reasons:
1. Many kids will attend an open tryout and are not going to make the team. It is not a good use of their time to attend our tryout when they could be trying to find a roster spot somewhere else. I will miss out on some kids by not holding an open tryout, but the inefficiencies associated with the open tryout are so compelling that I am willing to run that risk.
2. We usually do not need many players. An open tryout would result in players who play positions that may not even be in demand wasting their time at our tryout.
3. If you wait until two weeks before your season starts (when most open tryouts are held) to find your players you are not going to be able to compete at the level we seek to compete at. One thing I learned in the early years is if you do not know what your roster looks like for the coming year by July 15 you are in trouble.
Anatomy of a Roster
I will use our current Chill rosters to illustrate how things typically fall into place when we make our teams.
Right now the Chill has three teams operating. I am responsible for filling the roster of the 18U team I manage as well as the 16U team which I consider an extension of my 18U team. Brian Edwards, a fine coach and gentleman, also coaches a Chill 18U team.
I started the 16U team in Fall 2012 so that we could start to develop players to play 18U without forcing them up to that level before they were ready to enjoy success. So far so good in that respect. Three players from the 2012-13 16U team have transitioned this year to the 18U team without a hitch. All three have committed to Big 10 schools and should enjoy good success at 18U this year. Most of the rest of the 2012-13 16U team is looking forward to a second successful year at 16U.
So, with that as a backdrop, I need to look at filling two rosters each year with about 13 to 14 players a piece. A typical graduating class for me at 18U might be five players so that is how many I might need to replace in a given year. That number may grow a little in future years if the 16U team continues to serve its intended purpose. The resulting trend would be for the average age of my 18U team to start to increase a little.
This year’s 18U roster of 14 players was filled from the following sources:
- 8 returning players from last year’s 18U team
- 3 players from last year’s 16U team
- 2 players from Pat Morris’s Chill 18U team which is no longer operating
- 1 player from outside the organization
Therefore, with respect to this year’s 18u team, we only went outside the organization for one player. This was due in part to the successful launching of the 16U team as well as the fact the Chill Morris team had completed its run and had some quality players with one or two years of high school left. It should be noted that Chill Edwards 18U also assimilated several players from the Chill Morris team. The one “outsider” to my 18U roster I had contacted by email in late July right before PGF Nationals. I had seen some favorable things about her on the Scout Softball website and thought we might be a good fit for her. She made a relatively quick decision to join our team.
This year’s 16U roster of 13 players was filled from the following sources:
- 7 returning players from last year’s 16U team
- 6 players from outside the organization
The new 16U players were kids who contacted us and asked us to look at them. In some cases they already knew someone in the organization and contacted us through them. In a few cases they were kids without prior contacts in the organization and contacted us independently. In each case, we made a date to evaluate them, measured their “measurables”, and then offered them a spot. There were probably another 20-25 kids that we looked at that we did not offer a spot to, or in one case, the player declined our offer. Some of the kids we added we looked at as early as January 2013 for the August 2013 roster. A few additions were looked at as late as July/August 2013. There was not one instance of us aggressively going out and finding players for the 16U team. In each case they initiated the activity.
I do not choose the players for Brian Edwards’ Chill roster, but I always try to support Brian’s team in both the rostering and recruiting process. Brian will typically start looking at players in semi-private tryouts in July for the following year. With Brian’s consent and approval, I hope to integrate some of my 16s on to Brian’s team in future years.
The Ethical Side of Things
There certainly are awkward moments for all the parties when a player makes a decision to change club teams. The player, the team she is leaving, and the team she is going to join all have their own slant on things. Let’s analyze this situation under three different scenarios: (1) player decides in advance of the summer season that she is changing teams for the upcoming summer; (2) player decides in advance of the summer season that she is changing teams the following fall; and (3) player decides during the summer season that she is changing teams the following fall.
1. Player decides during the winter months to change teams for the upcoming summer.
This situation potentially causes the most problems, especially if the team being left behind is challenged roster size or position wise. We have had players join our roster during the off-season on occasion. Our need to add a player for the upcoming summer is typically due to injuries, but on occasion we did not fill a roster need in the fall and remained on the lookout into the offseason until we could find a suitable player. I won’t take a player unless I can convince myself she at least has some chance to play at the D1 level. Therefore it is possible we could come out of the August rostering process short at a position.
In each case a player has left her present team to join us during the off-season it has been a case where the switch clearly was in the player’s personal best interest. In other words, they weren’t leaving a highly competitive team in January to join us. In addition, it was always the player looking to make the switch that contacted us first. Does that mean the team she left behind is good with it? No, not at all. As I said, this is the worst kind of player switch and not one I would ever want to initiate. However, when the player comes to us I have been willing to accept that player to fill our specific need.
We are fortunate to be a program that is viewed presently as a destination rather than a stepping stone so we don’t find ourselves on the raw end of this type of player movement. It would be very rare for one of our players to leave us during the off-season unless she has decided she may be in over her head. In that case, I would have no problem with her leaving.
2. Player decides during the winter months to change teams for the following fall.
This situation has come under fire recently on the “other” board. Among the questions raised are (a) is it ethical for a club team to recruit a player for the following August during the preceding winter months; (b) can a player who is committed somewhere else in August play out the string with her full energy and effort for her current team the preceding summer; and (c) when is the proper time for the player to disclose to her present team that she will be leaving after the summer season.
(a) Is it ethical for a club team to recruit a player for the following August during the preceding winter months? My short answer is “yes”. As I mentioned before, I am not going to wait until August to put together a team for the following year. Matter of fact, if we all did things that way, there would be no way to adequately plan the following year. As all managers know, in order to secure spots in certain tournaments you often have to pay a year in advance. From an efficiency standpoint, it is a lot easier for me to look at a prospective player in the winter than it is in the summer when everyone is out chasing their summer schedule.
(b) Can a player who is committed somewhere else in August play out the string with her full energy and effort for her current team the preceding summer? I would hope so or I would not want her on my team in August. Any kid switching to my team would be someone who is going to play hard because presumably she is working towards a college scholarship. I sincerely doubt she would lay down on her current teammates.
(c) When is the proper time for the player to disclose to her present team that she will be leaving after the summer season? This is the tricky question in this subtopic. Even though I am confident that the player who will be leaving will continue to play hard, her teammates (and their parents) reaction to her leaving can make things awkward and unpleasant for all those involved. So the family that is leaving is faced with the choice: (1) tell them now so they can plan the team without me, but risk the resentment of the other families; or (2) keep it quiet until the end of the summer to keep the scrutiny and pressure off the player who is leaving. When we have a player who is coming over in August decide well in advance that she is coming, I always leave it to them to decide how to handle it. If the player’s parent is the head coach of her current team as is sometimes the case there is something to be said for early disclosure. This gives the rest of the players adequate notice that not only will they be losing their player but their head coach as well. This may make for an uncomfortable summer season, but it is probably the most accommodating thigns for the rest of the roster. The remaining players can look for a new coach or look for new teams with some advance planning rather than having to scramble on August 1.
3. Player decides during the summer season to change teams for the upcoming fall season.
I doubt any of the parties have an issue with the idea a player may change teams from year to year. Again, the question comes up as to when does the player let her current team know? I believe it is in everyone’s best interest if the player lets her current team know as soon as she makes her decision. I believe most managers poll their players in July to confirm who is coming back anyway. So dropping the news to the current team in June or July would hardly be poor form. I would think if the current team plans to continue next year, finding out early you might be down a key player would be important.
Conclusion
I think it is important to recognize that each case of a player changing teams has its own unique set of circumstances. In the case of the players who have joined the Chill through the years, rarely have they come from what would be considered powerhouse travel programs. They have usually been good prospects on pretty unexceptional teams. In all cases, they were kids who needed development and were not getting what they needed with their current team. These are the types of kids I try to focus on. That way, leaving their current team is not that tough of a choice from a logistical standpoint. It may still be tough on them emotionally however. The kids that come from middle of the pack (or below) travel programs are very grateful to be here. They work hard and they appreciate having teammates as talented as they are. I think this is one of the reasons you will never see players on our team not hustle or act like they are better than anyone else. They come from humble roots and I do my best to keep them thinking that way while they are with me.
It is also important to understand that team choice decisions often times need to be made sooner rather than later if you have lofty goals as a player. Much like the current college recruiting process, if you don’t take the offer that is out there from a good team when it is made, it may not be there a month later. Do feelings occasionally get hurt in the process? Of course they do, but whether an exit is considered gracious or not is often in the eyes of the beholder. Sometimes jealousy of those being left behind plays a factor in an uncomfortable exit, but more times than not it is the ambition of the player making the move that is the driving factor. Most of the time the player’s current team, up and down the roster, just does not want what the exiting player wants out of the sport. The natural flow of things is for there to be a narrowing of the talent pool as kids move up the age levels. Some kids on a 14U or 16U team may have maxed out talent wise, or perhaps they don’t want to keep putting in the time required to be high level players. When a player who wants more and has the ability to do more decides to go to another team, it is easier for those left behind to blame her for being a traitor than it is for them to accept the fact they are no longer on the same page.
In conclusion, a valuable player leaving a team in most cases is going to cause some hard feelings. If that player indicates her intention to switch teams months in advance, she is taking the chance of invoking the wrath of her teammates and their families. However, she is being honest and giving her teammates and coaches the advance opportunity to address her future absence. To me that is an honorable route to go.