Tryouts are typically one-sided. Players go and show off what they can do. They hope to get an offer to play for the club. If they are lucky, they get to meet their coach. However, most don't get to see their coach actually coach and show off their coaching skills or personality. If you are lucky to get a contract offer to play with the club, you don't know who is on the team and what your chances are to garner playing time. Then, if you sign the contract, you are committing to paying for the entire season, including your share of all the travel trips, regardless of whether move, get injured, dislike your team or coach. (Note, some regions allow players to opt-out of their contract up until a certain date without penalty). A fair tryout would be an interactive training session where the coach gets to see the players perform and where the players can see if they like the coach and their coaching style. Then, get a workout with all the girls the team wants to sign so kids can see how good or how weak a team may be, as well as their standing on the team. For example, one player spent a great deal of time and money getting training to be a setter, but the team she played on wanted to use her for a libero. When you get to tryouts, you need to realize that most players in that club are returning from the previous year and already have a position on the team. It is likely that you are competing for one of maybe two or three positions. [Recently, there were 51 middle blockers who tried out for a large club. What they didn't know was that there were only 2 open middle blocker positions in that club at that age group. The club didn't tell kids what was available. They just took their $50 tryout fee, let them play a little, then cut them.] Tell the club you won't sign a contract until you get to see your team and your coach perform together and see what happens. If you start your 'research' early in the late spring/early summer, you can gather the info you need to make a good decision. Don't wait for tryouts because most roster spots are filled by returning players (most are already promised positions before tryouts even begin). Tryouts are meant to be high pressure, like a car sales process, where you have a small amount of time to make a decision and a fear of having your spot given to someone else: Sign now or get left out.
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