Our club has always been open tryouts, but the new administration is supposedly going to close them this year. It hasnt been a problem in the past, so not sure why they are changing it. Then again, they are announcing the coaches on August 1st, which is fraught with danger IMO. In the past we have not announced coaches till after tryouts as announcing prior is a nightmare cause parents try to influence their decisions on kids.

Ashke, In my experience "try-outs" are generally a waste of time, but often a token warm fuzzy feeling for all those involved. The head coach of a group essentially knows who they are going to put into Div 1, Div 2 etc before the tryouts so why pretend. So really the only true "tryouts" where talent is unknown are probably the U10's or U12's.

Closed vs Open tryouts. Mmmm. The theme that comes through is that someone seems threatened by having parents watch "tryouts" for fear of criticism? May I suggest that perhaps a more subtle approach is needed. While the kids are "trying out", the parents could be diverted to a breakout room and provided with the necessary information for District. Parents Handbook, how District works, Q&A, or even scoretable training (No friggin' excuses from lazy parents then!) Then, if all things are timed to perfection, the parents miraculously appear just as the "tryout" is completed. That way you have your closed tryout without parents watching, and the parents are kept up to date with the latest information. You can't say that couldn't be made to work.

Alternatively, at the start of the tryout you could get parents to stand in the middle of a pentagram, chant their name three times, clap to make them disappear, then repeat the process when you want them to re-appear.

Joker: Yeah i hear you on announcing the coaches prior to the try-outs, our club did that last year and the rumour mill went crazy and actually turned off a few coaches from staying on..... very disappointing really.

Our club has always had open try-outs, but we are in the same boat as you as this year it is all changing.

Jack, love the idea of getting them to do a score table course during the try-outs.

We had a few coaches last year complaining about the parents sitting there and taking notes/stats and all that sort of sad, sad, sad stuff at try-outs. So i am guessing the club is looking at ways to stop the "over the top" parents, not easy i know.

Sometimes change is good, but sometimes it just brings up an entirely new set of problems.

Ashke, the Jedi mind trick of re-direction always works!

It probably would be a good time for score table training as (take it from a former Team Manager amongst other hats) we all know parents find excuses to get out of scoring and the biggest one is "no-one has ever shown me how to score"

Hi everyone, I believe lockouts(of parents) is a good idea.I know Bulleen do it and I think other Associations should follow suit.As a long time coach I cannot believe how some parents carry on when their child gets moved from the court they believe they should be on to a lower level court.We all know that some parents tend to over rate their kids. I have had one coach suggest(jokingly) that we should lock the parents out on Friday nights as well!!!!
How often do you hear parents yelling out instructions to their kids during the game.I have had to tell parents over the years that they are only looking at one child I am looking at 10!!! Let the coaches coach and let the players play - Please!!!

Don't alot of kids go to clubs because of who the coach is? Or maybe that is with older kids? That is where the development lies. So I am surprised that some clubs don't announce coaches until after tryouts. Just curious.

Yeah i would like to know who the coach was before try-outs, and i believe that our club will be announcing them early again. You can always go elsewhere if you don't like the coach, might save a season of complaining and undermining.

In Law there is a saying "Apart from Justice being done, it must seen to be done" By conducting "tryouts" under lock down situations it can potentially send a message of bias and unfairness at the club, or a message that the club has something to hide.

I might look at going to Norwood this season. I think they are a very professional club.

A closed tryout leaves the process open to speculation from parents and I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate for U10-U16 juniors anyway. Jack's idea is a good one with no evident drawbacks, since it isn't formally a 'closed' session.

I don't see an issue with announcing coaches early. If a high level coach could actually be pressured into giving the child of a nagging parent an unwarranted position they shouldn't be coaching at that level - pushy parents go hand in glove with elite sports. At the lower levels the decision making should be monitored by the JDO and div1 coach to avoid/rectify these situations.

agree PlaymakerMo, team selection practices should be able to withstand the rigours of cross examination. If a club has a group of parents in the stands recording critical stuff that the coaches should be recording anyhow like shot %, then that speaks volumes of the lack of faith that group has in fairness at that club.

If the ultimate reason for a closed session is a management technique to control "troublesome" parents who ask questions, then it may be time for some to wear a tin foil hat and take a Zyprexa. Remember, it's not Parentaphobia unless they are carrying pitchforks and flaming torches.

I agree with post 667 I to have seen clubs buckle at the knees and cater to parents. Clubs need to stand firm in what they have put in place, if it is team selection or coach sections.

How can subjectivity stand up to cross examination when it is an opinion.

Field goal percentage in a one of trial is a waste of a statistic. If some kid who cant play shoots 3 out of 5. And the clearly best player who is a great rebounder and passer shoots 10 out of 21 for the trials, you wouldn't take the first player.

Same as you cant take 5 points guards and not have any centres. Even if the point guard might be a better shooter than the best centre.

Plus you need to take into account attitude and team work. Training attendance and coachability as well.

If the parents don't have confidence in the process, their only option is to go somewhere that they do. If there is no where that they do, maybe they are the problem and not the a part of the solution, which field goal percentage clearly isn't Jack.

Do you think that the standard 'across the board" of our junior rep Basketball is progressing fast enough to close the gap on the Victorian clubs or do we need to put more development into our coaches? Or are we never going to be able to bridge it?

My extensive experience is that try outs are pretty much a waste of time, the coaches know who they want, it matters little how well your kid performs, the coaches have filled about 1/3 of the spots with the kids of parents of significance, 1/3 with kids from the coach's club and 1/3 good players from other clubs. Similarly the NITP selections a few years ago. Don't know if things have got any better.

I have been involved in and observed a number of try-outs from under 12's to under 18's, the things I think can improve are:

1. Communication
2. Reduce time of try-out
3. Open and honest expectations
4. Feedback
5. Understanding

agrid I agree with you about influentual parents getting their kids in. Happens everywhere - you know parent/s have high office in association,big $ sponsors - I guess it"s always going to happen!!!

^Great post.

The VJBL club I'm involved with used to let parents into the court area to watch tryouts but for the last 2-3 years the parents have only been able to watch from behind the glass. This is much better for the coaches as they can openly discuss where certain players fit without parents inching closer every second trying to eavesdrop. One year I even caught a parent trying to read a coaches notes during a session which is obviously not on. Keeping the parents away also helps the kids focus on what we as coaches need them to do. It also helps reduce perceived bias. It's amazing how simply saying "hello" to a parent can be blown totally out of proportion by another parent.

Our club runs 3 x 2 hour sessions and at the end of the last session, the kids are told which team they have been selected in and when the first official training session is. We don't have any discussions with the parents until the first training session. Segregating the parents helps keep things cool as there's always a small minority that become extremely upset with the outcome. If parents want to discuss the outcome of the tryouts, most coaches are happy to do that at the first official training.

There's no perfect system but this has worked pretty well for us so far. You're always going to end up with unhappy players/parents afterwards, it's just the nature of the process.