High School Volleyball Try-Out Drama (Out of Town)

[NHdisneylover]

OP, thanks for updating. I am glad you were able to work things out and change the flights for minimal cost--that is one big advantage of booking with SW for sure.

 

[Hrhpd]

Assuming it will be "around the same time"' as previous years (and getting it right) isn't at all the same as being TOLD, "it will be on this date". No excuse for any Summer tryout date not to be published before the end of the previous school year. Pure sloppiness on the coach's part.

Nope, can't blame the coach on this one.

As jme829 stated on page 1, she is also from Wisconsin and her daughter also played HS Volleyball. She stated that all the information is listed on the state athletic page.

Also, the OP's daughter is not a casual player, playing both high school and club. Therefore, she knows all the ins and outs. She has tried out for this team 3x previously, so should be very familiar how tryouts go.

And lastly, the OP said in the Dropping Freshman Off thread that they did this exact thing last year, dropped their daughter off at school and took a 5 day vacation around the drop off. She said they were doing the same thing this year. Since drop off dates are also usually around same time each year, the OP and her daughter must have thought about tryouts and if they were missing them last year. So, this scheduling a vacation around tryouts time is not a new thing.

That said, the OP has been pretty darn gracious about admitting it was their oversight and that they have worked it out to where the daughter will fly home a couple of days early and attend tryouts.

Congrats OP for working out a solution and Good Luck to your daughter.

 

[mamamary]

Glad to hear you were able to work things out.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just to add to the "try outs are important"...

I just talked to my boss. His DD is entering her senior year of high school. She's played varsity the last two years and the freshman team her first year. She tried out, but didn't make the cut for this year's team. She's the only senior who didn't make the cut. Don't assume anything.

 

[slo]

A big huge good luck to your DD.
Trying out for a team is so stressful - been there, done that with my DD's.
I'm so glad you were able to get her on another flight home and she can make it to tryouts.

 

[mickeyboat]

I have to agree with the others. DDs are sophomores, and even when they were freshmen we knew the approximate dates of try-outs and planned our vacations around them. They play hockey all through Thanksgiving, Christmas and February vacations and softball all through April vacation (although the softball coach is pretty lenient about April vacation), so the only time we can really plan a family vacation is right when school gets out. I would not expect the coach or athletic department to make an exception for my DDs, and if I had made a mistake in timing, I would do whatever I could to get DDs to try outs.

Good luck you your DD, OP!

 

[sharona]

Glad you were able to make the flight change work for you OP! You've got to love SW's no change fee policy!!! The only problem for me is that it gives me too much flexibility and I'm constantly tweaking our plans whereas with any other airline once I book I have to work around our flights.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Knowing it would be around the same time, it would be pretty easy to find out when the exact dates would be.

Not if the EXACT date hasn't been determined. Let's say it's been the 3rd Monday of August for the past 3 years & this year it's the 2nd Friday instead? With the very narrow window between sports kids have these days, a day or 2 either way does matter.

And let's forget OP for a minute. What about incoming freshmen? Kids who didn't try out last year due to injury? Kids who are new to the district? Do you think it's fair (or even wise) to give those kids 3 weeks notice?

Let me tell you about my kids' swim team. Club level swimming, no tryouts required, no cut team, no requirement to to attend every practice or even every meet. We didn't have a practice until June, yet we had a COMPLETE schedule before the end of March. And that was distributed by an unpaid volunteer.

I would think a paid coach, whose JOB it is to put the best possible team on the court would consider it imperative to publish a MANDATORY tryout date well in advance of that date in order to ensure the best possible participation, and therefore the best possible team. If "I" was the AD, I'd demand it.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would think a paid coach, whose JOB it is to put the best possible team on the court would consider it imperative to publish a MANDATORY tryout date well in advance of that date in order to ensure the best possible participation, and therefore the best possible team.

We're also assuming there was nothing handed out at the end of the spring. It is possible something got handed out/posted, but in the mess of stuff at the end of the school year got overlooked.

DS's MS team had tryouts for the fall at the end of the spring school year. He's a rising 6th grader and was notified. He made the team. At the parent meeting (end of May), the coach handed out both game schedules and summer work out schedules. He also emailed all the parents on June 3rd with both schedules attached. Mandatory practices started this morning. Two weeks ago, DW emailed two other families who live in our neighborhood who's sons made the team to organize car pools for the practices (school doesn't start for another 3 weeks). One parent said "what mandatory practices?" Never heard from boy #2's family.

Aside from that, we heard nothing from the other families. So we made arrangements for older DD to take DS to practice today. At 11 last night, boy #1's mom said "I'll take them." At 9 this morning, after a reminder text blast from the coach, boy #2's dad replied saying "we don't have a ride."

I'm not saying that's the case with the OP, but I thought of this thread when all this happened.

FWIW, I'm guessing tryouts are more like "three weeks before school starts, on that Monday" instead of "the 3rd Monday of July". I assume the tryouts are on the same days of the week, just which week would be different, but it's probably based on when school starts.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We're also assuming there was nothing handed out at the end of the spring. It is possible something got handed out/posted, but in the mess of stuff at the end of the school year got overlooked.

DS's MS team had tryouts for the fall at the end of the spring school year. He's a rising 6th grader and was notified. He made the team. At the parent meeting (end of May), the coach handed out both game schedules and summer work out schedules. He also emailed all the parents on June 3rd with both schedules attached. Mandatory practices started this morning. Two weeks ago, DW emailed two other families who live in our neighborhood who's sons made the team to organize car pools for the practices (school doesn't start for another 3 weeks). One parent said "what mandatory practices?" Never heard from boy #2's family.

Aside from that, we heard nothing from the other families. So we made arrangements for older DD to take DS to practice today. At 11 last night, boy #1's mom said "I'll take them." At 9 this morning, after a reminder text blast from the coach, boy #2's dad replied saying "we don't have a ride."

I'm not saying that's the case with the OP, but I thought of this thread when all this happened.

FWIW, I'm guessing tryouts are more like "three weeks before school starts, on that Monday" instead of "the 3rd Monday of July". I assume the tryouts are on the same days of the week, just which week would be different, but it's probably based on when school starts.

And that's a fair point. I "am" making that assumption. In particular, I assumed OP's daughter as a member of the team would have at least heard the date from a friend by now if in fact the date had been published.

But yes, assumption on my part.

 

[Colleen27]

UPDATE:
We decided to call Southwest and get her on a different flight home 2 days earlier. It was only an additional cost of $8 to make the switch, so I'm relieved about that. Her boyfriend's parents will be picking her up at the airport and taking her home. It's not an ideal situation, but it will work. It sure is amazing how some things can really sneak up on you. I really thought volleyball would've been a week or so later than it is. The try-out dates aren't even listed on the website yet-they still have 2014 information. It isn't the most organized bunch running the show.....but then again, apparently we aren't either.

Glad you got it worked out!

I hear you on the unorganized stuff. I just got a fourth revision of DD's volleyball schedule for fall, and this one has mandatory conditioning three days during the week she'll be away at camp (next week!). Since she is a freshman and not much of a volleyball player she doesn't have a shot at varsity anyway, so she can manage missing those days without serious consequence, but how ridiculous to schedule anything mandatory on such short notice! She had to apply to the camp she's attending by May 1; there's no way to wait on the sports schedule to plan this stuff!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I also will be a senior in high school and play volleyball myself. It's frustrating because volleyball is a top priority and it's difficult to manage volleyball and work. I can understand the coach not making an exception. Ultimately, this is a choice your daughter will have to make. I personally wouldn't do it, but that's just me.

 

[bsblady01]

if it's important to your dd let her stay home, a lot will ride on her making the team as it may save you money on college next year if she gets a full ride for volleyball. she is 17 why does she have to go with you to take your other dd

 

[HM]

Fall Sports Try-outs are on the HS website before the end of the prior school year here. Generally, they start August 1. We learned early on that August vacations weren't possible if our child wanted to play a Fall sport.

 

[sam_gordon]

if it's important to your dd let her stay home, a lot will ride on her making the team as it may save you money on college next year if she gets a full ride for volleyball. she is 17 why does she have to go with you to take your other dd

Did you see they've already made plans to let their DD attend tryouts?