This is my first experience trying out for club teams in Seattle. It's also the first time I've truly had to make a roster since fall 2015 when I tried out for NUT. In 2016, I was more or less safe as a NUT returner & in 2017 I captained (easiest way to lock in your spot). Summer 2017 I walked on to Union and summer 2018 I walked on to Ghost Train.
In 2015 I remember having an extreme amount of anxiety about my NUT tryout. Even after attending MLC and receiving multiple pieces of positive feedback from Bruns and others, my nerves refused to subside until after the final roster was released.
College was a simpler time. In college, all the players try out for one team. If they don't make it, they play on the B team. A clear hierarchy with only single gender divisions. Nathan Dan and I have reminisced about the relative ease & lack of coordination required to make or set a roster in college.
In contrast club players try out for multiple teams that are in different divisions, have different timelines, and operate as completely independent entities. There are pockets of pick up and pods to attend, there are tryout committees and captains to meet. Players have to consider outcomes ranging from making every roster all the way down to zero.
Despite the increased complexity of trying out for 4 different club teams simultaneously, I am not nearly as wired as I was in 2015. At times it's been easy to start spending a lot of time and energy worrying about results and imagining different scenarios after each round of cuts, but I try not to get caught up thinking about variables that I can't control. Julia and I agree that we both play better when the #1 goal is to ball out.
I'm a much better player now than I was in 2015 & more confident as well. I've had a 6 month offseason of mini, throwing, footwork, and strength training to improve some of my targeted areas for growth. My game is good & I'm having fun. I'll play for the best team I can make this year and have another go next spring if I'm not satisfied. Can't wait to grind this summer.
Lessons Learned/Other Thoughts
- There's a ton of really good players floating around in the Seattle. This has been clear to me for awhile but I was still impressed by the overall talent at all the tryouts, especially younger players still in high school.
- The club scene here feels very much like a market where teams are sellers and players are buyers. For the best teams, ie. Sockeye/Riot/BFG/Mixtape, it's a sellers market - most players will accept an offer to play for those teams. The next level down however, Voodoo, Underground, Lights Out, Birdfruit - in this tier the players have a little more bargaining power, depending on what they can bring to the table. For players who are exiting the top tier of their own free will, or because they got cut in the last round, these second-tier teams have to do a little more to convince players that theirs is the roster they want to target. Players who only have an outside shot at playing for an elite team have much less room to wiggle and are more likely to take what they can get. This is where I lie right now. If we go down one more tier, to third-tier teams like Ghost Train, Soul, or Pegasus - these teams are in a buyer's market.
- Related to the previous two points - I think there's room in the market for another low-second-tier men's or mixed team. Based on the quantity and quality of players I've seen in the Voodoo/Lights Out/Birdfruit circuit and the realistic number of spots available, there will be some pretty good players that don't get offered spots on club teams this summer.
- A lot of people complain that trying out for multiple teams can bring a lot of stress on their bodies. I didn't really experience this. I think that the mental strain of juggling outcomes for 4 different teams is much higher.
Birdfruit 2019, let's ride.
I need to throw more breaks and less turnovers.
