Trying out for a team, especially as a youth athlete, can be a nerve-racking experience. The actual tryouts are one thing, but the anticipation of waiting for the results is another!
As a coach or youth sports administrator, it’s important to understand your role in creating a positive team environment. This includes how you handle accepting new players and handling the players who didn’t make the team.
Our blog post will discuss creating a letter letting an athlete know they made the team. We’ll cover the key components of an effective letter, mistakes to avoid, and our stance on rejection letters.
Key components of an effective letter
You’ve hosted tryouts and selected your team members—so now what? The first step to notifying players is to create a “You Made the Team” letter.
An effective letter will include key components such as a congratulatory message, reasons the athlete was chosen for the team, and the next steps.
Congratulatory message
The beginning of your letter should address the athlete by their name and open with a congratulatory statement. Including the recipient’s name will help make the letter more personal. Your congrats statement should acknowledge the athlete’s hard work and success in making the team.
You should then clearly confirm their selection to the team and, if applicable, mention their role. For example, if you run a travel baseball team, you should let the players know they’ve been selected as the pitcher.
The opening of your letter is important as it sets the tone for the rest of the message.
Specific qualities recognized
The next section of your letter should include why this player was selected as a team member. You should include both athletic achievements and personal characteristics about the individual.
You reinforce the positive qualities that earned them the spot by highlighting specific attributes shown during the tryout process. For example, if you’re writing a letter for a competitive cheerleading program, it would be important to mention the cheerleader’s tumbling skills, experience, and positive attitude when working with other flyers.
Next steps or expectations
Lastly, you should end the letter with clear takeaways for the athlete and their parents. To start, clearly outline any forms, payments, or additional requirements that must be completed.
Forms could include acknowledging your organization’s code of conduct or signing additional waivers. Many competitive sports organizations will host tryouts for free and then require payment once letters have been received. If this is how you run your program, ensure there aren’t any financial surprises.
You should also include general expectations and information about your organization. These types of details can include the team’s practice schedule, parent volunteer expectations and anything else that is required of each player.
Lastly, there should be an action item that the player must take to confirm their acceptance. This could include them signing the letter and returning it, making their payment online using your team website or contacting you directly with their response.
Impact of “You Made the Team” letters
Creating a “You Made the Team” letter is beneficial in a multitude of ways. For coaches and admin, it’s a clear first step in creating your team’s roster. For the athlete, it’s much more!
One impact of receiving a “You Made the Team” letter is that it can boost an athlete’s self-esteem and confidence. The recipient will be able to clearly attribute their skills to their selection on the team and having a letter will reinforce this idea.
Receiving such a positive congratulatory letter will also increase an individual’s intrinsic motivation. Making the team encourages them to continue to participate in youth sports because it’s driven by the internal joy of accomplishment.
Another impact of creating a “You Made the Team” letter is that it fosters a sense of belonging. Being officially welcomed to a team helps athletes feel like they belong to something bigger, promoting camaraderie and teamwork, which are critical aspects of sports and personal development.
This congratulations letter will also impact an athlete’s motivation for future performance. Having a positive letter will set the tone for a successful season ahead and help reduce player anxiety.
How to write a “You Made the Team” letter
Some sports administrators will create their own team letter from scratch while others will choose to utilize a template. Unless your organization has very specific rules, we’d recommend using a premade template to save you time!
1. Download a template
Our team created our own downloadable and printable template for you to use. You can click this link to make a copy directly to your Google Account > You Made the Team Letter.
If you’d prefer to utilize another letter template, we’d recommend searching online for “sports congratulations letter template” or “you made the team letter template”.
2. Personalize the letter
A template is just a starting point for you to use a guide to help save time and effort. Part of creating a compelling congratulations letter is to make sure it’s personal and tailored to the individual athlete.
At a minimum, the template should be updated to include the athlete’s name, your team’s branding, and updated contact information. To take it to the next level, you should include the reason the player was selected, important information about athlete expectations, and the next steps for the parent and athlete to take.
3. Use exciting tone and language
A congratulations letter should be exciting and motivational. Since you should assume that the athlete needs to first accept the offer, make sure your letter is enticing and makes saying “yes” easy for them.
Use words such as “congratulations,” “good luck,” and “best regards” to keep your tone exciting.
4. Send at the right time
After you’ve selected who you’d like to send the letter to, you need to figure out which channel is best for communicating with athletes. We recommend sending an email because you can track the delivery, and it’s almost instantaneous.
We also recommend sending it on a Sunday evening when the athlete is most likely home. You should also make an effort not to send it during the school day or during a busy tournament weekend. Lastly, your subject line should indicate to the parent that this is a congratulations note.
During tryouts, you should inform parents when and where to expect a letter once team selections are made. Providing this information ahead of time will show parents that you take your team’s communication seriously.
Mistakes to avoid
Nobody is perfect, but we’ll do our best to minimize mistakes in this process. This section will cover common mistakes coaches make and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Being too vague or impersonal
Each athlete’s letter should be slightly different to account for the individual’s strengths and positive characteristics. Aside from addressing the recipient directly - you should add information about them so they know this letter was written specifically for them.
Mistake #2: Sending the letter too late
Having a sports team communication app can help you send timely messages to parents. If a child is a multi-sport athlete, they may be waiting to hear back from your team before moving on to another organization. Sending your letter in advance can give parents enough time.
Mistake #3: Not clearly communicating expectations
Parents should be aware of all facets of joining the team before they agree to become members. Expectations should include the cost to participate, practice dates and times, and any other parental commitments, such as volunteering.
Should I write rejection letters?
Our answer? Yes.
If your organization has a limited number of spots on a team, you’ll need to include rejection letters as part of running your sports organization. The first part of our answer is related to logistics. Parents and athletes shouldn’t be left wondering about tryout results. They may have other sports commitments that they’re deciding between, so this will help them move forward in a timely manner.
The other side of our answer is that it shows respect and acknowledgment for the individual. A rejection letter acknowledges the time, effort, and courage the athlete took to try out, showing that their participation is valued, even if they didn’t make the team.
Rejection letters can also encourage growth and development. A well-written rejection letter can include constructive feedback or words of encouragement, which can motivate athletes to keep working on their skills. Participating in youth sports is a healthy way for children to face challenges and handle failure gracefully.
Writing rejection letters is hard—nobody wants to hear bad news—but it’s the right thing to do and shows integrity from your organization. You can also use this as a time to recommend another local sports organization that may have the space or bandwidth to work with the player.
Final thoughts
Sending out congratulatory letters to new team members should highlight your season as a coach, and Jersey Watch is here to make it even more fun!
Once the athlete accepts their position, you can add them to your website’s roster, send them updates about the season, and collect their team payment directly online using our sports management system.
Sign up today to give it a try!
