From what I see this is not official tryout just an open house "tryout" correct?...haven't teams done this before? But it does seem earlier than past years

They held the same "open house" last year. Just a way to try and filter out who they want to invite to tryouts

If my kid is interested in playing for a program I contact the coach and take him to a couple practices before try-outs so my kid can see if he likes the coach and the coach can see if he likes the player.

Is this what they do so they don't poach players from other EHF teams? I think there's a limit of 5 or 6 you can take from another EHF team each year.