TRYOUT/EVALUATION PROCESS
Tryout time is a very stressful time of the year for players, parents, coaches and directors. We all recognize this and hopefully we are all conscious of that as we work our way through the entire process, from the tryouts themselves through the team formation process.
This document serves as an effort to provide clarity around the tryout/evaluation process and give the membership some insight into what all goes into the process and how we go about evaluating players.
The player evaluation process for returning players to the club is a process that spans the entire previous year. Our coaches and Directors are constantly evaluating the players throughout the year. Each players performance in training and in games are logged by each coach after every training session and game. In addition, each coach provides monthly feedback to the appropriate Director of Coaching through internal depth charts for each team which include position specific feedback as well as technical and tactical rankings as well as over impact rankings.
All players, both returning players to the club as well as players who are new to the club go through two days of tryouts. Tryouts will include technical training, small sided games and full sided games. During these tryouts coaches and Directors observe and evaluate players using an age specific Player Development Matrix that focuses on the Technical, Tactical, Physical and Mental aspects of the game. There is a different level of priority placed on each of these areas that is specific to the age of the players.
1= high priority
2= mid priority
3= low priority
4= no priority
Player Development Matrix
| Aspect of Game | 8U-10U | 11U-12U | 13U-14U | 15U-19U |
| | | | | |
| Technical | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Tactical | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Physical | 3+ | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Mental | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
As you can see there is a very specific plan in place that all coaches, Directors and evaluators use during the tryouts to evaluate all of the players. It is also very important to remember that all players develop at different rates over the course of their years in youth soccer and it is the responsibility of the coaches and Directors to place the players at the appropriate level of play for their continued development and enjoyment of the game. This is a responsibility that all of the coaches and Directors take very seriously. We hope that this document provides some clarity around the tryout process as a whole.