Any Tryout Management Advice

[Bret AndersonParticipant]

I have tryouts coming up at the end of the month four our U10 team.  At this age we still see good prospects  from recreation soccer or clubs that we haven’t played against.  While the approach we’ve used in the past does a good job of identifying technical and physical attributes I feel it is weaker on providing  insight into areas like: decision making ability (quick thinkers), listening skills and pyscosocial elements (discipine, cooperation and competiveness).  I have found that I develop a sense for this (especially after speaking with the parents), but would appreciate any advice you have to offer on what you do for tryouts.  Thanks.

[andrew crollardParticipant]

I always separate out the players that I already know their skill level from those who I don’t know their skill level. I usually end up with 3 groups for my tryouts: one made of my returning players from last season, one made of last season’s U12 players who are now old enough to play U14, and one made of players who weren’t on either team. This makes it a lot easier to basically ignore my returning players, who I already know exactly what their skillset is, and largely ignore the upcoming U12 players, who I have seen during the indoor winter sessions I run and during their practices I am able to attend. That means I’m usually looking at 6-8 players out of 20-24 – a much easier task than looking at everyone.

We do 3-day tryouts. The first day is basically to find the 14-16 players who are definitely on the team and then 4-6 bubble players who might make the team or might get cut. We do a lot of super basic stuff like rondos, 4v4, then scrimmage. The teams are separated out as denoted above to try to find any of the “never seen” players who clearly stand out either good or bad.

The last two days are designed to look at the bubble players exclusively. I create evenly skilled teams for these days to see if any of the bubble players are the kind of player who have a skillset/effort to allow their teammates to be better. I look at things like offball movement, positioning, communication, speed of play, willingness to track back on defense or get forward in the attack, etc. These days also tend to be simple and do much of the same as the first day. I try to add something with a more complex set of rules or process to see how quickly the bubble players are able to understand instructions. This is usually something like 2v2 with bumpers on the outside where the team in the middle rotates to the bumpers, the bumpers rotate to the line, and the front of the line becomes the team in the middle, and also I add a rule such as your first pass after winning the ball must be to a bumper. I’ve found the kids who are able to quickly understand the rules of the drill are the ones who will quickly understand our style of play and pick up on the details a lot faster than kids who struggle with the rules I set up for games during tryouts.

Kids get bonus points if they ask me questions about how to do a skill, their positioning in a given situation, etc. It shows a desire to learn and improve that I demand.

[James BrodieParticipant]

Goal:  To design the most efficient and effective tryouts in order to attain the highest quality players given the circumstances (below).  

 

I will be participating in a tryout in a couple of weeks where I can select players for a competitive team.   I have just literally been given the keys to head coaching a group (to be determined).

Conditions regarding tryouts –

• 3 different days
• 1 hour 20 minutes per day
• Kids need only attend one tryout, and I won’t know how many or who they are until the day of the tryout (which makes creating an efficient and effective tryout environment interesting).
• 3 teams represented in the tryout sessions
• Tryouts are not structured with someone running it while I have the opportunity to assess from afar.
• I assume mutual agreement upon the represented coaches as to who wants to do what in the tryouts.  I have no issue taking the lead in this situation.
• I will be made aware only at the tryouts which kids have indicated an interest in playing for my team by the color ribbon taped around their wrists.  I won’t know, however, if they have chosen me as a first choice coach if they are wearing more than one ribbon.

Given these conditions, what suggestions might you have regarding design of the environment for these three days that can benefit me in meeting my goal in selecting the best possible players.  I respect your input and appreciate any feedback.

 

Thank you for your time,

James Brodie

[Author]

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