Thread: My first try outs

Up to this point I have always just been assigned a team, now this year I get to attend try outs. At first I was excited, then the reality hit. I may have to let go some players from last season. If that happens I am not looking forward to it. What traits do you look for in teh players at your try outs? i was thinking some skill, attitude and athletic. I think it will be really hard to judge on a brief try out.

Good luck with tryouts!!!

I would say that your list of things to look for is good, maybe not in that order though. I would look for Attitude, athleticism, skills in that order. It's different if you are recruiting for an A level team, but not much!!! Attitude is always very high on the list.

Good Luck with your tryouts.

The first thing I look for is Hustle. You can't teach that. A lot of coaches say Attitude, but in a tryout, it is the hardest thing to assess. So I would look for Hustle.

Look for these things:
- Does she hustle to the next drill (keeper) or walk (cut)
- Does she attack the ball when fielding (keeper) or wait for the ball to arrive (cut)
- Does she swing hard (keeper) or does she just meet the ball (cut)
- Does she square on the ball (keeper) or does she field it always off the side (cut)
- Does she throw the ball hard (keeper) Or just let it reach the other player (cut)
- Does she back-up other players (keeper) or watch the play (cut)
- Does she cheer others during their drill time (keeper) or is she quiet (cut)
- Can she keep the intensity when she is tired (keeper) or can you see it in her body language (cut)

There are many other things, but these will enable you to put together a nice competitive team. For me, Hustle is the number one aspect I look for in players.

Bill

I like your list but am going to add 2 more.

Every tryout there seems to be players that are confused. They just watched 2 other Players do what they are suppose to do but still do not know what to do, cut.

Ask them to do something different, see how the handle it. Are they coachable?

Add these two:

Are her parents crazy? ( cut) Are they reasonable? ( keep)

You don't have to cut anyone from last season if you don't want to. I tell our girls that you have an advantage over newcomers because I know your attitude, hustle, and drive. Whereas with the new girls at try outs, I only get a brief snapshot, that isn't always a true representation. But it's really a cautionary tale because if they (my current players) are prone to a lousy attitude, lack of hustle, or are stubborn, i know that about them all too well and we might not ask them back.
So if you like your player, and she's a good kid, why would you replace for an unknown who scored a little higher on her evaluation sheet?

Making those phone calls to the parents of the kids you are not taking is tough! Good luck, but remember the little pain you endure now will be worth it the rest of the season. I'm talking TB.

I think the age group makes a huge difference. If you are talking about a 14U team or above, my expectation is that the skills they bring to tryouts are what you will likely see in the Spring (with some predictable improvement) unless the player has very little experience and a big upside in athleticism.

At 10U and 12U, the kid who is in front of me at tryouts is not going to be the same kid in April or July. Athleticism, attitude, and coachability are all upsides for those kids. Also, I look at their older siblings and parents. You can certainly expect that these kids may be quite a bit taller in 6 to 9 months. This age group is always hard to predict, so there is a certain amount of "gut feeling" that goes into these decisions. Give me a kid with a great attitude and athletic ability over a kid who has great skills but a poor attitude. At this age level, the player with the great attitude will eventually surpass the other kid.

Cutting kids is never easy, but the best way to improve your team is to 'churn' the bottom 3-5 every year until you get all 12 girls at the same level. If you 'churn' your bottom 3-5 your team will improve, if your top 3-5 leave you the team will get worse, it is the nature of the beast!

well we had try out I thought my old team players all showed well. I was thrown a curve at the try out make up date where i was directed to take a few 14 players. We thought we had to be a true 13 team. This forced me to call a few 13 players to tell them they did not make it. Plus I had not really graded out any 14's from the initial try out. I felt so bad calling the old team members, I was lucky that all of my old team parents were true to form and handled the bad news with class and dignity. Thanks for all the advice.