Soccer Edition 45

Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter. Today's topic will deal with the tryout process.

First I would like to let everyone know that the first survey is now over and the results are posted at http://finesoccer.com/survey.htm. Check it out and also, please participate in the second survey, which deal with defense. The more people who participate the better the results will be.

Second thing is that I read about a site that has some real inexpensive soccer equipment for sale. This is NOT an advertisement for them nor do I know anything more then I went to the site and some of the things looked like they were good deals. Go to http://gear.com/ and check it out if you want.

The tryout process is something that coaches frequently don't give enough thought to (if you are a player, I would recommend that you try to understand where coaches are coming from so if you read this you might have a better idea of what they are looking for). A couple of years ago, I was coaching a team at a club that decided that the club should run tryouts instead of the coach and that the club should make the final decisions regarding players. Their reasons for doing this was that if a parent or player got mad about not making a team, they couldn't blame the coach because it was a club decision. In my opinion this was a major cop out. If I am the coach, I want to have full responsibility for who is on my team (obviously I am not talking about the recreation level where tryouts are not permitted). If I am not willing to take the blame for making a wrong decision, then I have no business coaching. Does this mean I don't want input 
at tryouts from others? Of course I want help. However, the ultimate decision has to be with me if I am the head coach.

One of the complaints I have heard about from players regarding tryouts is that they get nervous having a coach or coaches standing there evaluating them. While I can understand their point, is that more pressure then playing in the finals of a big tournament? One of the qualities I want in a player is the ability to handle and maybe even thrive under pressure. This is one of the advantages of having  multiple evaluators at a tryout. However, the flip side is also true. I like to know what a player does when a coach is NOT looking over their shoulder. The way I do this is that at most tryouts I have run, I will bring a person to sit on the side and just watch. No one ever knows who this person is or why they are there but that person's role is to watch what is happening when I am not watching a certain player. It's amazing what I have learned this way. Sometimes I have been impressed with a player's attitude but then I find out on a break then anytime I am not watching this person, she is slacking off dramatically. This person does not have to be a soccer person, just a person with common sense who understands things such as good attitudes vs. bad attitudes.

At the beginning of the tryout, it's important to get them warmed up properly. I like to give them a number of instructions real quickly (such as I will tell them what to do for the whole warm up right away and then let them go. While this might not seem like a big part of the process, it actually is very important to me. This is the first time I will be able to tell whetherthey can listen and actually pay attention (disclaimer: I don't mean to imply that if they are hard of hearing that they should not be considered, I am talking about 
players who can hear properly. I write this because I have had the opportunity to work with a few players who were hard of hearing and had no problems with them at all).

Once the warm up is over (this might just be a run, stretch, second run and stretch and then 5v2), I am going to put them through some quick skills work. This could be some one and two touch passing drills that will let me quickly evaluate things like technical ability and also will allow me to see if there are any left footed players or players that are comfortable with both feet.

As soon as this is done (and this is still considered to be part of the warm up), I want to see them in a competitive environment. My recommendation is to play something called street soccer. Let's assume there are 32 field players at this tryout. Street Soccer is a 
series of 4v4 games with different teams and different opponents. 

Set up three fields that are 40 x 30 yards. If you have a couple of keepers at tryouts, set up one of the fields with full sized goals and the others with 2 yard wide goals. On each field should be 4 pinnies. 

Assign each player a number from 1-32. Next have them line up in behind 4 cones facing you. The first player on each cone is team 1 and plays against team 2 which is made up of the next players in line. Split them into 8 teams this way and have them play a 5-minute game. The winning team gets 3 points for the win and then a point for each point they scored. The losing team gets 1 point for each goal scored. Each player gets the points for their team. At the end of the game, the players sprint back in and line up behind the cones again. The rule for lining up is that each player must line up behind their teammates which guarantees that they don't play with or against the same players two times in a row. 

The coach (or a helper) calls out the numbers and the players call out their scores. Then the teams are reassigned and the next game starts. This should take less then 2 minutes and is part of the players rest period. 

Real quickly, you should see who are the top players (even if there are some week players, everyone will have to play with and against them which makes this fair). Does this put too much emphasis on scoring goals? Not really because all I use this for is way 
to determine things like competitiveness and work ethic. If you play 5 games, the scores will give you a good start on picking your team. Make sure all of the players understand the significance of these games and you will see them at their best.

After a short rest period, I will now go to 11 v 11 games. Some players will have to sit out (or even better, have a small sided game going on the side) but if I am evaluating players for an 11 a side team, I want to see them in this environment. One of the things I do which I have heard some parents complain about is when I make a decision that a player is definitely going to be on the team, I pull them off the field and tell them. If I am limited in the amount of time I have for a tryout, I don't want to waste time evaluating a player who has already made the team. I might put her back on to see how someone else matches up with her but I will use her when I need to (I make sure the player understands why I do this and have never had a problem with the player when doing 
this). On the other hand, if I am pretty sure a player is NOT going to make the team, I will keep her on the field as long as possible to continue to evaluate her. I want to give the player as many opportunities as possible to sell me on her abilities so I will keep her on the field (giving her short breaks to rest).

Between the street soccer and the 11 v 11 games I usually have a good idea of which players I want. The last thing I do at the try out is do a speed ladder. Using 30 players as an example, I can break them into 5 groups of 6. They are going to race against each other in 40-yard sprints. Group 5 runs first and the top two finishers will move up to group 4. Group 4 runs and the bottom two finishers move down and the top two finishers move up. After each run, this adjustment is made and after 8 runs, the players should be in groups of players with the others of comparable speed. Group 5 will be the slowest players and Group 1 will be the fastest (make sure the players know that the 
original groups were set up randomly). I will write down what players were in what groups while they are stretching. After the stretch, it's important to let them know how much their time and effort was appreciated and then tell them when a final decision 
will be made. It's extremely important that this be done in a timely manner so that the players who didn't make the team have the opportunity to find an alternative team.

With some help from other evaluators, I will then rank each player from 1-32 and the top 14 or so players make the team (assuming that the "secret evaluator" didn't see something that turns me off of a player).  The last couple of spots are not necessarily given to the next highest ranked players because things like positions have to be considered. If there are no defenders in this first group (an unlikely situation) then I might look for the highest ranked defender. Or, if the number 20 player is very raw but has amazing speed, I might take her on as a project. My point is that this is not a science by any means. I do believe in taking chances on players who I think have potential. I also believe in taking chances on players with great attitudes.

Note that at no point have I discussed parents in this. I do not factor in a players parents (whether in a good way like they are the manager or in a bad way like they are a pain in the butt). I believe that these parents are completely unconnected to a tryout process. Also, if a player is going to need some financial assistance, this should not be taken into consideration (I know coaches who will take on a player and pay their expenses if they are good players but only if they are in the top 5 or so. This is not right).

Obviously, I am discussing a one-day tryout. If I can do two or three days of tryouts, I will change the skill work and maybe play street soccer with 3 players on a team one day and then 5 players on a team the next but other then that, I don't do things much differently.

I hope this helps with people who might have tryouts coming up.

I also wrote a tryout newsletter last year for the Goalkeeping Newsletter aimed at the players (really didn't have much to do with keepers as opposed to the tryout). Check it out at http://finesoccer.com/edition14.htm.

Have a great day.

Lawrence