Daughter trying out for travel team for first time. What to expect?

[twdc1]

Our daughter is eight and just started rec soccer this spring. She's played other sports but first time trying soccer. She wants to try for the travel team.

What can she expect at tryouts? Considering she just started soccer 1.5 months ago, her ball handling skills are not great. But, she's very fast (runs youth track). What do coaches look for in U9 travel team players? Any insight is appreciated so we can help her get ready for next week. Thanks!

[Cruzado]

Your daughter sounds like she'll be similarly situated to most of her peers trying out for soccer this spring. Every club and coach has their own way of doing things, but after going through tryouts with my kids over the years the best advice I have is to just tell your daughter to listen carefully to the coaches and demonstrate that she's mature and willing to listen/learn; and of course, to try her best and put in the effort or "work rate" at whatever drills the coaches are having the kids do at tryouts. Showing that she's well-behaved, eager to learn, and hard-working is the most important thing at this age, where most kids are trying out for their first competitive soccer team.

In terms of the drills, I've seen the "rondo" drill where one player is in the middle trying to intercept the ball while 4 or 5 other players try to complete passes through the center of the circle; there will probably be some brief 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 matchups; some passing drills; etc. During the course of the tryout the coaches will start to sift the kids into different groups of similar skill which is how they end up narrowing things down to the first team, second team, etc.

Good luck as you start your journey in kids' travel soccer. Enjoy it and have fun!

[retiredref]

Each club runs tryouts a little differently. Some will just divide them up into teams and have them play small-sided games. Some will line them up and have them walk through drills one at a time. Most will be somewhere in between or with some combination of both. If she can try to focus more on having fun and learning something than on performing for the coaches she should do fine.

Many coaches at the younger ages are looking more at potential than at where she is right now, so for them her speed will definitely outweigh her technical ability.

At her age priority should be to stay local unless the local coaches are really bad, but depending on where you live you may have more than one club close enough to go to multiple tryouts and experience different approaches. When my daughter was 8 we could get to 4 tryouts within a 20 minute drive so we had options. If you do have options look for the club/coaches who don't lose sight of the importance of children having fun playing a game they love.

[twdc1]

Thank you both for these details. Our daughter just started learning the game this spring and she lacks confidence. We've been doing drills with her at home so she can practice more than just once a week at her team practice.

Her rec team is not very organized and she feels sad when not enough players show up for games, etc. We're hoping to get her on a travel team since several friends have said they are more organized and fun. There's only two teams for the travel team she's trying out for so who knows. That's not a lot of spaces.

[greypanther]

Leave her alone and tell her to have fun. They will see her natural talents. Good luck!