Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

Good list generally, but why do you care about size, esp. for little kids?

Our U9 team has a ton of small kids and we are doing very, very well. We are beating most teams that have much larger kids (Have you seen Gunston?!). However, as they get older, I can see it becoming more important. Especially as the larger kids gain defensive skills, they will find it easier and easier to stop the small kids with good foot skills.

Anonymous wrote:My 8 year old is trying out for Arlington Development League, which is between rec and travel. I was watching the tryouts really carefully. There are clearly 20-25 kids that fantastic. Then the other 75 all look the same to me. How on earth do they distinguish between those 75 and weed out 25 of those kids who won't make the team?

At this level, I.E. "Development League" they are simply looking for placement and creating balanced teams. They are not really looking to make cuts.

Anonymous wrote:1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

Good list generally, but why do you care about size, esp. for little kids?

Honestly that is the hard thing with travel tryouts at a large club. It's easy to see the top kids, easy to spot the bottom kids. It's rough to parse that middle, where the kids all have some combination of foot skill, size, speed, quickness, intelligence, work rate, focus, commitment, and attitude. That is why multiple tryouts are held and multiple (trusted, if possible) evaluators are used.

For those interchangeable players, they will likely take the ones that have some athletic potential, want to to be there and learn, and are capable of learning in large group settings.

Tell the player to pay attention, keep focused, try everything the coaches as him to do, show his skill with the ball (take players on, change direction, try moves and turns), and work to get the ball back (cleanly). Don't get caught up in the score on the tryout fields, don't worry about where your friends are, don't tackle recklessly. Get the ball into play quickly, try to keep the ball in play (don't whack it out).

As a parent - stay out of the way. Don't stress out your kid or bother the coach. Don't cheer at a tryout or do anything else to label yourself as a crazy parent.

Anonymous wrote:1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

I would add, hustle and attitude. Sort of goes to all of these. Also, focus. Coaches don't want to deal with unfocused kids. Finally, general athleticism. If a kid doesn't quite have mastery of skill but takes to something really quickly and moves well, kid has a better shot. Especially with a developmental tag. They're looking for upside.

Speed and quickness. Either you have it or you don't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

I agree this is what they should be looking for. But it's a lot easier to see #4 when there are 75-100 kids running around, whereas 1-3 are much harder to judge (unless the kid goes off to chase butterflies, mouths off, or the parents show they are clearly a$$es during the tryouts - as was the case one year with a parent who went down to berate the 10 year old for knocking over his daughter accidentally).

Not every club is deciding based on size. My small rising U9 just made the A team.

No one is saying that small kids don't make the top team. Just that in general, the top team has bigger kids. You'll see.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

I agree this is what they should be looking for. But it's a lot easier to see #4 when there are 75-100 kids running around, whereas 1-3 are much harder to judge (unless the kid goes off to chase butterflies, mouths off, or the parents show they are clearly a$$es during the tryouts - as was the case one year with a parent who went down to berate the 10 year old for knocking over his daughter accidentally).

Not every club is deciding based on size. My small rising U9 just made the A team.

Anonymous wrote:1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

I agree this is what they should be looking for. But it's a lot easier to see #4 when there are 75-100 kids running around, whereas 1-3 are much harder to judge (unless the kid goes off to chase butterflies, mouths off, or the parents show they are clearly a$$es during the tryouts - as was the case one year with a parent who went down to berate the 10 year old for knocking over his daughter accidentally).

1. Is the kid coachable
2. Does the kid want to be there or the parent want the kid to be there
3. parents
4. speed and size

I haven't coached kids this young (especially where I have to cut people) but I have coached youth sports before. One of the biggest things I want on my team besides straight skills are kids with a great attitude. I'd rather have the kid who is an okay athlete, but comes in happy and ready to listen and do some work, instead of the Super Star Kid (and their parents) who is a pain to deal with because they think they sh*t diamonds. Obviously the best combo is a Super Star with a great team mentality, but those are more rare than you realize.

So for the 75 kids who look the same, I'd be looking at who is hustling on the field, who is listening to me, who is goofing off, who seems to actually have the ability to improve, even if their skills aren't great now. That kind of thing.

Some of it is unfortunately size. Big/tall kids tend to trump smaller kids in the early years. Not in every case of course but there is a DEFINITE trend in this direction. Our "A" U9 team is by in large a half head taller than the next team down. (Of course there are a couple of small kids on the A team who are fantastic so size isn't everything but it seems to be at least a tie breaker)

I agree with the PP. DS doesn't score the most goals on his current team but every coach he has met (teams, camps, clinics) has been complimentary of his foot skills and game awareness. He knows where he should be on the field, when to pass, when to go for the ball and when to hang back, etc. He also has a really positive attitude and is very focused. He has a few buddies who have the skills but no focus and/or a poor attitude. Those kids don't seem to be making teams.

Coaches aren't necessarily looking for the same things that a "fan" looks for. So there is a kid that gets the ball and runs down and shoots and scores. Looks good, but in reality the kid's head may be down, he might be favoring one foot only, his shot might have been down to luck or bad goalkeeping and he missed a totally open teammate who had a higher percentage chance to score.

Sometimes a kid trapping a ball on the go and then looking up and making a nice pass is far more impressive than a kid who runs banzai style through the defense. The coaches are trying to build a team and they look for many little clues, from how they run to how they actually kick to help make their decisions. Does the child move off the ball, are they staying in shape, are they drifting out of position. These aren't the things you might be looking at if your eye is glued to the ball, but a good coach will notice these things to help guide their decisions.

They also look at other factors--like the kids' body language-do they really want to be there, are they looking up at a bird, are they jawing with friends and ignoring the coach. Can be quite a few things that aren't immediately apparent when you watch the boys play.

My 8 year old is trying out for Arlington Development League, which is between rec and travel. I was watching the tryouts really carefully. There are clearly 20-25 kids that fantastic. Then the other 75 all look the same to me. How on earth do they distinguish between those 75 and weed out 25 of those kids who won't make the team?