At the younger ages, they shouldn't be focused on playing on a full field. The focus should be on developing skills. Learn the skills and then they graduate to game tactics. I've head several reputable coaches say if it were up to them, the kids wouldn't play games until later. The focus should really be on training.

Anonymous wrote:Throwing this in here for anyone who needs to prepare a player coming in cold. We've been to several tryouts in the past 10 days (dear god, please let it stop), and the players were assessed in these kinds of activities:

1. Juggling (one kid got to 100 touches; maybe he made the team)

2. 1 v. 0 dribbling in a large circle with all the other players, doing moves called out by coaches

3. Athleticism tests such as sprints or agility routines with cones

4. And most important: small-sided or near small-sided scrimmages (e.g., 4 v. 4; 7 v. 7)

What's missing in my view is playing on a full field, but there hasn't been enough field space for that.

DS has received two offers but (of course!) nothing from the club he wants to play for the most.

I think this is a really good point. My kid is great on a small field but is overwhelmed on a full field.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at a tryout for a travel club recently and was wondering this for my son who is trying out for the club for the first time. It was a zoo. I don't have a good sense of how many kids were there, but maybe 70? Probably 2/3 were with the club this year so trying out for team placement and the remaining 1/3 are trying out for the first time. I do not know how the coaches could possibly determine not only which kids make the club, but where to place them watching the 4X4 scrimmages for an hour or so. For the current players, they obviously know because they've been with the club all year, but how about the new kids? The kids had numbers but no one really seemed to be taking notes or anything. This is a fairly young age so it is hard to believe that they are getting recommendations from other coaches (most of which probably are rec) but the team placement of any "new" players who make the club has to be pretty random. (Although my son is big so it sounds like he had going for him...)

Which club was it? ...Just a few thoughts: The travel coaches know the rec coaches and the rec coaches will give recommendations and tell the travel coach any and all sorts of information on those kids. Our club measures newcomers on general stuff like: technique, attitude, speed, soccer 'smarts.' Because yes, it is hard to learn a lot about a kid you are just seeing for the first time (thus all those recommendations and info passed along really do help).

Don't want to say the club but it is a large one.

What you wrote makes sense, but I just didn't see how that was happening. There were 3-4 coaches wandering around 8 different scrimmages and no note taking. Only one of the coaches spent time at my son's scrimmage. The paperwork asked where my son played now, but no one ever asked the name of my son's (volunteer, parent) coach. I doubt they know him and that they contacted him. Perhaps I should have taken the initiative and asked for a recommendation from my son's current coach. Perhaps this tells me something about the club too.

Anonymous wrote:I was at a tryout for a travel club recently and was wondering this for my son who is trying out for the club for the first time. It was a zoo. I don't have a good sense of how many kids were there, but maybe 70? Probably 2/3 were with the club this year so trying out for team placement and the remaining 1/3 are trying out for the first time. I do not know how the coaches could possibly determine not only which kids make the club, but where to place them watching the 4X4 scrimmages for an hour or so. For the current players, they obviously know because they've been with the club all year, but how about the new kids? The kids had numbers but no one really seemed to be taking notes or anything. This is a fairly young age so it is hard to believe that they are getting recommendations from other coaches (most of which probably are rec) but the team placement of any "new" players who make the club has to be pretty random. (Although my son is big so it sounds like he had going for him...)

Which club was it? ...Just a few thoughts: The travel coaches know the rec coaches and the rec coaches will give recommendations and tell the travel coach any and all sorts of information on those kids. Our club measures newcomers on general stuff like: technique, attitude, speed, soccer 'smarts.' Because yes, it is hard to learn a lot about a kid you are just seeing for the first time (thus all those recommendations and info passed along really do help).

Anonymous wrote:Throwing this in here for anyone who needs to prepare a player coming in cold. We've been to several tryouts in the past 10 days (dear god, please let it stop), and the players were assessed in these kinds of activities:

1. Juggling (one kid got to 100 touches; maybe he made the team)

2. 1 v. 0 dribbling in a large circle with all the other players, doing moves called out by coaches

3. Athleticism tests such as sprints or agility routines with cones

4. And most important: small-sided or near small-sided scrimmages (e.g., 4 v. 4; 7 v. 7)

What's missing in my view is playing on a full field, but there hasn't been enough field space for that.

DS has received two offers but (of course!) nothing from the club he wants to play for the most.

Which clubs?

Throwing this in here for anyone who needs to prepare a player coming in cold. We've been to several tryouts in the past 10 days (dear god, please let it stop), and the players were assessed in these kinds of activities:

1. Juggling (one kid got to 100 touches; maybe he made the team)

2. 1 v. 0 dribbling in a large circle with all the other players, doing moves called out by coaches

3. Athleticism tests such as sprints or agility routines with cones

4. And most important: small-sided or near small-sided scrimmages (e.g., 4 v. 4; 7 v. 7)

What's missing in my view is playing on a full field, but there hasn't been enough field space for that.

DS has received two offers but (of course!) nothing from the club he wants to play for the most.

I was at a tryout for a travel club recently and was wondering this for my son who is trying out for the club for the first time. It was a zoo. I don't have a good sense of how many kids were there, but maybe 70? Probably 2/3 were with the club this year so trying out for team placement and the remaining 1/3 are trying out for the first time. I do not know how the coaches could possibly determine not only which kids make the club, but where to place them watching the 4X4 scrimmages for an hour or so. For the current players, they obviously know because they've been with the club all year, but how about the new kids? The kids had numbers but no one really seemed to be taking notes or anything. This is a fairly young age so it is hard to believe that they are getting recommendations from other coaches (most of which probably are rec) but the team placement of any "new" players who make the club has to be pretty random. (Although my son is big so it sounds like he had going for him...)

Coaches are generally arrogant, they think they can coach up any kid that is naturally athletic which means big and fast.

My son has played many travel sports.

At tryouts all the kids are preselected, meaning the coach already knows them or a coach has called the development coach and given a recommendation. Every single tryout he has gone to ... the whole team was already preselected and possibly 2 kids will stand out and get a chance. They are always big and fast.

My son actually came off the field once and said how sad it is to watch the really good kids try so hard and he knows they have no chance simply because they have not been given a recommendation or because the coach does not know them. He said, all these kids are not going to make the team and they are going to think they suck. It's really sad.

My son has always made the team he wanted to be on, because of a recommendation from a former coach.

We went to a tryout cold, because he wanted to see if he was a "standout" kid and he did not make the team, he emailed the coach and told him the names of former coaches and asked if a recommendation would help and he made 1 out of 3 teams due to his followup... but it was not the best team.

He is going to play D1 in college, BTW. So this "development" stuff ... tryouts, it is really a crap shoot.

^^speed can be coached and it is.

My son plays lacrosse and wanted to move from midi to attack. Coach told him he had to increase his speed before the next season started.

He used a 50M timed base as his baseline and worked to improve that.

He ran sprints uphill
He ran weighted sprints
Ran suicides
Ladder drills
High knees...ect

He is now a starter attack.

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?

I was the one who posted this list. about finding those kids out of 75-100 kids you never have a try out of that size. The clubs that do are just looking to form more teams and make money. A tryout should be no more than twice the size of the kids who are able to be on the field for that age group.

for example u11 8v8 so 16 kids should be there and if you already have a team that size have multiple try outs so the new kids trying out get a fair shake. Too many teams have tryouts with all their team there. bad idea. split them up, see how they do with others. Also avoid subbing kids in. If you have the kids playing and a kid needs to take a rest -well he or she isn't prepared for the try out.

size and speed can't be coached. you can teach a kid to run properly though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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.

Size matters at older ages for goalkeepers and center backs, and to a lesser extent, in a few other positions. Athleticism, including strength, speed, and agility matter for all positions at high levels (though it's relative, because skilled players who make good decisions quickly don't need as much speed). Parents should be very leery of youth coaches who use size as a selection criterion. This is not to say that big kids can't be just as skilled as small player--the fetish some coaches have for short kids is just as silly.

Size only matters when all other things are equal.

The Gatorade National Soccer player of the year this year is 5'5" and 125 lbs. He is from Washington-Lee HS in Arlington. #sizedoesntmatter

A lot of politics.

Anonymous wrote:

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

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.

Size matters at older ages for goalkeepers and center backs, and to a lesser extent, in a few other positions. Athleticism, including strength, speed, and agility matter for all positions at high levels (though it's relative, because skilled players who make good decisions quickly don't need as much speed). Parents should be very leery of youth coaches who use size as a selection criterion. This is not to say that big kids can't be just as skilled as small player--the fetish some coaches have for short kids is just as silly.

Size only matters when all other things are equal.

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

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.

Size matters at older ages for goalkeepers and center backs, and to a lesser extent, in a few other positions. Athleticism, including strength, speed, and agility matter for all positions at high levels (though it's relative, because skilled players who make good decisions quickly don't need as much speed). Parents should be very leery of youth coaches who use size as a selection criterion. This is not to say that big kids can't be just as skilled as small player--the fetish some coaches have for short kids is just as silly.

10:12 - they have to make cuts, because they only have space for x number of kids. They can't/won't let in everyone.

They're actually having problems on the girls' side because so few girls showed up to tryouts this year - about 50, when there would be 100 most years. They told us flat-out that they will NOT be letting in every kid at tryouts. If the kid wasn't right for developmental, they'd leave slots open and hold more tryouts later. Similar thing happened at Travel tryouts - 145 boys tried out, 70-ish girls tried out for the same number of slots.

The feedback we have gotten is that the coaches are looking for how the kid functions under pressure - do they just blindly kick it or do they think about who is open and get it to them, or keep it. Do they pass to other players, vs. just trying to score? Do they have a positive attitude? Are they putting in the effort for the full 90 minutes of tryouts vs. hanging back? Do they get along with the kids they're playing with, even though they met 5 minutes ago?