With regard to tryouts for youth "travel" soccer, does anybody have any methods they've found for systematically noting and comparing the qualities of promising players? (I find this a very difficult process.) What do you prioritize? Physical abilities soccer skills attitude something else? What do you penalize?
alot depends on the age, but I look for ( coach U12 Boys): - individual skills - game skills (position, GOOD passes, communication) - attitude and coachability, do they listen and do what you ask.
I second what NHRef said but would also add aggressiveness (controlled, of course). Kids have to realize that although it is not gridiron football, soccer is a contact sport. Players that aren't aggressive are at a serious disadvantage from the outset.
Sounds good. Thanks. Here's a related question. Let's say the tryout involves around 35-40 kids and you've got 2 1.5 hour sessions to evaluate them. How do you record your information? Just lists with comments next to the numbers? Do you try to put something down about everybody or do you just focus on the upper echelon players?
You need to have comments on all players, if possible. Having multiple evaluators is also advised, particularly "neutral" evaluators who won't be coaching those particular kids if possible. More evaluators allows you to get a more balanced look, since different people will be looking for different things. In fact, if anything you need to make sure you have more comments for the lower echelon kids, the ones who may get cut or make a lower team. You need to have concrete reasons for the kids and their parents as to why they didn't make the team. It is much easier to make that phone call if you can say, "Mr. Smith, Tommy didn't make the team because of A, B and C," and can back that up with evaluator comments about areas A, B and C.
What age? At any rate, a good starting point is to time the kids dribbling through a slalom of cones. Can't do well at this task without skills, and can't do well without at least a modicum of athleticism. I have been told by a veteran soccer coach that somebody once did a study of this test and found about a .65 correlation between its results and the eventual quality of the players. A .65 correlation is quite significant. Then, you'll want to put the players into small-field scrimmages and observe. If you are forming a team, you're pretty much going to take the kids with the 12 best slalom performances, unless they perform really, really poorly. And you're unlikely to take the kids with the 12 worst slalom performances, unless they do something remarkable to convince you that they're worth taking even though they dribble as if they are running through molasses. You're going to concentrate on the middle 12, looking for intelligence, touch, aggressiveness, and so forth. Finally, most competitive teams will find room for a raw athlete or two who may not have much soccer skills, but who seems enthusiastic. At the least, they can become useful man markers on defense. At the most, they'll learn the game, will maintain their athleticism, and they'll become one of your key players.
depending on the age, especially as the kids get younger, I look more for atheletic ability than soccer skills. Give me a bunch of good atheletes at a young age that have good attitudes and I will make em into a soccer team. Now as kids get older this becomes a bigger and bigger hurdle, but there's something about taking a raw talent and molding it into a soccer player that gives coaches, and the kid, alot of satisfaction. I did forget to mention a few, when we are holding tryouts we also look for attacking the ball, recovering when beat, or did they give up, protecting the ball/shielding. We have tryouts where there are always at least 3 scorers, two are independant, we have the coach of the team, a coach of at least one age group higher and a third coach from any level. If its going to be a busy tryout, we get more. Each coach gets a sheet with areas to "grade" on.
Most players who make a strong impression at the start when doing small sided play will be remembered. Take notes names and numbers because it is easy to confuse who did what when all the players dress and look a like. I look for quickness, ball touch and vision. However, flat out speed and size means a lot to coaches. Some coaches do not make coaching points in a tryout. I do because I want to see if the player can take a coaching point and actually use it. Certain things are important to see. Is the player a leader does he communicate to other players. Is it useful communication or is what he is saying a lot of crap just to show him as a leader. From the back will he attack? Is it a stupid attack. If he does attack I stop looking at him and see what the back next to him is doing. Did he overshift to fill that exposed space that was created by that backs attack? I might take the other back just for that overshift and not the back who attacked. Does the player move from right to left, and left to right when he attacks instead of in just one direction? Is he a bull in a china shop or does he have some patience when he attacks. Can he cross the ball from the left and the right flank? Can he play on both sides of the field. I think that is important it allows the coach to make moves and avoid substitions to make a move on a bad match up for instance. When a dribbler has the ball does some one put themselves in a second attacker position to help the dribber so he is not isolated. If someone does that I notice that player. You can see a lot when you break the guys into two teams and play at the end. If the tryout is long you can see how his fitness is. I would never do just one tryout. I would do three maybe more. Because you can not see the will of the player in one tryout.
I coach two club teams and a high school team. I always start with some warmups that will include a sprint or two - you can immediately start to see who is competitive or not. I then break into small sided groups and move kids around into three groups - top players (those that look like they will make the team), bottom players (those that aren't going to make the team) and then those I need to make decisions on. I try to stay somewhat in the middle of all the groups but will also move around from group to group while moving kids around. First touch is the most important thing I look for, then is the kid making good decisions with his heads up. Speed of play is important to me, but isn't necessarily tied to a kids pure speed. I see a lot of emphasis here on physical attributes, I want soccer players. After small sided games I like to move to a full sided scrimmage. Some kids are good in small spaces but when you open up the field they struggle. If my evaluation is close on kids, this is when one will often distance himself from the other. I agree with the statement above on more than one tryout. Some kids get very nervous or are having a bad day. I've had players look terrible in their first tryout but by the second look like a completely different player. Also, I like to get a second set of eyes on the kids. I often will ask my assistant coach(es) to watch a couple of the kids on the bubble to get their opinion. Know what is important to you going in. If this is for an existing team, know what positions you need to add. Sure, the forwards might all be the best players at youth tryouts but if you really need defenders can you convert some. For me, I like certain attributes at different positions. I don't value size in defense like most coaches but like very fast, aggressive and skillful defenders due to how high I play them up the field. Finally, I do take notes on every player and I let every players parent know why they either made or didn't make my team. Parents appreciate my feedback on their child and I try to give them things they can work on to become better players. This make the tryout valuable even if they didn't make the team. Good luck and enjoy the process.
I don't mind it. The points are universal and timeless. I've been asked to help manage our clubs tryouts this year with the intent that I take it over the following year. I'm going to be hands off but I expect that the following year our philosophy of the why will change. (not neccesairly the players selected).
In sports science talent refers to how fast an athlete improves. "Talent" is a relative concept related to learning. It cannot by definition be assessed outside the context of athletic training. In short the most talented athlete is the one that develops the fastest. Most "tryouts" are one-session affairs only concerned with comparing current effectiveness of players, and not assessing the potential for future growth. In fact most tryouts are more concerned with comparing physical maturity and relative age.