By Tyler Isaacson
Soccer teams are finally able to get outside to begin their practices in preparation for the spring season. It’s a far cry from the indoor space many of ushave been confined to for the past few months here in the New York-New Jersey area.
The mood turns from a highly anticipated spring season to a fragmented mess within a few days. Barely agame or two into the season and the emails start coming in bunches . … “Tryouts for the fall 2014 season next week.” Did I just read that correctly? Maybe they meant to say nextmonth?
It seems like each year tryouts get earlier and earlier in a race to be the first. Do clubs actually think that holding their tryouts first will yield early commitments fromplayers who are currently in the beginning of their spring season with another team? We are talking about youth soccer, right?
The only thing an early tryout does is cause chaos for theclub holding the tryouts and the players who feel they need to attend them. Rumors fly on who is leaving the team, who is getting cut and the ripple-effect travels to other teams wondering if theywill have enough players to keep their squad together.
This tryout process is a mess and continues to drive coaches, players and parents out of the game. I have a solution that iscurrently used by another team sport that may help improve this process.
Here is how it would work:
Academy clubs hold tryouts first, at the end of the spring season. Thiswould give players the opportunity to tryout for a higher level team if they wanted. Town club teams hold tryouts the week after Academy tryouts. If players did not make the Academy team(s) or wantother options, town clubs hold their tryouts the following week. Every town club holds its tryouts during that week and players are free to jump from tryout to tryout during the week.
• This keeps the majority of the spring season intact without the tryout interference.
• Players, coaches and parents can plan their schedules around tryout week instead ofgoing to a new tryout week after week through the spring season.
• New team rosters are announced once the tryout week is complete.
• Players are aware of whentryouts are going to be held.
This is a simple process that would be easy to implement with support from your state organization. There is nothing more disappointing for a coach to hearthree weeks into the spring season that a handful of players are leaving after the season.
There is nothing worse than for a player to hear from a teammate that new players are coming tothe team and they are going to be cut after the season.
The tryout process will always be a stressful time for everyone involved, but there is definitely room for improvement!
(Tyler Isaacson is a club president, travel coach, recreation coach, youth player, college player and dad. He has 30 years of playing and coachingexperience and is founder of youthsoccer101, an online coaching development tool used by over 50,000 coaches nationwide. He can be reachedat tyler@youthsoccer101.com)
Tyler,This makes great sense, I’ve just come to New Jersey and cannot believe the mess the town/club relationship is in?Of course this idea only as long as parents don’t over commit their children to too many sports/past times which is a real problem which never seems to be addressed.
Nicholas, The process can be changed if enough of us get behind it.
Sadly, the scenario laid out in this article makes perfect sense for… the consumer. “select” soccer is not designed in any way for the consumer (us, the people PAYING for it) but to perpetuate the club and those drawing salaries from it. By coordinating tryouts to be at the same time it limits the possibility of leaving/moving and therefore keeps the money coming in and their salaries safe.We allow it, and perpetuate it ourselves by lining up and begging them to not just take our money, but we find ever more creative ways for them to get MORE of our money with little return and definitely no accountability on the clubs part.Club loyalty today means us the consumer being loyal to the club and part of that is to never question why we are sending more money in, or traveling all over the nation when there is plenty of competition within driving distance, or paying the regular team coaches additional money to – well – coach.Is this every club and every coach, of course not, but it is more and more the norm and as we all buy into their myth of scholarships or national team play or whatever button they find to push we make it easier for them to perpetuate it, and common sense is thrown completely out the window.Great article, I wish it were prevalent and widely adopted but I do not believe it will be.
Tryouts in Indiana are governed by the state soccer association and don’t happen until the 1st Tuesday in June for U10 and under, and the 2nd Tuesday in June for U11 and up.
In Michigan for MSYSA teams, there is a set date of the second Saturday in June. This year it is June 14th (Saturday) for the first tryouts. A coach cannot even talk directly to a potential player or their parents prior to the date, without breaking the “poaching” rule. There are stiff fines and penalties for people/coaches/players breaknig the rules. Ony general advertising can happen prior to June 14th.
Ed & Jack-that is great to hear! There is hope here in NJ and the surrounding states.