Free Flag Football Tryout Evaluation Form & Scorecard

The scorecard loads these eight columns. They are short labels, and the labels hide most of the judgment, so here is what an evaluator is looking at under each.

• Speed. Straight-line speed, which goes in the table below as a time, and speed on the field, which is different: the burst off the line, the break out of a cut, the closing speed on a ball carrier. Flag fields are short, so acceleration often matters more than top speed. A fast 40 and a slow first step are two different things.
• Agility. Changing direction without slowing: stopping on a route, cutting away from a defender, the plant and the turn. Watch the feet and the hips. A player who stays low with the feet under the body is agile. One who takes long steps and rises is not yet.
• Flag pulling. Getting to the ball carrier on a good angle, slowing down to stay in control, and reaching for the flag and not the jersey. Score the angle and the technique, not the number of flags a player pulls, because that depends on who they were matched against.
• Route running. Running the route as it was drawn: the stem, the break, the cut and the finish, with the eyes finding the quarterback. Score the route apart from the catch, so a good route with a bad throw is not scored as a bad route.
• Catching. Eyes on the ball into the hands, hands away from the body, and securing it before running. Score the catch on balls a player could catch, since a bad throw is not a dropped pass.
• Throwing. Accuracy, a quick release and a ball the receiver can catch. Score quarterback candidates in full, and give everyone else a few throws, because the quarterback is chosen from the whole group.
• Field vision. Seeing the field: where the defenders are, where the open space is, and what the play needs next. For a quarterback it is the read, for a receiver it is the soft spot in the coverage, and for a defender it is the angle to the flag.
• Coachability. The player who adjusts when shown something, not the one who nods. Correct one thing in the middle of a drill, such as a plant foot or the angle of a pull, and watch who fixes it on the next rep.

A five point scale gives evaluators a consistent way to compare players across the same drills and the same age group. It is printed above the grid so every evaluator reads the same words, and the last column is an average, not a total.

• Agree on the 3 before anyone is scored. Have every evaluator watch the same few routes, flag pulls and throws, and say out loud what a 3 looks like for this age group. A lot of the disagreement between evaluators is about where the middle is, not about the players.
• Score what you saw, when you saw it. Write the number before the next player steps in. Leave a cell blank for a skill the session never tested, such as throwing for a player who did not try quarterback. A blank costs a player nothing, because the average only counts what was scored.
• Score each column on its own. A fast player should not lift a flag pulling score, and a dropped pass should not pull down route running.
• Score independently, then average. Two evaluators who confer during the session produce one opinion twice.
• Score the route and the throw separately. A catch depends on two players. Decide which one failed before you write a number.

This is the flag football version. The general tryout evaluation scoresheet works for any sport, and the flag football forms and templates page lists the other 5 flag football documents.

Playbook Logix provides customizable templates for informational and administrative use. They are not legal advice and will not meet the requirements of every organization, sport or jurisdiction. Review anything you intend to rely on with your own attorney or your insurance carrier, and check your league and state requirements.