How to Run Soccer Tryouts

These are the stations the scorecard builder can add to the sheet, in the order they usually run. Delete the ones you are not running: a station on the sheet that never happened leaves a blank that looks like a missing score.

1. Dribbling. Two lines through gates, then the same moves against a defender who is allowed to challenge. Include a change of pace, a change of direction, a turn, and a go past a defender on either side. Gates for the first half and a live defender for the second, because gates flatter players who have only ever dribbled in a yard. What to score: Dribbling and first touch, and which foot the player trusts. Take a sprint and an agility time from groups in turn, and write them in the measurables table.
2. Passing and receiving. Pairs passing and receiving at a set distance, then triangles with a movement after each pass. Ask for both feet, a short pass and a longer one, and a first touch that sets up the next pass. Keep it moving, and demonstrate it once. What to score: Passing and first touch, and the weight of the pass. Score the pass the receiver could use, not only the one that arrived.
3. Shooting. A line of players feeding a shooter from the same spots, a fixed number of strikes each, with a goalkeeper in goal. Include a first-time shot, a shot after a touch, and a shot from a pass. Let players shoot from distances suited to the age group. What to score: Shooting: the strike and the decision, not only the result. Count goals as a number if you like, and keep them off the grid.
4. 1v1 attacking and defending. Short 1v1s at a small goal or a gate, a few turns each as attacker and as defender, with partners of similar size rotating. Run it for a few minutes, not a long one, because as players tire, their play becomes less representative of their usual level. What to score: Dribbling, defending 1v1 and awareness, and how the player responds after losing the ball.
5. Small-sided games. Small-sided games, 4v4 or 5v5, on small pitches with small goals, with the squads mixed every game and an evaluator at each. Keep the games to seven or eight minutes and rotate the squads, so every player is seen with and against different people. What to score: First touch, passing, off-ball movement and awareness, and a note on who the game runs through. This is where most of the scores are decided.
6. Goalkeeper session. Run at the same time as the small-sided games, with its own evaluator. Every goalkeeper gets the same shots from the same places, a fixed number of each type, plus crosses, a back pass and a distribution by hand and by foot. Ask for volunteers at the younger ages, and warm the arms and the legs before the first shot. What to score: Positioning, handling, the first move and distribution with hands and feet. Do not compare save counts.
7. Full-sided scrimmage. A larger scrimmage, with teams mixed again and everyone playing the position they auditioned for and one other. Use your league's rules for the age group, and substitute at set times so everyone gets similar minutes. Put an evaluator on each half. What to score: Awareness, endurance and coachability, and a second look at anything that looked different from the drills and the small-sided games.

The usual way to wreck a tryout is to run it with too few evaluators and ask each to watch everything. A workable plan, by turnout:

Two evaluators on every game is better than one, scoring independently, and impossible for most volunteer clubs. If you can only double up on one thing, double up on the small-sided games, where opinions differ the most.

The small-sided games are where first touch under pressure, passing choices and movement without the ball show up, which makes them the part most worth running well. A badly arranged one scores the arrangement.

• Mix the squads every game. Two players who are always on the same team are judged as a pair. Write the rotation down before the session so nobody is choosing sides in front of the group.
• Do not stack the strongest players. A team of the best players makes everyone else look worse, and a team of the weakest makes the best look like stars. Spread the ability you already know about across the teams.
• Keep the games short. Seven or eight minutes keeps the pace honest, because as players tire, their play becomes less representative of their usual level.
• Rotate the positions. Let everyone play in goal, at the back and up front at some point, where the age group allows, so you see more than one role.
• Judge the possession, not the goal. A goal depends on every pass before it. Watch the build-up and the press as closely as the finish.

Average the independent sheets before anyone discusses a name, tell families privately and before the roster goes up, and keep the sheets until any appeal window has closed. The longer version, which applies to every sport, is the general tryouts and evaluation guide.

Once the teams exist, the paperwork is the registration form, the code of conduct and the uniform and equipment checkout.