Running a lacrosse tryout is one of the most important things a coach does all year. The players you select shape your season, your team culture, and your program’s trajectory. But too many tryouts are run on gut instinct, informal observation, and rushed decisions — leading to roster regret before the first practice is over.
Whether you’re running a youth club tryout, a high school program evaluation, or a travel team selection day, this guide breaks down exactly how to structure, execute, and evaluate a lacrosse tryout that’s fair, efficient, and built to find the best players for your program.
Why a Lacrosse Tryout Structure Matters More Than You Think
A tryout without structure isn’t a tryout — it’s a scrimmage with a clipboard nearby.
When coaches lack a clear evaluation framework, they tend to over-index on flashy plays and under-evaluate fundamentals. They remember the player who scored in the scrimmage and forget the quiet midfielder who won every ground ball drill. Structured tryouts solve this by creating consistent, repeatable evaluation moments that surface the full picture of a player.
Good tryout structure also builds trust with parents and athletes. When players can see that every participant is being evaluated on the same activities, the perception of fairness goes up — even for those who don’t make the team.
Step 1: Define What You’re Actually Looking For at Lacrosse Tryouts
Before a single player steps on the field, you need to answer one question: What does this team need?
Your evaluation criteria should be role-specific and program-specific. A youth club looking to develop fundamentals has different priorities than a travel program competing for a regional title. Define your priorities in advance and weight them accordingly.
Common evaluation categories for lacrosse tryouts include:
- Stick skills — catching, passing, cradling under pressure
- Athleticism — speed, agility, lateral quickness
- Lacrosse IQ — decision-making, positioning, understanding of spacing
- Coachability — response to feedback during tryout drills
- Effort and compete level — hustle plays, ground balls, defensive communication
- Position-specific skills — shooting mechanics for attack, footwork for goalies, slide timing for defense
Write these down. Share them with every evaluator on your staff. Alignment before the tryout prevents debates after it.
Step 2: Build a Lacrosse Tryout Agenda That Tests What You Defined
Your tryout agenda should be a direct reflection of your evaluation criteria. If you listed stick skills as a priority, you need dedicated time for passing and catching drills — not just five minutes of warm-up catches.
A sample two-hour lacrosse tryout structure might look like this:
0:00–0:15 — Check-in, warm-up, dynamic movement 0:15–0:30 — Individual stick skills (ground balls, passing, catching) 0:30–0:50 — Small-sided skill drills (2v1, 3v2 situations) 0:50–1:10 — Competitive team drills (clear and ride, EMO/EMD) 1:10–1:45 — Controlled scrimmage 1:45–2:00 — Cool-down, notes, evaluator debrief
Keep transitions tight. Dead time at a tryout is wasted evaluation time — and it reveals more than you’d like to parents who are watching from the sideline.
Step 3: Use Multiple Evaluators and Assign Zones
One coach cannot watch 40 players at once. Assign evaluators to specific areas of the field or specific player groups, and make sure everyone is scoring independently before comparing notes.
Position your evaluators strategically:
- One evaluator watching stick work in isolation drills
- One watching athleticism and motor during agility segments
- One focused on communication, coachability, and compete level throughout
Independent scoring before group discussion is critical. Evaluator conversations before scores are locked in lead to anchoring bias — the first opinion in the room tends to dominate.
Step 4: Score Players Consistently With a Defined Rubric
Verbal impressions don’t hold up two weeks later when a parent calls to ask why their son or daughter didn’t make the team. Numerical scores do.
Use a simple 1–5 or 1–10 rubric for each evaluation category, scored after each major segment of the tryout. This approach gives you:
- Objective data to back your roster decisions
- Consistency across evaluators who might otherwise weight criteria differently
- A documented record that protects you from disputes
Avoid vague descriptors like “good” or “solid.” Instead, anchor each score level. A 5 in ground balls might mean: wins contested ground balls consistently, immediately moves into transition. A 2 might mean: struggles under pressure, frequently loses possession.
Step 5: Evaluate Character, Not Just Skills
The best tryouts evaluate the whole player — not just what they can do with a stick.
Watch for:
- How do they respond when a drill doesn’t go their way?
- Do they communicate with teammates during scrimmage, or go silent?
- Are they paying attention during instruction, or distracted?
- Do they give effort on drills that don’t directly showcase their skills (like defensive slides)?
These intangibles often separate similarly-skilled players. A player with a 7/10 skill ceiling and a 10/10 coachability score will often outperform a 9/10 skill player who checks out when things get hard.
Step 6: Communicate Results Professionally
How you communicate tryout results says as much about your program as the tryout itself.
Best practices for post-tryout communication:
- Set a clear timeline before tryouts begin. Tell players and parents when they will hear back.
- Be specific, not generic. “You didn’t make the team” is worse than “We’re looking for X this year and your skill set is a stronger fit for the developmental level.”
- Have a feedback plan for cuts. Not every family will ask, but have a brief, honest summary ready for those who do.
- Thank every participant. Every player who showed up deserves acknowledgment, even if the answer is no.
Coaches who communicate clearly and professionally build programs that players want to be part of — even when they don’t make the cut. That’s how you retain community trust across multiple seasons.
Step 7: Review and Improve Your Process Every Year
After your final roster is set, schedule a 30-minute debrief with your staff. Ask:
- Which evaluation segments gave us the most useful data?
- Were there players we misjudged because our process didn’t test the right things?
- Did our rubric reflect what we actually needed?
- Were there any logistical breakdowns that cost us evaluation time?
Write down the answers. Next year’s tryout coordinator (even if that’s you) will thank you.
Run Smarter Lacrosse Tryouts With TeamGenius
Managing evaluations on paper or in your head creates gaps. Scores get lost, evaluators aren’t aligned, and roster decisions get made on memory instead of data.
TeamGenius is a player evaluation and tryout management platform built specifically for coaches and clubs. With TeamGenius, you can build custom scoring rubrics for lacrosse, assign evaluators to player groups, collect scores in real time from any device, and instantly see ranked results when tryouts are done — no spreadsheets, no confusion.
Clubs across North America use TeamGenius to run faster, fairer, and more defensible tryouts every season.
See how TeamGenius works → teamgenius.com
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