Using a tryout app can save time during the evaluation and team formation process
During the tryout and team formation process coaches and directors might have a lot of items on their wish lists, but near the top of each list is likely “more time.”
Enter player evaluation software.
While evaluation software makes the tryout sessions easier for evaluators, it also provides numerous perks for coaches and league directors. It allows for easier player registration, it helps eliminate biases from the tryouts process, it allows coaches and directors to quickly make results available to players, and maybe most valuable – it saves leagues time.
Find out below how leagues are using the software to their advantage.
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Recording your evaluation scores have never been easier
The evaluation process may vary league to league, but one thing is constant – there is a lot of information that needs to be recorded and tallied.
For leagues that use paper evaluation forms, evaluators need to record player scores by hand, then those forms need to be collected and all scores have to be manually tallied. This introduces the risk for error in calculations, and it means individual results can’t be shared or seen by other administrators until the scores are shared at the end of the tryouts session.
The St. Croix Soccer Club of Western Wisconsin and the Eastern Twin Cities simplified its player ranking system when it transitioned to TeamGenius’ evaluation software. The club was able to enter player scores into the system and allow all administrators who were logged into the program to see the player rankings and scores in real-time.
St. Croix Soccer Club Coaching Director Nathan Klonecki estimated the software saved his club 20 to 30 hours of work.
“It saved numerous hours and human error. We caught some mistakes this year we might not have in the past,” Klonecki said.
The evaluation software can help teams get access to information quicker and help remove the risk of mathematical errors.
It also allows teams the ability to customize what criteria players are being evaluated on, and the scoring system the team wants to use.
Bonus: Download our free online soccer tryouts evaluation form
Create teams faster
In addition to helping teams with the tryouts process, evaluation software can help clubs actually form their teams.
The software makes player rankings available immediately as scores are being entered by evaluators. This means as soon as tryouts end, the coaches and directors know exactly where players finished.
This feature on the TeamGenius platform helped the Manhattan Beach Little League trim valuable time from the draft process they use to form their teams.
“We were all sharing our data together, and it was all in real-time. We didn’t need to wait for someone to put it together for us,” said Sergio Silva, President of Manhattan Beach Little League.
The app also enables teams to hide player names to ensure the selection process is fair. Teams can opt to only display player numbers, ensuring players aren’t evaluated or ranked based on their name and reputation.
Provide quick, easy, and informative player feedback
Evaluation software can provide value to teams throughout the entire season, not just during tryouts.
In some platforms, teams can keep track of player performances throughout the season, allowing coaches to evaluate athletes at various points throughout the year. All of this can be done inside the app. Coaches and directors don’t have to manually pull player evaluations and feedback, to craft individual emails to send to each athlete. This can be executed directly in the platform.
The Springfield Area Soccer Association uses this feature inside TeamGenius. “Throughout the year it’s been a great and easy tool for us to use to be able to provide feedback and evaluations,” said Andrew Lenhardt, the Director of Coaching at Springfield (Ill.) Area Soccer Association (SASA). “It’s made my life a lot easier.”
Coaches and directors can send player evaluations directly from the platform to players as well as their parents. This lets athletes know what they need to work on at various points of the season, and what the expectations are for the following year. This is a way for coaches to begin a dialogue between themselves and the players, and to provide athletes with feedback.
Leagues can also send player evaluations out immediately after tryouts. To add a level of transparency to the evaluation process, teams can let parents and athletes know the player scores will be made available following the sessions. Then parents, players and league directors and coaches are all looking at the same scores and results. This helps parents and players understand why an athlete was cut from a team, or why he or she made a specific squad over another. To read more about how to communicate tryout results, click here.
