Youth Grade Trials 2008 Season

Trials will be held the week of 10th March at Seddon Fields.

Note: Tuesdays trials have moved to 5.30 to avoid a ground clash with Touch.

Please contact your coordinator with any questions.

Trials Overview

This note is to discuss the upcoming trials. It is specifically intended for parents of players who have not yet been through the trial process. It is intended to explain the process and challenges and make some recommendations on what to do to prepare your child for the trial process and what can be done if trial hasn’t delivered a result you were expecting.

Western Springs Association Football Club has a policy of grading teams from the 10th grade on. This coincides with the teams joining the Auckland Football Federation Competitions. Since all teams are put into graded divisions every team is graded.

Trials are only used to pick the top two teams

The trials are only used to select an “A/B” squad. That is enough players to make up the two top teams. There after the “A” team coach will pick the “A” team from the “A/B” squad after observing the players at several practices and practice games. The remaining players are placed in the “B” team.

Players not selected into the A/B squad will be placed into teams by the Grade Coordinator. As much as possible we try to keep players from their previous teams together and these teams are placed into divisions based on the success of the teams they were in last year.

Challenges

•    The club has limited resources and time, to conduct the trials
•    The exercise is subjective because different people have different views on what makes a good player eg. Potential v Ability, Skill v Pace, Talent v Positional Requirements
•    The trials run at the start of the season and some players aren’t fit or in good form

Another important consideration is the "bell curve" distribution of ability. Basically it says that there are more players of average ability than those of very high or very low ability. So the last player picked for the “A/B” squad is always the hardest to choose and is very likely to have similar ability to some players not picked. Often the final decision here will be driven by positions needed to complete the squad. In other words the top players can be identified easily, but the last players to make the top squad must be picked with care.

It’s also important to consider that each year trials start with a blank sheet of paper. This means that players may move up or down through this process over the years. In the past we have had many instances of players moving into top teams from previously ungraded teams, and vice versa.

How does the trial work?

During the trial please direct any questions to your grade coordinator. The selector is there to watch and assess players. This requires a lot of concentration and they need to be left free to focus on the players.

The main part of the trial involves several 3v3 games. These are games with two squads of five players with only three players on the pitch for any team at one time. The selector will try to ensure the each and every player is watched, small sided games allows this to happen.

The selector will try to ensure the player being observed, receives the ball, passes, tackles and dribbles often enough to be assessed in these areas.
Key things the selector watches for are:
•    Keeping the head up,
•    Good first touch,
•    A good measured pass
•    A patient and well timed tackle.

If they do all these well they will be graded 1+.

However key things the selector does not want to see, are:
•    Head always down,
•    Dribbling into trouble,
•    Miss timed or directed passes,
•    Kicking the ball aimlessly,
•    Poor first touch where the ball is lost or put into contention,
•    Diving into tackles and getting beaten,
•    Loosing their feet in tackles

If they do all these they will be graded 3-.

If your player is asked to leave the trial early it is because they have already been observed and they are no longer required. We typically do this to even up the sides so that the remaining players are more easily assessed.

All players will be graded from 3 to 1, with possibly a – or a +. If there are several players with similar grades at the cut off mark then these players will be involved in a skills assessment. Normally there are 6-8 players who end up in this category. The skills assessment further measures the speed, passes and turns of these players on the margin.

Finally there is a coaches meeting where last years coaches can discuss the selections and discuss if anyone has been missed by the process. This meeting is confidential and the conversations are not normally made public or shared with parents.

At the completion of all of these steps the Grade Coordinator posts the squads on the web site.

What can you do to give them a better chance?

Here are some things that you can do to make sure your player has the best chance:
•    Make sure they are fit. Have them run or get them to play some sport before the trial.
•    Have them play some football. Take them to the park with a football.