How to Conduct a High School Soccer Tryout

Conducting a tryout for budding high school soccer players is easy for anyone who has a good knowledge of soccer combined with good man-management skills. Both attributes are required, as young players need to be nurtured by a benevolent and knowledgeable coach. Soccer players at high-school level are still developing, so it is important to not expect too much from them in a trial game. An inventive trial game will stimulate young soccer players and help them to discover more about their own ability.

Things You'll Need

  • Full-size soccer pitch
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Instructions

    • 1

      Ask each player what experience they have of playing soccer. For the players who have some experience, ask them which position they feel the most comfortable in. Ask them whether they are primarily left-footed or right-footed, or are equally adept with both feet.

    • 2

      Mix both teams up into a combination of players with some experience and novices. Logic would indicate that the experienced soccer players will be easily the better players, but you will also be able to ascertain novices who have natural ability. This can be displayed by good positional sense, which, in soccer, is mostly intuitive.

    • 3

      Organize a short trial game of 30 minutes. This will quickly establish who has good basic soccer skills. The trial should have the same number of players on each side, ideally the conventional eleven players per side. If there are fewer than twenty-two players to choose from, organize the two teams into equal numbers. If there are uneven numbers, or more than twenty-two trialists, then substitutions should be utilized.

    • 4

      Break the game up into two halves, and at half-time switch the positions of the players around. This will give you an opportunity to see which is a player's strongest position. Even players who claim to have a best position can be more impressive when tried somewhere else.

    • 5

      Select various aptitude tests for the players at the end of the game. Organize a penalty-kick competition, giving each player two penalties. Get each player to attempt to cross the ball several times. Check each player's ball skills, and whether he has the ability to go past several defenders with the ball. Find out how good each player's heading skills are by throwing the ball into the air at various angles. Exchange passes with a player to test her passing ability.