TRAVEL Teams Tryout Information

You must be registered for Fall or Fall/Spring to TRYOUT please go to the website www.walpolesoccer.org and click the “REGISTRATION” button on the LEFT.

The TRYOUT Process
- We plan to have one night of TRYOUTS for each group this year - If you would like your player to be considered for one of the two SELECT travel teams in each age-groups, you must attend tryouts. If you are injured, or have a major conflict - you must notify us before your tryout - and we will take that into consideration, and may have them come at an alternate day/time. If your player is not interested in being on one of the two SELECT travel teams at each age-group, and just wants to be on a regular TRAVEL [BLENDED] team - then you are not required to come to tryouts, though most players will enjoy coming to tryouts anyways, as it will be another chance to get to play some soccer with their friends.

If your player is injured or has a major conflict and is unable to attend tryouts and would like to be considered for a SELECT team - please contact Tom Grimes for GIRLS travel teams at tom@grimesco.com, or Gary Lochhead for BOYS travel team issues at garyjmlochhead@comcast.net. Or if you are not sure who to talk to - please send an email to Mark Gallivan [WYSA President] at mgallivan@walpolesoccer.org.

TERMS
— What is a SELECT travel team. Our goal is to have 2 SELECT teams at each age-group. A select team is picked based on the results of tryouts and coaches evaluations of player performance, attitude, attendance, improvement over 20 weeks in the fall & spring. These teams will be placed in the most competitive divisions in the BAYS travel league [divisions 1 & 2]. These teams require a big commitment from parents & players to attend 2 practices each week, make every game, and likely attend tournaments each season.
— What is a regular [BLENDED] travel team. Anyone who did not tryout, or anyone who was not picked for one of the two SELECT travel teams, will be placed on a BLENDED travel team. All players who are available will be divided up based on a draft process, teams will be made, and we will place these teams in the BAYS travel league in a division/section that they will be able to compete.

TRYOUT DATES - If you see a conflict - please let us know ASAP by contacting Mark Gallivan at micmarkg@aol.com

Assuming we can eliminate most conflicts our plan for tryouts is to have one night of tryouts for each age-group. In the past we have often had 2 nights of tryouts - but this was primarily due to conflicts with other activities.
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** We know that this time of year there are many major conflicts, school activities - plays - concerts, dance recitals soccer presidents cup games, state cup playoffs and other scheduled sports games. We have done the best we can to avoid these school functions. We also know that due to rainouts there are lots of makeup games constantly being scheduled. So if you find a major conflict - please let us know and we may [if possible] try to reschedule a specific tryout. Or if you find a minor conflict - generally a specific sports game in conflict - please let us know and we will see what can be done.

REGISTRATION
—– Registration will open Friday May 22nd for Fall 2009
—- If you register during the regular registration period, you will pay the lowest fees, and be guaranteed a spot on a team. Go to the registration page now - look on the left side of the screen - for the Registration Button.
—- All our Travel teams will play in the BAYS soccer league, which consists of 50+ metro west towns, some close to us, some as far away as arlington or acton-boxboro. The travel season is usually 10 weeks long for both fall & spring
—- Every u11,u12,u14 player who registers during the regular registration period will be guaranteed a spot on a travel team. Tryouts are used to place players on a team with players of similar skill - where their skills will fit in. We will then try to place this team in one of the 4 divisions[with many sections] of the Bays travel league - so that they will play against equally skilled teams.
—- Every u10/u9 player who registers during the regular registration period will be guaranteed a spot on a team. If they tryout for a u10 travel team and do not get selected for it. They will be guaranteed a spot on one of our u10 in-town teams.

Why do we do TRYOUTS each year?

—- We do tryouts each year to re-evaluate all our travel players and see where they are compared to their peers every spring - just because a player made one team last year does not necessarily mean that is the correct team for next year. Some player movement [up and down] between teams is generally expected each year. Our soccer players are children who are growing and developing at different rates and at different times. Some players love soccer and knew from the very first soccer experience that soccer was their number 1 sport and they work on soccer skills every day either in tha backyard - in skills clinics - camps - or by playing on a CLUB team, others really like soccer - but it is their 2nd/3rd favorite sport/activity and one/two day/s of practice a week is just right for them, some are in-between with soccer becoming their #1 sport or going the other direction and focusing allot more energy and time on a new favorite sport, while still wanting to play soccer and have some FUN.

TRYOUT Guidelines

—- You must be registered to Tryout for a Travel Team
—- You must be registered [GO ONLINE] before your tryout date - to get the regular rate [best price], and be guaranteed a spot on a team
- If you are not registered to play by the end of your agegroup tryouts,
when you do register - you will be placed on the wait-list and you will be able to play only if a spot opens up or possibly we have enough players to create another team.
—- You must TRYOUT to be placed on a 1st or 2nd team [we call these SELECT Teams] - if you cannot tryout on the assigned dates for your agegroup
please contact one of the following board members before your assigned tryout date so that you can come to an alternate tryout date.
If you are injured - we need to know that.
Tom Grimes - Girls Travel, Gary Lochhead - Boys Travel, Mark Gallivan - President
—- If you registered, but do not tryout, then you will be placed on a team based on coaches evaluation from the Fall season and the current spring season
*** We know that due to rainouts for many sports, and all the activities, that sometimes you may be faced with the difficult decision of going to a tryout or skipping a tryout. Please contact us if you are in this situation before your tryout date.

TRYOUT Day

—- On tryout day - please arrive 30 minutes early to check in, get your tryout shirts, and start warming up
—- On TRYOUT day - please wear cleats & shinguards, wear a white t-shirt, and bring lots of water
—- BRING a BALL to tryouts - it is very hard to warmup without a ball. Make sure your name is on your ball.
—- encourage your player to work hard for the entire tryout, we evaluate players for the entire time they are on the field, lots of players score well at the beginning of the tryout when they are fresh, but run out of steam, or start having too much fun with their friends and that is reflected in the scores.
—– encourage your player to show the skills that they have, shoot when they can, use their footskills & make moves, score goals, move upfield and get assists, play aggressive defense and be a strong first defender, show your endurance the entire time by staying in motion - always moving to goal or open space, play multiple positions - show your flexibility.
—– how can you help - if you are a coach - please come and help us do evaluations - the more eyes on a player - the better job we will do. If you are a parent - come help us at the check-in table or with setup or cleanup or just stand on the sidelines and watch your player play. Your being there will encourage them to keep working and focus on soccer.

TEAM BUILDING

—- All Players will be evaluated by 4+ coaches during the tryouts, and evaluated on a number of skills including: footskills, speed, aggressiveness, field sense, dribling, passing, shooting — some evaluators will be boys coaches, some will be girls coaches, some from your agegroup, some from a different agegroup and one, usually more board members will be at every tryout.
—- Team Placement - teams will be formed for the Fall season based on performance at tryouts and coaches ratings over the 10 week Fall & and current Spring Season. Our goal is to place each player on a team with players of similar skills, commitment and endurance.
—- Placement on a specific team this Fall does not guarantee placement on the same team for Spring, as player performance, attendance at practices & games, attitude, skill improvement, and work ethic will determine placement for Spring
—- Number of teams at each age-group, is determined by how many players register for that age-group. For example if we have enough players for 2 teams - we will rank the players based on tryouts and coaches evaluations from the prior season [usually 20 weeks fall & spring] and have a 1st team and a 2nd team. If we have enough players for 5 teams - we would rank the players based on tryouts and coaches evaluations and have 2 teams that are SELECT [1st & 2nd team] based on rankings - they would placed in very competitive divisions, and 3 teams that would be blended with players spread out over 3 teams and placed in a less competitve divisions. Our goal is to be able to provide a FUN and challanging soccer experience for all our players.

—- What is BAYS? BAYS is the travel league we participate in with over 50 other towns in the metro west area. Bays has 4 divisions of teams in every agegroup, with many sections in each division. Once we make up teams - we try to have them placed in an appropriate division/section of BAYS so that any given team is playing against similarly skilled teams. If over time [season] one team improves relative to the peers in the section - BAYS can move that team up to face more competition - if one team is really struggling or being crushed - which is no fun for anyone, bays will move our team down - to give it more equal competition. BAYS would love if every team won half of their game - which would mean that that team is in the perfect spot — very competitive.

1st Team Commitment - Player & Parents
- Playing on a first travel team for Walpole in the BAYS league is generally a BIG commitment for the player and parents. Our 1st teams are generally very competitive, challenging, provide a great learning environment for the player, and allot of fun. Having said that - You should generally expect two practices a week which your player needs to make, games on Saturdays somewhere in the Metro West area, periodic tournaments over 3 day weekends, winter training and/or indoor soccer, and summer training starting the 2nd/3rd week of August. If your child is playing multiple sports or already on multiple teams - it may be hard for you to commit to a 1st team, or may be hard for your child to stay on the first team from season to season if the commitment is not there.

RAIN Make-Up Schedule