Team Selection Tips for Coaches

Team placement decisions. Arguably, it is the most instrumental decision you will have to make all season. Which players will you draft, and who won’t make the cut?

Like any important decision, you want to ensure you have the proper data & resources in the palm of your hands. The more you know, the more precise and accurate your drafting decisions will be.

This blog covers five vital team selection tips for coaches, guiding you throughout the entire decision-making process. We cover what to do from the moment your tryouts are finished to selecting players for your team.

How to Build A Successful Sports Team

1. Review all the data

Players have been evaluated on numerous drills during tryouts. Therefore, use this player data to your advantage:

• Rank players: See how players stack up against one another in each category (i.e., passing shooting, skating within hockey) and skill (starts, stops, forward skate, backward skate).
• Compare players: Compare up to three players to see where their strengths vs. weaknesses are.
• Weighted rankings: Use weighted rankings to view the top skaters in hockey or the top pitchers in baseball (customizable to any sport). Choose the metrics and select the weight (i.e., the importance) for each metric. Run the report and see the top positional players for any sport!

Want access to reports that will help you rank, compare, and weigh players? Check out SkillShark’s athlete evaluation app. Drastically cut down evaluation time AND gain access to auto-generated reports to make effective team placement decisions.

Weighted Reports using SkillShark

2. Host a debrief

Before mulling over any player data from your evaluations, host a debrief with all evaluators. Ideally, this meeting will take place after the last day of tryouts. Here are a few talking points that would be tough to convey in writing, but can be communicated more effectively in a face-to-face meeting:

1. Were there any behavioral concerns about the player(s)?
2. Did any injury(s) happen during tryouts?
3. Were there any visible signs of anxiety/ stress in players?

3. Have a second set of eyes

Running through player data is a big task at hand. One that requires a great deal of concentration and accuracy. Make sure you don’t tackle this job alone! At the very least, have a second pair of eyes (ideally from your assistant coach).

• Were all scores collected for each player?
• Are there any mistakes in the data?
• Is any evaluation bias present? I.e., Was one athlete scored exceptionally high in all areas?

4. Make quick decisions

It is advised to make team placement decisions in a matter of 7-10 days after tryouts. This will give you and your team sufficient time to debrief, analyze player data, and even bring in a second pair of eyes to review & resolve any data discrepancies that arise.

While decisions should be made quickly, ensure the process isn’t rushed. Allow enough time for data analysis, communication with relevant parties, and thorough deliberation.

5. Provide feedback to athletes

Your teams have already been selected, and as any tryout goes, some athletes won’t make the cut. Team placement decisions come with an influx of questions from both athletes and parents. The main one being, “Why didn’t my child make the team?”

Break it down for parents & athletes by providing feedback in the form of report cards. Highlight what skills were evaluated, the athlete’s score, and the team’s average score (to show comparison). Looking at this breakdown of data, both parties can better answer this lingering question for themselves.

Individual reports in SkillShark

Wrapping Up

Looking to cut down evaluation time but still make equally as confident team placement decisions? SkillShark’s athlete evaluation app has you covered.

How does SkillShark work?

Customize your evaluation template, and score athletes on your mobile device (use a slider button instead of hand typing each score).

Once your evaluation is over, player data is immediately ready for you to analyze in report format. Simply select the type of report you want to run and choose which player(s) to assess. Within minutes, you can see which players are best suited for your team!