Tryout Policy
Newport County Youth Hockey Association
Travel Team Tryout Policy
Mission Statement:
The purpose of the NCYHA travel team tryout process is to evaluate a player's skating ability, hockey skills and commitment to teamwork, in order to place him or her within a team that will provide the best environment for improving their self-confidence and enjoyment of the sport of ice hockey. Special emphasis on competing at the highest possible level will be given to the A teams at each age level.
The tryouts for NCYHA Mite, Squirt and Pee Wee travel teams will be held in March and early April prior to the start of the following season. Spring Tryouts have been deemed more beneficial for Newport County Youth Hockey due to the late opening of our rinks, and the desire to evaluate the skaters at the heights of their game from the previous season. Due to Bantam and Midget scheduling, Bantam and Midget level tryouts will occur in early August.
Tryout dates and times will be posted on the NCYHA website (www.ncyha.org). In order to tryout, a player must be paid in full for the prior season and an initial $100.00 non-refundable deposit made for the upcoming season. The number of tryout sessions per level will vary with each level. We want to provide the skaters with every opportunity to show their skills, while at the same time trying to obtain thorough and consistent evaluations at the tryouts.
All skaters and goaltenders that wish to be considered for a NCYHA travel team must attend tryouts. (Exceptions made are generally for families moving to the area in the summer for the following season ie: War College, Navy Families / Military Families or Families moving to the area) Depending on the number of children trying out, it is possible that some children who attend tryout will not make a travel team.
The following guidelines have been established and there are no exceptions to these guidelines without approval of the NCYHA Board of Directors and/or the NCYHA Level Directors.
Evaluations
Each Level Director will create a committee of evaluators. Evaluators will use a standardized scoring system that will assess skating ability and hockey skills at each level during scheduled tryout sessions. The Level Director will attempt to select evaluators for a given level who do not have children trying out at that level. If an evaluator happens to have a child skating at that level, the evaluator is not allowed to score his own child. All skaters are given colored pinnies with numbers. Evaluation sheets are issued to the evaluators with pinnie colors and numbers only.
Evaluation Guidelines
Independent Evaluators
Tryout sessions will consist of drills that allow players to display their individual skating abilities as well as their shooting and passing abilities with an emphasis on situational play in scrimmages.
Evaluators will be in the stands and are instructed not to share comments with each other on any players being evaluated.
Evaluators are instructed to rate players using a standardized evaluation system, with an overall score taking into consideration the following:
· Skating Skills
· Hockey skills
· Team work
· Situational/Decision making
Generally, the weighting of each of these categories will change at each level (Mites, Squirts, Peewees, Bantams) with the change in the style of play. At the Mite level, skating and basic hockey skills will be weighted more than at the upper levels where teamwork and situational play become more important as a skill.
Coach Evaluations from prior season
All coaches are to evaluate each of their players from the prior season. Coaches will evaluate each player on skating and puck skills, game sense and character. The Coaches evaluation form provides a similar scoring system, (1 to 5) in the range of skills and characteristics. Coach evaluations also provide space for comments on individual players, as additional information available for the selection process. These coach’s evaluations are not used to rank the individual players for team selection, but are used as a tool to assist in making team selections.
Team Composition
Team selection will be based a combination of the player ratings obtained in the tryouts and player evaluations from the coaches from the prior season. The combination of both tryout scores and coach evaluations from coaches are important to provide as complete an evaluation as possible for each player. Second year players will be given priority over first year players in the event scores and evaluations are similarAt least 2 roster positions will be left open on the A team after Spring Tryouts. The lower team rosters shall be filled at Spring Tryouts. Final selections for open slots on the A team occur at the start of the upcoming season. Team rosters are not finalized until the start of the upcoming season. This leaves room for final adjustments as some players will attend summer camps and may make considerable improvements over the summer. This also leaves room for families moving to the area to have the opportunity to have their skaters evaluated in the fall.
Coach Selection:
After the evaluation process the applicants for coaching are reviewed and Head Coaches are then selected. The Head Coaches for all NCYHA travel teams must be approved by the Board of Directors.
Coaches will utilize the evaluation results when selecting their team. Rosters must be approved by their Level Director. The Board of Directors will reassess the selection of coaches in the fall for the upcoming season and make any adjustments that may be appropriate.
Notification
Once the spring evaluation process is completed, and the initial rosters are created and approved by the Level Director, the players and parents will be notified. Notification will generally take place within a week or two from the date of the last tryout date.
If any roster changes are made at the start of the upcoming season, once they are approved by the Level Director, affected players and parents will be notified.
Discipline
It should be noted that inappropriate behavior by a skater or parent on or off ice during the tryouts will not be tolerated and could eliminate a player for consideration on a NCYHA Travel team. Inappropriate behavior includes, but is not limited to penalty situations such as illegal checking, elbowing, tripping, and harassment of other skaters on or off the ice and use of foul language. All players must read and sign Players Code of Conduct found on the NCYHA web site. This will be submitted as part of the registration process at tryouts for the upcoming season.
Exceptions
The Level Director (Mite Director, Squirt Director etc.) can place players who miss tryouts, due to a SERIOUS illness or injury, at an appropriate level. The NCYHA Board of Directors will reserve the right to use its discretion to place players at the C level if there is an unexcused absence at the tryouts. The NCYHA Board of Directors will give ample advance notice to parents regarding the timing of tryouts.
Grievances
Any parent who has a concern with the selection process and/or a player’s placement should contact the Level Director first. The Grievance Committee (See ncyha.org) may then be contacted.
We hope that this summary of the tryout and team selection process has been informative. We understand the frustrations that come up every year, as this process unfolds - it is not an exact science, and different people have different opinions about the relative talent of a group of players. Please keep in mind that we are doing our best to evaluate your children and place them on the correct team that will allow them to improve as hockey players but more importantly to have fun. Experience has shown that an individual player will achieve the most success and make the most developmental progress over the course of the season if that player is competing at the proper level for his or her ability.
If you have any questions about this process, please contact a Newport County Youth Hockey Volunteer Board Member. Do not contact the Head Coach.
