Hockey tryout evaluation form

Running an evaluation people trust

Tryouts are the most scrutinised thing an association does all year. Most of the complaints that follow are not about the decision, they are about the process looking arbitrary. A few habits fix that.

• Numbers, never names. Evaluators should not know whose child they are watching, and should not be able to find out from the sheet. This is the single biggest thing that makes a tryout defensible.
• Score against the group, not each other. A 3 means at the level of this group, not middle of the pack. Otherwise every sheet produces the same curve regardless of who was on the ice.
• Watch one thing at a time. Take a drill and score only skating. Take the next and score only puck control. Trying to score six things at once produces six versions of one overall impression.
• More than one evaluator, and never only the coach. Two or three independent sheets per group is what lets you say the decision was not one person’s opinion.
• The note column matters most. Scores get you a ranking. The note is what you will actually need in the conversation with a parent two weeks later.

Goalies need their own

Scoring a goalie on skating, passing and shooting tells you nothing useful. Cross out the column heads and use these instead, or run a separate sheet for them:

• Movement · pushes, recovery, square to the puck
• Positioning · depth, angles, post play
• Rebounds · control, direction, second saves
• Hands · glove and blocker, reaction saves
• Puck play · stops, handles, moves it to a teammate
• Compete · battles through traffic, stays in it after a goal

A goalie also needs far more than forty seconds. Give them a full session before anyone writes a number down.