Tryouts · All sports

How to evaluate players at tryouts: basketball, volleyball, soccer and hockey

By the CourtClok team · Updated October 2026 · 10 min read · 15 sources

Clipboards with blank evaluation forms on a gym bench beside a basketball, volleyball, soccer ball and hockey stick — AI-generated illustration.

The short answer

In every sport, the fairest tryouts share six habits: more than one session, a number on every player, evaluators with no connection to the kids, a 1–5 scale with each level defined, a check on birth months, and private, prompt conversations about results. What changes by sport is what you test and how.

Six rules that hold in every sport

More than one session. Every governing body and coaching source we read prefers two or three sessions to one. In basketball, "two 60-minute tryouts are far better than one 120-minute tryout" (Basketball for Coaches). Hockey Canada wants at least two sessions before anyone is released (Hockey Canada).
A number on every player. Rate numbers, not names (Positive Coaching Alliance). Keep the same number for every session.
Independent evaluators who do nothing else. No relatives rating family (Basketball BC), no coaches rating their own division (Hockey Regina), and evaluators who don't also run drills (AYSO; Art of Coaching Volleyball).
A defined scale. Use 1–5 (or 1–4) and write what each number means (NFHS). Whole numbers only, using the full range (Hockey Canada).
Check birth months. The relative age effect shows up in all four sports, see the next section.
Private, prompt, specific results. Tell players soon after the last session, individually, with reasons and somewhere else to play, and set expectations in writing beforehand (Sport for Life).

The relative age effect, sport by sport

Grouping by birth year means some players are nearly a year older than others at the same tryout. Older, more mature kids get picked more often, and the research shows the same pattern in all four sports:

Sport	Finding	Source
Basketball	"Too often it is the early maturing athlete who gets to make the elite teams"; late maturers often become the better athletes	Canada Basketball LTAD
Volleyball	Only 6.03% of selected boys and 11.42% of selected girls were born in Oct–Dec; height and jump predicted selection	Frontiers in Psychology, 2020
Soccer	Coaches rated specific skills fairly, but their overall ratings leaned toward early-born players (16,138 players)	Leyhr et al., 2021
Hockey	Canadian minor hockey: 30.4% born Jan–Mar vs 19.8% Oct–Dec; major junior: 41.6% vs 11.2%	Lemoyne et al., 2021

The fix that works on paper: score each skill row first and total them, rather than starting from an overall impression. That's where the soccer study found coaches were fairest. Write birth year on every card, so you can see whether your roster skews old.

What changes from sport to sport

	Basketball	Volleyball	Soccer	Hockey
Best game format to watch	3v3 half court, short 5v5	Wash games, Queen of the Court, 6v6	4v4 to 7v7 small-sided games	Small-area games, then scrimmage
Measurable test	Timed spot-up shooting	0–3 pass rating, 0–4 serve rating	None standard; rate in games	Skating and pivots both ways
Specialists	—	Setters and liberos, rated in role	Goalkeepers, own evaluator	Goalies, own sessions and evaluator
Most over-weighted trait	Size and early maturity	Height	Size and speed of early-born kids	Size; past reputation
Age rules to know	No zone defense at younger ages	Growth spurts change positions	No heading U11 and under (U.S.)	Body checking starts at U15 / Bantam

Basketball

Rate ball handling, shooting, finishing, passing, on-ball and help defense, rebounding, conditioning, IQ and coachability. Spend most of your attention on the bubble group and use short 5v5 games to separate them. Don't skip rebounding: it's "under-tested at tryouts" (Basketball for Coaches). Full detail, drills and a sample session: How to evaluate basketball players at tryouts.

Volleyball

Count first contact: rate every serve-receive pass 0–3 and every serve 0–4. Top passers average around 2.3–2.4 (CoachingVB). Then watch short, intense games, and judge setters and liberos by how the team plays with them. Full detail: How to evaluate volleyball players at tryouts.

Soccer

Evaluate mostly in small-sided games, rotating players through stations while evaluators stay put ("players rotate, not evaluators"), with a separate evaluator for goalkeepers (AYSO). Full detail, including U.S. and Canadian formats by age: How to evaluate soccer players at tryouts.

Hockey

Run skills, then small-area games, then a scrimmage. Evaluators "watch the players, not the game," use no half points, and rate what they see today (Hockey Alberta). Goalies get their own sessions. Full detail, including appeals: How to evaluate hockey players at tryouts.

Questions coaches ask

What's the fairest way to run a youth tryout?

More than one session, a number on every player, independent evaluators with no connection to the players, a defined 1–5 scale, a check on birth months, and private, prompt conversations about results.

What is the relative age effect?

Players born early in the selection year are picked more often, largely because they're older and more mature. It's been documented in basketball, volleyball, soccer and hockey.

Are the tryout evaluation forms free?

Yes. There is a free printable PDF for each sport, with a tryout-number box, ten 1–5 skill rows, notes and a decision row, two players per page.

Running the games after tryouts? CourtClok keeps the score and player stats on your phone, puts the scoreboard on any TV and can livestream games with the score on screen. Free to start; some features need a paid plan.

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