St Louis Park Hockey

“TRYOUT ATTENDANCE: FAQS”

Each year, the Hockey Development Committee and coordinators receive numerous inquiries about tryout attendance-whether absences are approved from tryouts, how absences during tryouts affect overall scores, and whether absences in the tryout process will have an effect on final team placement.  As a general rule:

1.)     Players are encouraged to attend each and every tryout, as the more our evaluators see of your player, the more likely your player will be placed on an appropriate level team.

2.)    Do not make presumptions on where your player is rated in the middle of tryouts  as a consideration of whether or not it is “ok” to miss a session. With very few exceptions-very few-almost every player falls within a group of players who are being considered to move up to a particular team, or move down to a particular team.  Each session matters. 

3.)    SLPHA does not have a set policy of “excused” or “unexcused” absences for players who miss tryouts.  Missing a tryout session is missing an opportunity to be evaluated for placement on a team for an entire season.

4.)    The Hockey Development Committee encourages those players who miss sessions to report their absence at a session to the Tryout Coordinator, so that evaluators will consider where that player should be placed for the next tryout session, given past performance and other criteria.

5.)    Ultimately, tryouts are designed to place players at proper skill levels.  Tryout scores by evaluators are only one criterion out of  many used to place players on teams.  Other factors considered include injuries, experience level, age, attitude, and other intangibles (hustle, desire, team player versus individual), all of which go into the decision for final team placement.

Remember- although tryouts are time-consuming for the players and families of our Association, tryouts are a necessary process to achieve our goal in making correct placements for all players.  Please consider your player’s attendance at tryouts with these points in mind.