With travel tryout season upon us, there are some very important things that parents and players should keep in mind when choosing their team for next season. It all comes down to asking questions and doing your diligence. This is a wild time of year with rumors flying, coaches recruiting and roster spots being promised.

We all read Amazon reviews for hours before making a $20 gadget purchase, right? If your player intends to play travel hockey, you are about to sign an agreement that may cost you upwards of $10,000 and turn your family’s life upside down for 8 months. Have you done your homework? Are you relying upon information from the coach that is recruiting you or a parent that wants your player as a teammate for carpooling benefits?
 

A veteran AAA coach of 34 years in the Chicago area, with several National Championships and hundreds of division 1 players promoted, put together this list of must haves when considering where to play for your youth player…

1. QUALITY OF PRACTICE       If you're watching practice and the players aren't in motion for 95% of the practice, there's something wrong. Great practices are fun, instructive, challenging and demanding. Just like school.

Do you know who is running your practices? What teams will be on the ice for your practices? This may seem silly, but you should have concrete answers to these questions. A vast majority of your player’s improvement and learning happens in practice, it is crucial to his or her development.

2. QUALITY OF TEACHING      "Coach" is a synonym for "teach." What the coach knows doesn't matter, what the student learns, does. All kids learn a little differently. Does your coach care enough to understand how each child on the team learns best and adjust accordingly?  And please remember this: Great teachers don't treat every student the same; they treat every student fairly. Who is teaching at your practices?

3. LEVEL OF EXPECTATIONS   Does the coach demand the best your child has to give? It is not to much to ask your child to give his or her best for the hour-plus a day he/she is on the ice, or whatever is asked of them off the ice.

4. BALANCING PLAYING WELL VS WINNING   Everyone wants to win. But winning is NOT the priority at the youth level. Winning is great, everything's more fun when you win. But winning is a by-product of playing well, and in hockey, playing well doesn't always guarantee winning. So if your coach understands that playing well is more important than winning, you're on the right path.

Here are a few more questions that you SHOULD know before signing on the dotted line and paying your deposit…

How often will your player be training off ice? Are those sessions being run by a qualified trainer? Is there a long term plan or is the goal simply to make them sweat.

For those being promised a certain game schedule or “exposure”, have you looked at last year’s schedule or are you taking the coach’s word for it? Should “exposure” be a priority at your player’s age?

Is the program development based or competition based? Does the experience reflect the answer you receive?

Where is your money going? Ask to see an itemized budget. If the program is in it for your kids, you will know exactly what your hard earned money is paying for?

Seek out parents of older players that have played for the organization that you are considering. That is the best way to receive unbiased and useful information.

Register for Racers Travel Tryouts today at the link below.

Racers Travel Tryout Registration

Best of Luck!