As the spring season comes to an end, SYS has begun planning for the Fall 2022 season. We have received many inquiries about field evaluations for our travel teams, and we appreciate your patience as we’ve worked to finalize the session schedule.
SYS takes the responsibility of constructing travel team rosters incredibly seriously. Our process is rigorous and relies heavily on data, which we gather from multiple sources. Every player who will be on a travel team in the Fall receives an evaluation from each of their current team coaches and a separate evaluation from an academy instructor. Each evaluation includes 12 numerical scores covering technical, tactical, physical, and mental attributes. Coaches and instructors also provide written feedback on each player.
Field evaluations are the final component of our data gathering process. They are important, because they provide an opportunity for us to see all the players in a specific age cohort together.
All players entering grades 3 through 8 in the fall are strongly encouraged to attend field evaluations. It is SYS policy that no player’s overall assessment score ever decreases as a result of field evaluations, but these sessions do provide an opportunity for players to increase their assessment score.
It is important to remember that SYS does not conduct tryouts. Every player who registers in a timely fashion is guaranteed a roster spot. Instead of tryouts, we use field evaluations as one component of our rigorous process intended to place every player on the most appropriate roster.
Please remember that players should attend the evaluation for the grade they will enter this Fall. For example, a player currently completing 4th grade will attend field evaluations for the 5/6 grade cohort. To be clear: the grades and cohorts listed in the following below do not refer to your current team, but the team for which your child will play in the Fall.
The Fall 2022 Field Evaluations schedule is as follows:
Please do your best to attend the indicated session. We will likely hold an additional field evaluations in August, but this will be primarily directed at players who are new to SYS, and initial rostering meetings will take place before any August field evaluations are conducted.
We will send additional information closer to the date of your field evaluation, but if you have any questions on our rostering process, please contact Jim Seavey directly at executivedirector@somervillesoccer.org. Thank you for your continued support of SYS. We look forward to seeing you on the field!