NCLA TRYOUT PHILOSOPHY
THIS APPLIES TO PLAYERS IN GRADES 5TH – 8TH ONLY
One of the most asked questions is “Is it okay to miss an evaluation session or two because of prior sports commitments or family functions?” Our simple answer is “for the best placement on a team, we strongly encourage you to attend all, or as many, evaluation sessions as possible.”
As a town-wide program, NCLA looks to meet the needs of all local players – including those attending both public and private schools. With different school schedules each year, one of our greatest challenges is finding appropriate time for player evaluations and team placements early enough in the Spring to allow our teams time to practice and prepare for the season. We have done our best to accommodate all players’ needs: however, we know that some of the local private schools have vacation starting during this tryout time. If you are going to be away, and we think it important to be with family, then please let the grade coordinators know so they can alert the coaches. As a program, our goal is to place each player on the team they would benefit most from; and we reserve the right to move players from one roster to another during the season as appropriate.
We continue to emphasize that what team a child is placed on in youth lacrosse has little relevance to where he or she ends up at the high school level or college. Andy Towers, now the coach at Dartmouth and an All-American at Brown, did not make this 8th grade “A” travel team in New Canaan. Developing stick skills, conditioning and hard work are more important. Over the years we have seen many “B” team travel players make major contributions to their high school and college teams and some very talented “A” players in 6th or 7th grade never grow beyond that level or lose interest due to focusing only on one sport.
When it comes to evaluation and practice sessions, the best advice you can provide your player is to “Bring their A game: Attitude, Athleticism and Attendance”. Those players who bring a positive ATTITUDE to practice are more eager to learn; they will naturally improve their lacrosse ATHLETICISM over the season if they commit to regular ATTENDANCE at all practice, clinic and games.
We look forward to a GREAT SPRING SEASON!
NC PRIDE
