Soccer Club of New Milford

Purpose: The Purpose of this document is to provide clear and consistent guidance for use

by the SCNM for the purpose of evaluating players for Travel Soccer team placement. This

document supports the Mission of SCNM.

This document is applicable to all Travel teams for Boys and Girls soccer. It does not cover In

House or Premier Soccer evaluations.

Key Messages:

 All children must try out for age appropriate teams first, no exceptions.

 Evaluations will be done by Independent evaluators, no parents or coaches allowed to

do their own children or teams

 Any Player wishing to tryout for higher level or older teams (aka “Playing up”) must

seek permission from the Boys or Girls Travel Coordinators at tryout registration.

Detailed Rules

1. Evaluations will be done by independent individuals agreed to by the SCNM

Board. Coaches will not be allowed to evaluate their own teams. Parents may not

evaluate their own children. The Director of Coaching will have final say on

grading/ratings from the evaluations.

2. Placement decisions will be made with; Director of Coaching, Evaluators, Travel

Coordinators and Coaches (specific to the age bracket, but inclusive of A/B/C level) to

determine final team rosters. Final decisions will be made by the Director of Coaching.

3. Players MUST try-out for Age appropriate teams initially, no exceptions.

4. In the event that a player wishes to be considered for a tryout with second team (e.g.:

next age level up appropriate), they must notify SCNM of their intention at the time of

tryout registration. Upon completion of the initial age appropriate tryout, a decision

will be made by Director of Coaching (via the Travel Coordinators) as to whether the

player is eligible for the next age level up appropriate team tryout. Permission to try

out only if the player has placed within the top 1/3 of the initial age group level (aka:

“A”) team. In order to successfully be placed on the NEXT AGE LEVEL UP team, the

player MUST qualify to start on the next age level appropriate team (aka: “A”) team.

5. Players not selected for the next age level team will remain with their age appropriate

team(s) (unless the Club deems necessary for team formation purposes or other

considerations).

6. Evaluation criteria is mainly focused around the placement of players on the most

competitive team in the bracket/division teams. The Club does require more flexibility

in order to properly form competitive B teams, so situation specific options may need to

be considered.

Page 2 of 2

7. SCNM will decide on best appropriate course of action to field competitive teams in

line with the Club mission to provide each player with adequate challenge.

8. Club may have to make decisions based on circumstances arising from specific

situations due to Premier teams or at prep for entry to High School level teams.