Medfield Youth Soccer (MYS) has initiated a new process to select teams for our program beginning with the U10 age groups. The changes are designed to result in an objective evaluation of players and selection of teams.

The process will include these steps:

First, every player will be evaluated by the coaches of their spring teams. Each coach will submit an evaluation. Coaches will not be allowed to evaluate their children. 

Second, MYS will conduct tryout sessions for each rising 5th, 6th and 7th/8th grade group during the spring season. The tryouts will be conducted by an independent, professional soccer organization, unaffiliated with MYS. Each player will be ranked vs. the other players in the age group.  The tryout process/format will remain unchanged from previous years. 

Once the unrelated ratings are complete a committee made of MYS Board members will compile the data and recommend teams for the following year. The Team Selection Committee is comprised of the following MYS Board members: President, Girls Travel Director, Boys Travel Director, Tryout Director, Treasurer, Registrar. Committee members are not allowed to participate in team selection for age groups in which they have children playing in the program (they will recuse themselves). In the event of injury, illness or other special circumstance the MYS Team Selection Committee will consider all other completed evaluations to best assess the players’ particular merits.

Lastly, coaches’ meetings will be held for each age group.  The recommendations of the Team Selection Committee, coaches’ evaluations, tryout results and evaluators’ ratings will be shared with all of the coaches during the coaches’ meeting. Changes may be considered at this time however the recommendations of the Team Selection Committee are the baseline for all discussions.

Rationale:

There will be several unrelated evaluations of each player. The purpose of multiple evaluations is to avoid a concentration of one opinion (positive or negative) from impacting player selection. We no longer will have parents who coach evaluating or rating their own children. This enhancement will eliminate the potential for bias (positive or negative) from parents who previously were placed in the uncomfortable position of evaluating their children. Multiple evaluations will also relieve our volunteer coaches from the pressure of team selection.

Important Items to Note:

Players are evaluated and teams are created for the combined fall and spring seasons.  There may be movement of players and teams combined from fall to spring due to lower registration numbers but teams will fundamentally remain the same as there is not a new team placement/selection process between the fall and spring season.

For 7th/8th grade players and goalies, placement on a team is not guaranteed from the previous fall/spring season to the new fall/spring season. For example, a 7th grade player on the 7th/8th grade "A" team in the Spring of '21 is not guaranteed a spot on the "A" team in the Fall '21 season. They will be evaluated by their coaches and tryouts and their placement in the new season will be based on the data on that player and not their previous team.

Questions? Contact us.