Being Prepared for Soccer Tryouts

Soccer players tend to get pretty worked up before tryout season, and we don’t blame them. After all, coaches aren’t just assessing your skills and athleticism. They’re watching your every move - both on and off the field - to see how you behave. Coaches also want to see if you’re mentally ready for a higher level of competition, and whether or not you can continuously serve as a positive asset to your team, regardless of how the game plays out. 

Not sure what that means? Allow us to explain. Here are a few things to keep in mind when preparing for your next try-out:

Be Prepared to Take Risks

Coaches favor players who exude confidence, and confident players take risks. You have to show them that you’re not afraid of uncertain situations, because you’re truly confident in your physical and technical abilities. 

For example, let’s say you’re attacking in the opposing half, and a defender comes up to mark you. Are 100% sure you can get past the defender on your own? No, but coaches want to see that you’re not afraid to try, even if you don’t come out on top. 

In fact, one of the best things you can do in most coaches eyes is to fight hard to recover the ball afterwards you take a defender on 1v1. This shows that you don’t get flustered when something doesn’t go your way, and high-level players aren’t afraid of making mistakes. 

Get Ready to Move Around

High-level players don’t just stand around when they’re away from the ball. They’re constantly moving around and changing their position on the field. How do they know where to go? By using their soccer IQ to anticipate where the ball will most likely end up, and putting themselves in position to help their team – either as a passing option or in preparation for a counterattack –  based on this outcome. 

Coaches don’t want to see you standing still when you’re not directly involved in the action. They want to see you reacting quickly as to what will happen next, even if your decision turns out to be wrong. 

Coaches Love a Positive Attitude

Let’s say you make an amazing pass to your teammate, but they miss it and the opportunity to score is wasted. This is undoubtedly frustrating. However, getting visibly frustrated doesn’t help your team, nor does it prevent the same thing from happening again.

What does help the team is positive body language and communication. Coaches want to see players who cheer and clap for their teammates, especially when things go wrong. If your teammate misses your pass, commend them for making an effort. Inversely, if you miss the pass, thank your teammate for the good ball and promise them you’ll get the next one. 

Warm Up Like a Professional

How secret this is, I’m not sure. But coaches and scouts pay a lot more attention to warm ups than most players think they do. They want to see how players are acting before the session starts, if they are preparing themselves for what comes next or just messing around with their friends. 

Coaches want to see you taking a professional approach to warming up, so have an idea of what you’re going to do before the tryout. You could juggle, stretch, pass back and forth with a teammate, etc. Little things like this really stand out to coaches, even if it seems like they aren’t watching.

Give Coaches More Reasons to Remember You 

First impressions are huge in try-outs. Coaches are more likely to remember you if you give them more reasons to do so, and not just related to your performance. 

When you arrive at the try-put, take the initiative to introduce yourself to your desired coach and shake their hand. We also recommend wearing something unique to every session, so coaches have something to remember you. This could be something like a brightly colored headband or even a unique haircut.  Anything you can do to stand out from other players could be the difference between being remembered and being forgotten, as coaches can have a hard time distinguishing 100 players from each other. 

At Beyond Goals Mentoring, we know how stressful tryout season can be. That’s why we’re dedicated to helping young athletes develop the mental tools to thrive in these make-or-break moments. Plenty of athletes possess the physical requirements for high-level soccer. Few possess the mental requirements - like resilience and a positive attitude - that allow players to truly stand out and impress coaches. 

So, if you want to ace your next try out and take on a higher level of competition, let’s set up a mentoring session today.