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Timestamp1. What is your name?2. What school/club do you or did you coach at?3. What is your email (if you want people to contact you with questions)4. What is your general plan for deciding which players are on which team?5. Please add anything else you'd like to about your tryouts system.6. Provide any links or resources you use to help
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8/26/2018 10:40:04Jon VogtBrookfield Centralvogtj@elmbrookschools.orgThese systems are ones that Dave Steinbach has used very successfully to narrow down players by allowing them to prove it on the court.

1. 32-person compass draw with seeds for all of last year's varsity, and anyone else you think might be in the mix. After placing the top 16, randomly place the other 16. Players play either 10 pt. match tiebreaks or 2 of 3 "sets" which are actually set tiebreaks.
2. The East is going to be the top players, and the North will be players who won, then lost but kept winning. You'll also want to keep an eye on players in the NW, NE and those who went deep in the West. Anyone in the South, SE or SW would be candidates for varsity reserve or JV tryouts.
3. Once you have the compass draw played out as long as you want it, form longer challenge matches to actually establish positions. You can use players who made the semifinals of the East, and add in anyone else who might have just had a tough draw (ex: someone who lost a close match to the #1 player, but then won the West)
4. On the second day or third day, you can also offer any players in the South, SW or SE to come to try out as a doubles player. Maybe they didn't cut it as a singles player, but they'll be in your top 10 in doubles.
5. Dealing with misplacements: Anyone you accidentally placed in the wrong spot, or who just had bad luck with the draw, will make it known with their performance. If they are a really good player, but they lose in Round 1 to the #1 player, they'll likely win the West.

Overall the compass draw is a nice way of narrowing down players in a fair way. Another variation could be placing anyone new who wants to try out for varsity or the top JV team into the draw and play it out. Then, play another compass draw by adding in the top players to those from varsity from the previous year.		If you are struggling with finalizing a doubles team, using a ring around can help the top player rise up. Take four players and they play three sets of doubles against each other. Each time a set is completed, they change partners. At the end, you'll have some data and observations to use. You can also confidentially ask who would like to play with which other players. Basically, it helps show who the most dominant doubles player is in that group. If you only have one doubles player spot, it could help identify that person with data and not just your observations.
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9/2/2018 18:40:24Andrew AndressHartford Union High Schoolandy.andress@huhs.orgAll players are given the dates and times for tryouts for our Varsity and JV tournament team. These tryouts are open to all, but are held at separate times from regular practice. Certain players are encouraged to attend if it seems they might be in the running for either team.Scoring for tryouts is modified based on the level of team players are trying out for. i.e. A two out of three set match is held for players to determine a spot on the varsity or for a varsity challenge match for flight. A 9 game pro set or 25 total points might be used for players working their way up the ladder for the JV team as a means to sort out "pods" of players for certain levels or positions.
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3/25/2022 11:39:54Jim MatousekBrown Deerajpeace2u@prodigy.netPlace returning players in a ladder with each player entitled to playing each of the two people directly ahead of them on the ladder. Playing the best of 3 10 point match tie-breakers. Inserting the new players into the ladder based results in early practices and drills.
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3/25/2022 11:58:37John BraxlerMadison West Boysbraxler@gmail.comChallenge matches.First day I use a compass draw singles tie break tournament with everyone in it to get a general feel, then have full matches to determine order in singles. Usually irons out in 3 days but has been longer when my top 4 or 6 are all close. Doubles I use some bump up/bump down to see and get a feel for top doubles players, then put all the boarder line guys (or others that think they should be varsity) into 3 set rotations to see who plays with who the best and who's the top. I take one or two from each of those pairings and have them do the same thing next practice. Some years that's ironed out in 3 days, but usually it takes 5 or 6 practices. This is only my starting lineup, if they want to challenge into varsity or up I allow it but restrict it to best 2 out of 3 matches on top of making sure there is enough time left in the season to get enough matches for post season.https://www.printyourbrackets.com/32-team-compass-draw-tournament-bracket.html
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3/25/2022 14:08:22Jerry GillespieDe Pere Boys jgillespie@woodburyfinancial.netFirst of all De Pere is "No Cut" so our problem becomes who plays where. Players are divided into 2 or 3 larger groups by age, ability, and previous years experiences. They are then placed on a hypothetical lineup for both singles and doubles usually by age. The exceptional player(s) are obviously placed where coaches think the will compete the best. This does not waste time with so little to be had in the early season. Effort, attendance, court conduct, improvement and challenge matches determine exact placements. 9th and 10th graders are typically not allowed to specialize until they are juniors.Challenge matches can be assigned by coaches or requested by players. We try to have all varsity challenge matches end by May 1 but all others continue until season end
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3/25/2022 20:51:45tim KoopaNicolet hstim.koppa@nicolet.usI break the team up of who I think as a shot a varsity and who is probably going to be on jv. We play matches the whole first week. Some kids who I know are going to be doubles players just play doubles. They alternate in groups of 4 playing a set with each partner. The cream usually rises to the top. The singles guys play full matches with a 10 point tb. Usually the are in groups of four as well. Some people move up and some move down. I usually bring up the top few jv guys to play for a day or two. Make sure I didn't miss anyone. It usually works out pretty well. It isn't just about the matches, but seeing them compete and how they react in tough situations. Some singles guys will get moved to doubles when I figure out they will not be top 4. We don't do any coaching for first few days. Just observing. During the girls season there is a little more time for this. Once the challenge week is over I rarely if ever do any more challenge matches. I adjust if things aren't working out well. I think it's fair. I don't believe in playing a set for a spot on the team. Just my opinion.
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3/27/2022 18:46:54Greg Emerson
Altoona High School
gemerson@altoona.k12.wi.us
I like to always ask the kids if they would like to play JV or Varsity and this helps the process right out of the gates on the first day of practice. Typically I have a good idea of who is a singles player and who is a doubles player. I take the top 8 dubs players and have them play a game with each player, rotating them within their group of 4. I total up the games and then take the top two scorers from each group and do it again. Top 4 and bottom 4, I can usually get my top 4 teams out of this method. If I feel there is another person within the mix I will place them in amongst the rest of them. For singles I have them play a no-ad set, singles is more straight forward than doubles.
It is not a perfect system but it makes sense to me and is easy to understand for the guys and girls. They also know once the placements are set, there will be challenge matches each week, no one just gets to keep their spot, they have to earn it:)
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