TRAVEL TRYOUTS
Wilton Hoops prides itself in the fairness of the annual player evaluation process. The intention of this document is to make any interested player and/or parent aware of how the current process works.
It’s important to know that Wilton Hoops makes every effort to have every team be led by a non-parent, paid head coach (4th grade Future Warriors excluded). Searches for qualified coaches happen prior to every basketball season. Wilton Hoops board members that choose the coaching staff sift through resumes every year and conduct interviews with the potential candidates in order to ensure the highest quality coaches possible.
The evaluators that are assigned for the team’s tryout consist of the head coach chosen for that team, an “outside evaluator” and a non-related Wilton Hoops board member. The qualifications for an “outside evaluator” are people that have previous experience with Wilton Hoops program (prior board member, former coach, former or current assistant coach, etc.). The coach and outside evaluator will run specific drills and scrimmages while the current board member monitors and helps the process run accordingly.
There are always 2 tryout sessions for each grade/gender to participate in for evaluations. It is not mandatory to attend both sessions but it is highly recommended to do so if possible. If only 1 session can be attended by a player, the coach should be made aware and they will evaluate accordingly. It is Wilton Hoops’ intention to schedule a team’s 2 tryout sessions on a different weekday during 2 consecutive weeks to give everyone the opportunity to make at least 1 session due to other weekly obligations. This can be challenging with other sports schedules as well as school program schedules.
The evaluators are given evaluation forms to use as they feel benefit their individual understandings in rating players. Some may use a numeric scale of 1 – 5 to rate skills while others may use a numeric scale of 1 – 10; still others may use a lettering system. Ultimately the evaluators will meet after each first tryout session to start narrowing down possible team members. The team of 10 is chosen immediately following the second tryout and results are posted on Wilton Hoops website as soon as available. All efforts will be made to post teams same night. The final decisions ultimately fall on each team’s head coach except where a head coach happens to be a parent. That parent head coach is not involved in the team selection process at all. A team with a parent head coach has the players chosen by outside evaluators and/or Wilton Hoops board members. If the parent coach’s child doesn’t make the team then a new parent coach is chosen by Wilton Hoops board.
Please note also that players that have made teams in previous years are not guaranteed to make the current year team. The evaluators may or may not even be aware of any players that made up previous year teams and will evaluate without consideration of those instances. Every evaluation year is a new evaluation year which continues to present the fairest possible atmosphere for everyone involved.
Additional information that may be of interest is that Wilton Hoops has decided to create additional B-level teams (Please note: this is based on registration numbers year to year). Two teams (boys and girls) will be made up of combined 7th and 8th graders and the other two (boys and girls) will be made up of combined 5th and 6th graders. In order to be eligible to tryout for a B team a player must be registered in the program and must have participated in a tryout for an A team. There have been inquiries in the past of creating additional B-level teams. With the number of teams that are currently run by Wilton Hoops there is only enough allowable gym space in town to accommodate these teams. That gives each team 2 nights of practice per week and multiple home games each weekend. The high school facility is not an option for Wilton Hoops at this time.