Club Teams Tryouts – General Rules and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Thanks for your interest in a Blazers Club Team! Here are a few "General Rules" and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

"General Rules" about Tryouts:
1) Keep in mind that how we go about tryouts and team formation (including Trail Blazers teams) is completely driven by the number of tryout registrations we receive by gender, grade, and program type... so often times the answer is "it depends on the number of players trying out for that group/program".
2) For our coaches to evaluate a player accurately, we need to see that player doing drills and scrimmages with and against players of a similar skill band or target team. This is especially true if your son/daughter is interested in one of the top teams in their grade, so coming to all of the tryout sessions that include players vying for a spot on a team (including players that previously played on the team) is important.
3) Please understand the "two way" nature of tryouts. In many cases it's not just about us evaluating your son/daughter, but often it's about other/newer players gauging the quality of players on our teams. For example, we obviously know our top players in each grade are very skilled and are going to make the top team...but we still need them to come to all tryout sessions so other/newer players can see the quality of the team. So think of it as an investment - by coming to all tryout sessions you're making it more likely we can attract better players to the team that will make for more skill development and a better experience for you.

FAQs:
Q: If the age group has more than one tryout session, do we need to come to both?
A: While we understand if a player can only make one tryout, we HIGHLY recommend that they come to both tryouts as “more data points allows us to be more comfortable in placing them on the higher level team”, and in some grades we have a lot of players trying out (which requires more evaluation time to rank players). So if team placement is important to you and there's more than one tryout session (which we do for age groups that typically have a lot of players trying out), then it's best to come to 2 tryouts. For returning players, please see General Rule #3 about the importance of coming to all tryout sessions.

Q: We are on vacation (or have a conflict with another event) during the tryout session - What do we do?
A: Unfortunately those will be our only main tryout times for these age groups as it’s incredibly difficult to find gym space to rent this time of year. At the same time it’s important that we evaluate a player at the main tryout and while they are competing against a good number of players in the same grade and those vying for the same team in order to have a good evaluation. So if team placement is important to you, then you should be at the main tryout session(s) if that is at all possible. It’s pretty common for players to miss other sports activities or to drive back from vacation (if within a drivable distance) in order to make a tryout, as teams will start to get formed immediately following the main tryout sessions and we may not have any makeup tryouts for some groups after the main tryouts. We do understand that in some cases there is no way you can be at the tryout session(s), so in these cases please:
1) Register your son/daughter so they get onto the list of players interested (but hold off on paying the tryout fee for now)
2) Be sure to note that you are unavailable in the "General Comments" section near the bottom of the registration form
...and then after the main tryout session we can reach out and discuss where we might have spots available on specific teams, whether a makeup tryout is appropriate, etc.

Q: Are tryouts required for players that played on a team last season...or for a Trail Blazers team...or for a Practice Player?
A: Yes, tryouts are required for ALL player types and for ALL teams, whether the player has played on a team in the past or not, so that we can do a proper evaluation and determine if a player is eligible for a certain type of team and if so which team they are a fit for.

Q: What is the Practice Schedule for this grade in the Fall?
We don't create the schedule for each team/group until right after tryouts when we know roughly how many teams we can expect, what gym space we have, who's going to coach each team, coach and player conflicts, etc. The practices for fall teams are generally Wednesday or Thursday evenings…and then based on a player's other fall sports commitments they can optionally do a skills session on Monday or Tuesday night. So it's best to come to tryouts and then once tryouts are over we'll have a sense of what options are a fit and what the schedule is for those options. On the tryout registration form you'll see a spot to identify other sports commitments that your son/daughter has and any known schedule info for those - please include everything you know so we capture that in our system and can take everything into account.