In the world of competitive hockey, tryouts serve as the ultimate litmus test for players aiming to showcase their skills and secure a coveted spot on a team. However, what if I told you that the key to unlocking the best performances during tryouts lies not in the hands of the players, but rather in the strategic approach of coaches and evaluators?

By adhering to three fundamental steps, coaches can cultivate an environment where players thrive, excel, and leave an indelible mark during the evaluation process. If coaches want to see a players’ best, then coaches need to help players showcase their best and take an active role in encouraging and creating an atmosphere where players are inspired to be their best.

Step 1: Defining Success

The foundation of a successful tryout must begin with clarity. Coaches must articulate with precision what constitutes success on the ice. Whether it's emphasizing speed, playmaking skills, hockey IQ, physicality, or sheer grit, defining these parameters leaves no room for ambiguity. Specificity is paramount, as it empowers players to align their efforts with the desired outcomes. In essence, coaches serve as architects of greatness, delineating the blueprint for players to follow.

By defining expectations and delineating the difference between what coaches want to see vs what players think coaches want to see, coaches empower players to foster self-belief and self-confidence - and players with self-belief and self-confidence are much more likely to shine vs players without who don’t believe and who aren’t confident.

Step 2: Creating an Environment for Success

Beyond hockey’s basic skills (skating, shooting, and passing), what coaches should want to see at tryouts are those intangible qualities that transcend the rink. Adaptability, resilience, and coachability are virtues that elevate players from good to exceptional. And if coaches want players who demonstrate and possess those characteristics, then coaches need to create tryout environments where those characteristics shine or die.

Communication lies at the heart of this and serves as the determining factor for creating Success Environments. Clear, consistent messaging instills confidence and builds trust, propelling players to push beyond their perceived limitations. Coaches really have two options during tryouts: sit back, stay passive, and hope that players show their truest and most maximized self – or – engage, be vocal and take an active role in creating an environment where players are inspired to shine and find additional gears.

Positivity should permeate the atmosphere! And because coaches want to see a players’ best, coaches should be energetic, electric, and vocal during tryouts. Coaches should be seen and heard, and doing all that they can to infuse as much inspiration, motivation, passion, and belief into the environment, ensuring that players demonstrate their abilities or inabilities to move from comfort zones into growth zones.

Step 3: Providing Real-Time Feedback

The final piece of the puzzle includes the art of feedback – real time, dynamic exchanges that bridge the gaps between potential and performance. Coaches should be communicating, correcting, and conversing with players during tryouts because coaches need to see how players respond, if players can respond, and whether players have the potential to respond (but perhaps just lack the knowledge or knowhow for how best to respond).  

Real-time feedback serves as a compass, directing players towards optimal decision-making and skill execution. By focusing on actionable behaviors rather than outcomes, coaches empower players to recalibrate their approach and course-correct in the heat of the moment. And crucially, feedback serves as a catalyst for learning and true resilience evaluation. If coaches really want to find those diamonds in the rough then coaches shouldn’t just be evaluating players during tryouts. Instead, they should be creating environments that afford players the opportunity to demonstrate their max capacity for growth, adaptability, and determination.

Conclusion

In the grind of tryouts, the destiny of aspiring hockey players hangs in the balance. Yet, by adhering to the three-step framework of defining success, creating an environment for growth, and providing real-time feedback, coaches wield the power to unlock the full spectrum of player potential.

Success is not a destination, but a journey marked by relentless pursuit and unwavering effort. If coaches want to coach the best, then coaches need to nurture the seeds of greatness within all players, creating an environment for the cream to rise and propelling them towards heights previously thought unattainable.

So, if the goal is to ultimately have the best team, coaches need to find the best components for the team. Talent, skill, speed, grit, focus, stick skills, jump - all of these things matter in hockey - but remember, the players in front of you are kids and inexperienced younger people. It is almost certain that:

• They lack hockey IQ
• They may have confidence, but very few have belief. This is huge because a lack of belief greatly impacts resiliency, understanding feedback vs. criticism, and handling adversity.
• They don’t use speed and angles as weapons, and they don’t focus enough on the north/south game vs the east/west game.
• They struggle to understand the difference between ‘Big Moments/Opportunities to Shine’ and ‘Pressure/Nervousness/Angst’
• Some listen, others hear. Some require visual demonstrations, others can just be told what to do and off they go…
• BUT THEY ALL WANT TO PLEASE AND IMPRESS AND NONE WANTS TO DISAPPOINT AND MAKE MISTAKES.

And because of these struggles, it’s often routine for coaches to confuse speed issues, skating issues, shot release issues or turnover issues with confidence, belief, lack of knowledge, or lack of ever having been taught issues.  

So, if you want to help players show you their best at tryouts, remember to:

• Define what you do and don’t want, what success does and doesn’t mean, encourage players to focus on actions and behaviors (not outcomes), and be as specific as possible.
• Create a high-energy, fast-paced environment that bleeds positivity (remembering that some players might need help in showing you their best stuff)
• Provide feedback in real time and give players the chance to show you that they can learn, adjust, and execute