Our league recently put together a player evaluation form for our select players to try and give parents some additional feedback about how their players were doing. It’s designed to provide a comprehensive look at how a player is progressing and what they need to focus on. Yet the reaction from our coaches so far has been lukewarm at best. We made it a requirement that our select coaches provide evaluations for their players, yet most resisted doing so. We strongly suggested that our Rec coaches fill them out as well, but I don’t know if any did. One select coach felt it was redundant because they had provided verbal feedback all season. I’m doing them for my team, though I’m only about halfway through doing them. They do take some time to complete.
It’s been difficult, as you want to be honest, but also don’t want to be overly negative and impact a player’s confidence. Everyone has room for improvement, but there is a worry that players may compare their ratings. Of course if the evaluations are given out during the offseason, that’s less likely. My main worry is parents getting upset because the evaluation highlights more areas for improvement than they thought there were. But I feel the benefits far outweigh any potential problems as it improves communication between a coach and their parents.
As a coach, I think this is a great thing to do for players. As a parent, I like to know where a coach thinks my kids can improve. We made it a PDF form, so it’s easy to fill out. What do you all think? Does your league hand out evaluations for players? If they do, are they something you find useful? If they don’t, would you want them to?
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July 9th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Our recreation and academy league does not do evaluations per se. It is left up to the coaches, which means some do and most don’t.
As a coach of a U7 & U8 recreation team, I began simple evaluations for my players after the Spring 2008 season that were given directly to the parents via email.
I focused on a positive of each child to start and then suggested a goal for each child to achieve the summer as well as through the Fall 2008 season. I also asked each parent to assist their child in reaching that specific goal.
After the Fall 2008 season, we’ll see how my “program” worked.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Marcus – did you get any type of feedback from the parents to your small feedback evaluations?
July 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
My son has played on a select team for years, but just this season participated in tryouts for a different team and they sent evaluations to all the players who did not make the team with suggestions for areas of improvement.
I personally wish that my son had been exposed to an evaluation process in the past so that he was aware of (in writing) areas he could improve. He also got a similar form at a University camp.
For players who are serious about their game, I think this information is incredibly valuable. As a parent, I don’t often hear what the coaches suggest as improvements-when we get a form, we can see it as well.
August 14th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
My two daughters have both played travel soccer for several years and usually receive at least an annual written review. I find them very helpful to me and to them. There’s something about seeing praise and criticism in writing that makes it “stick.” One of my daughters is extremely goal-oriented and works hard to improve on things the coach points out need improvement. It also helps me encourage them in the right direction and not delude them (or me) into thinking they are perfect at everything. There’s always room for improvement and it’s nice to know what they need to work on–and to be on the same page as the coach.
Some comparison among players is probably inevitable, but the coaches hand out the evaluations in private and usually discuss them with each player. They discourage comparisons. Doesn’t seem to be a major problem.
I know they are time-consuming for coaches, but having computerized forms makes it easier … and the payoff in player improvement can make it worthwhile. All kids have different learning styles, and this gives you one more way to coach them to their full potential.
October 18th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Sorry for the late reply. I own a company called ZoomReports. ZoomReports allows coaches to do soccer player evaluations online. We have over 1000 clubs using our software, so I have some data on how player evaluations are received by parents and coaches.
First, parents love receiving feedback on how their child is doing. We hear countless stories from coaches saying that their parents were thrilled to receive end-of-the-season evaluations. As a plus, when coaches hear praise from parents, it really keeps them motivated to do evaluations the following year. So parents, if you want to receive player evaluations year to year, please thank your coach for doing them 🙂
Second, obviously some coaches love doing evaluations, some hate doing evaluations. The ones that love doing them, put a lot of effort into providing great feedback. Feedback that not only points out areas of weakness, but also what the player needs to do to improve. Perhaps the greatest benefit to a well done evaluation is that it improves the communication between coach, player, and parent. In the long run, the improved communication will save you more time and energy than it takes to write the evaluation. It seem contrary, but well done evaluations may save you time.
With that said, a player evaluation that is done poorly, may cause more harm than good.
Hope this helps.