Learn

How to Run a Lacrosse Tryout: A Coach's Step-by-Step Guide

To run a lacrosse tryout, you evaluate every player across the core stick and field skills that decide games (cradling, ground balls, passing and catching, dodging, shooting, and defensive footwork), score each one on a consistent 1-to-5 scale, and use those scores to build teams. The hard part is rarely the scoring sheet. It is organizing the whole event so the evaluation stays fair, the day runs on time, and you can defend every roster decision afterward, especially when you are moving hundreds of players through in a single weekend. This guide walks through exactly how to conduct a lacrosse tryout from first planning to final offers, whether you are a youth club running placement evaluations, a travel program selecting a competitive roster, or a large program putting 300 players in front of 15 to 20 coaches.

Coaches running a youth lacrosse tryout with players rotating through ground ball, passing, and shooting stations on a field

What Skills Should You Evaluate at a Lacrosse Tryout?

Evaluate the core stick and field skills at a lacrosse tryout: cradling, ground balls, passing and catching, dodging, shooting, and defensive footwork. These cover everything a player does in a game, from protecting the ball to creating offense to defending, and ground balls in particular decide possession more directly than almost any other skill. A short, shared list keeps a large evaluation panel focused and consistent. At the youngest ages, coaches weight coachability, effort, and clean fundamentals over polish.

Here is what evaluators look for in each skill and how each is typically assessed at a tryout:

Skill	What evaluators look for	How it's assessed
Cradling	Ball protection, control under pressure, and carrying the ball through traffic without a turnover	Cradle-and-protect reps, often while moving and changing direction
Ground balls	Low base, hard scoop, and protecting the ball after pickup	Ground ball drills; player scoops and secures, sometimes under light pressure
Passing and catching	Accuracy, soft hands on the catch, and clean exchanges with both hands	Partner passing and wall-ball style reps at varied distances
Dodging	Change of speed and direction, hand position, and beating a defender to space	One-on-one dodge reps against a defender
Shooting	Power, accuracy, and quick release on net	Shooting drills on goal, often off a pass or a dodge
Defensive footwork	Breakdown position, slides, and staying with an attacker without fouling	One-on-one defending and footwork ladder or shuffle drills
Intangibles	Effort, coachability, awareness, and lacrosse IQ	Observed throughout and in a scrimmage; used to adjust the overall score

Keep drills easy to set up and explain so players of every level understand the point quickly, which matters when you are cycling hundreds of athletes through a station in a tight window.

How Do You Score a Lacrosse Tryout?

Score each player from 1 to 5 on every skill, where 5 is the best, then total the scores to rank players objectively. A simple, shared 1-to-5 scale turns subjective impressions ("good stick") into comparable data you can sort, defend, and revisit. Handle effort and lacrosse IQ as adjustments that nudge a player up or down, and consider scoring by position group so attackers, midfielders, defenders, and goalies are ranked against peers.

Two rules make the scores trustworthy at scale. First, align your evaluators on what each number means before the tryout, so a "3" ground ball and a "4" ground ball mean the same thing to every coach on the field. With 15 to 20 evaluators grading the same players, this calibration is what keeps scores comparable. Second, score immediately after each rep while it is fresh, and add a short note next to the number. "Strong scoops, passes only with right hand" tells you far more in a week than a bare "3."

How to Set Up Lacrosse Tryout Stations at Scale

Set up one station per skill and rotate small groups through them so the field is always busy and every player gets identical reps. Use cones and markers to define each station: a cradling and ball-protection lane, a ground ball area, a passing and catching station, a one-on-one dodging lane, a shooting station on goal, and a defensive footwork area.

How you staff those stations depends on size. At a small tryout, one coach can grade a whole skill. At scale, with 300 players and 15 to 20 coaches, you do the opposite: put several evaluators at each station so a large group keeps moving, and have every coach score the same drill against the shared rubric. Some programs run it in panels, splitting evaluators across stations, while others move all coaches to one station at a time so everyone grades the same drill together. Either way, the goal is multiple independent scores per player, which you average for a more reliable result than any single grader could give. Keep a staffed check-in table at the entrance so you always know who has arrived and who is still expected.

Ready to take your game to the next level?

Lacrosse Tryout Timeline: From Planning to Finalized Teams

Plan to start two to three weeks before tryout day, then move through registration, check-in, evaluation, review, and offers. Here is the full end-to-end checklist for hosting the event:

Two to three weeks before: Planning

Lock the date, field, and rain date; reserve the facility
Decide age groups, number of teams, and roster sizes
Build (or reuse) your evaluation form with the skills above
Recruit and brief evaluators; align all 15 to 20 coaches on the 1-to-5 standards
Open online registration so you have a confirmed player count

Registration

Collect each player's name, age or birth year, primary positions, and contact info
Assign every player a tryout number (pinnies or bib numbers) so evaluators score by number, not by name, which keeps scoring objective even with hundreds of players
Send a confirmation with arrival time, location, and what to bring

Tryout day: Check-in

Check players in against your registration list and hand out numbers
Group players by age or position and brief them on the station flow

Tryout day: Evaluation

Run players through each station; evaluators score 1 to 5 and add notes in real time
For multi-day tryouts, repeat key stations on day two so a single off-day doesn't sink a player
Run a short scrimmage if time allows to see game instincts and lacrosse IQ

After the tryout: Review and decide

Combine every evaluator's scores into one ranked list, by position group if used
Discuss bubble players as a staff, using notes alongside the numbers
Finalize teams or draft order

Offers: Accept, decline, and finalize

Extend offers to selected players with a clear accept-by deadline
Track accepts and declines, and go to your next-best player when a spot opens
Send respectful, timely notice to players who weren't selected
Confirm final rosters and communicate next steps (practice schedule, fees)

Run Your Entire Lacrosse Tryout with Rizzler Sports

A tryout at scale is a logistics problem before it is a lacrosse problem. Three hundred registrations, hundreds of check-ins, a stack of evaluation sheets for every coach, then the follow-up: inviting selected players, tracking who accepted, and back-filling spots as players decline. Rizzler Sports handles all of it in one place, which saves coaches and administrators hours of work per tryout. Players register online, coaches score evaluations on a phone or tablet at every station, results rank automatically, and you send and track offers without a single spreadsheet or group text.

Running a larger program, a full youth club, a travel organization, or a school district? We will set your tryout up end to end and show you how much staff time it saves.

Talk to our team

Running a tryout at scale? Let's talk.

Tell us about your club, league, or school and we'll come back to you within one business day with a walkthrough of how much staff time Rizzler Sports saves by running your tryout end to end: registration, check-in, evaluations, invites, and offers in one place.

Cut tryout admin from days to minutes
Online registration and check-in for hundreds of players
Evaluate, rank, invite, and track offers in one place

Tell us about your program

6 fields · takes 60 seconds

Name

Organization

Type

Size

What are you hoping to solve?

Lands in the same inbox as the Help button · human response only

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a lacrosse tryout be?

Most youth lacrosse tryouts run 90 minutes to two hours per age group. Competitive programs often hold two sessions across two days so a player's evaluation isn't decided by a single off-day. Build in time for check-in and a warm-up before evaluations begin.

How do you staff coaches at a large tryout?

At scale, do not assign one coach per skill. With 300 players and 15 to 20 coaches, put multiple evaluators at each station, or move all coaches through one station at a time, and have everyone score the same drill against a shared 1-to-5 rubric. Averaging several independent scores per player is more reliable, and far faster, than a single grader working through hundreds of athletes.

What should players bring to a lacrosse tryout?

Stick, helmet, gloves, shoulder and arm pads, mouthguard, cleats, and water. Goalies should bring their own goalie gear including a throat guard. Tell players to arrive early enough to check in and warm up before evaluations begin.

How do I tell a player they didn't make the team?

Communicate quickly, privately, and respectfully, and keep it about the roster decision rather than the player's worth. A short, kind message with an offer to share specific feedback goes a long way, and it protects your program's reputation for next year's tryout.

What matters most at a youth lacrosse tryout?

At the U10 and U12 levels, coaches prioritize coachability, effort, and foundational skills (cradling, ground balls, and clean passing and catching) over polish. Ground balls in particular show how hard a player competes for possession, so weight them and watch effort closely rather than chasing finished highlight plays.

See also: Player Evaluations in Rizzler → · How to Run an Ice Hockey Tryout → · How to Run a Field Hockey Tryout →