The goal of the player selection process is to place each player at the appropriate skill level for the upcoming season. The Norwood Nuggets will try to achieve this goal by following a process that maximizes the probability of coaches making informed judgments of players’ skill levels based on reasonably objective decision criteria.
To ensure that coaches are being fair and consistent in the player selection and coach selection processes, the Organization will appoint a Review Team consisting of the President and Vice President of Hockey, the Level Director of the level being reviewed, and two board appointed members. The Review Team will facilitate the evaluation process and also analyze the coaches’ selections for consistency and fairness.
If the Review Team concludes that certain player selections are questionable base upon reasonably objective criteria, then the Review Team will meet with the particular coach, discuss the specific issues and concerns, and hopefully reach a consensus on the selections. If a consensus cannot be achieved, then the Review Team and the coach will present the case to the Board of Directors, who will make a final decision by majority vote.
In the event that a conflict of interest arises for any of the individuals on the Review Team, then it will be mandatory for that person to refrain from any discussions with the coach pertaining to the placement of his or her child. In the event that the Review Team must review a case with the Board of Directors for final judgment, then any Board member that has a conflict of interest must refrain from voting on this case. These measures are necessary to maintain the integrity of the review process.
Tryouts:
Tryouts will be scheduled by the Vice President of Hockey to be held during the months of March and April. The Vice President of Hockey will also arrange for tryout facilitators to conduct on-ice drills.
There should be two tryout sessions per group of players being evaluated for a given Level. If the number of players trying out for a given level exceeds 40, then the players should be divided into two groups (two separate sessions each per group).
The evaluators should be comprised of all four (4) independent evaluators (to be selected by the Level Directors and approved by the Review Team).
The combined ratings from all independent evaluators will be averaged and used as a guide by the Review Team when analyzing the selections made by the coaches.
One Review Team member (or their designee) must be present at all tryouts to act as an evaluation facilitator to ensure that the process is being followed within the guidelines established herein.
To maintain the integrity of the process, none of the evaluation facilitators should have a child that is trying out for that particular Level.
All players trying out must pay a $300.00 deposit to the Registrar and have their parent or guardian sign a registration form. No player will be allowed to try out if they have a balance due on their account from the current season, unless special approval has been given the Finance Committee. Any player electing to withdraw from the Organization after tryout will forfeit the $300.00 paid at registration, regardless of reason(s) for withdrawing. (Rev 2/06)
Upon the final tryouts the Review Team should provide upcoming coaches with a summary list of evaluation ratings for all players trying out for that respective level. The coaches can then compare the “composite” ratings to their own prior to making selection decisions.
Player Selection:
All upcoming coaches must present their player selections to the Vice President of Hockey within one week of the receipt of evaluation ratings for their level.
The Review Team will analyze the selections and review them for consistency and fairness. Any issues or concerns regarding proposed selections will be handled in accordance with the procedure identified in the Section A. 2. of this Article IV.
All selections must be finalized by May 31st , but no later than July 31st.
In the event that there are multiple A or B Division teams for a given Level, then the Review Team must insure itself that the teams are reasonably evenly matched. It is unacceptable for one team to be significantly stronger than the other.
In the event that there are multiple C Division teams for a given Level, then the final selection of C level teams will be accomplished during September of the upcoming season. This delay is advised as players at the C Division often develop significantly over the summer. Also, the Yankee Conference does not begin playing games until early October. Therefore, to ensure that the teams will be evenly matched, the September evaluation is advised for multiple C Division teams.
All players should be notified at the General Membership Annual Meeting (Bylaws, Section 4, Article A). All players who have submitted a valid USA Hockey Number for the upcoming season will receive a team selection letter.
If a USA Hockey Number has not been received by the time of the Annual Meeting, the selection letter will be mailed upon receipt of the USA Hockey Number.
