Youth Sports Tryout Make-Up Session Guide

Thursday, 6:40 p.m.: the U11 soccer gym is empty except for one player who was sick Saturday, a parent volunteer, and you. The director texts "just get them a look." You skip the clock, run first touch twice, then a 1v1 against dad. You write an 8. Saturday's pool got 6s in noise, a rotation, and a whistle. Monday's placement meeting now has two datasets.

That is not catching someone up. It is a different tryout. Families who showed up on time can tell. So can the volunteer who scored first touch on Saturday and is now being asked why this kid jumped. Coaches and club directors own the make-up rule. Volunteer evaluators score what they see. Players and parents live with the outcome. They do not get a private session because the gym is quiet.

The director publishes the make-up rule before registration closes: who qualifies (illness, bereavement, a club-approved conflict), the Friday deadline to request it, and who may score. Age-group coaches run the session. Volunteer evaluators put a number on the sheet. They do not add a station, extra minutes, or a friendly assistant because the group is small.

Put the rule on the registration page so a missed session is not a fence negotiation. Language you can copy: "A player who was sick and asked by Friday gets the same stations, the same 1-10 scale, and the same clock. A no-show without notice does not get a private look." Write that once so you are not arguing it twelve times.

Same stations, same 1-10 definitions, same time on the clock, same notes. If Saturday used PIN station evaluators, log them in again so the empty gym does not invent a new scale. If you cannot staff every station, run fewer players through the same stations. Do not collapse the night into one scrimmage a coach already likes.

Keep the group large enough that play is real. One kid versus a parent volunteer is not small-sided play, whether the station is first touch, handle, skating, serve-receive, ground balls, or infield. If only one or two players missed, fold them into another age-group session that uses the same criteria, or wait until you have a small cohort. Score them on the same sheet as Saturday, then mark the session as make-up so you remember context without changing the number.

Do not let Thursday overwrite Saturday for anyone who already tried out. Use the make-up numbers only for players who missed the original window. If a score looks high because the gym was quiet, compare it to the written 3, 6, and 9, not to your memory of Saturday chaos.

Results go out on the timeline you published. Say "Maya is incomplete until Thursday," not that the whole U11 group is on hold. Parent-ready feedback uses the same language as Saturday so a make-up does not become a secret extra report. Write down who scored, which stations ran, and why the player qualified. That is how you defend the placement without inventing a new tryout.