The below is the recommended process for evaluating the boys participating in the Club Basketball program. The purpose of the evaluation is to produce data that can assist in the process of creating equal teams, whether the teams are created through a draft or otherwise.
In order to ensure the most impartial evaluations, the evaluators should be the coaches from one of the other leagues in the club program. They should not be the coaches, assistant coaches, or the parents of players in the league. If a draft is being employed, the coaches should be allowed to watch the evaluations.
EVALUATION PREPARATIONS
GRADING SCALE*
1 = Very weak skills and/or beginner who looks like they may only make incremental improvements during the course of the year without a great deal of attention.
2 = Lacks fundamental skills but looks like they can learn without extra attention.
3 = Average player who already has some skills and/or decent form and/or is a good athlete who hasn't played much basketball but will pick it up quickly.
4 = Good player with all around solid fundamentals, skills and form.
5 = Exceptional player. These are very rare in the Club program.
*Half points can be awarded if you can't decide where a player falls.
Note: The best 10 year old will likely be better than the best 9 year old; keep that in mind when scoring the kids. The same applies for the 12 year olds when compared to the 11 year olds.
Each player will be rated 1 through 5 at four different skills stations (typically ball handling; layups; shooting; game situation/scrimmage). The total score for each player will be 4 (Lowest) through 20 (Highest).
At each of the skill stations, it is desirable to have at least two evaluators so they can come to a consensus score for each participant. It is also important that the same evaluators remain with their stations for the entire process to maintain a consistency in scoring.
The evaluators should have a form ready to record each participants registration number (on their jersey or pinned on to their shirt, if distributed) or name, and record their score. Click here to view and print a sample evaluation form. With only 15 players at a time coming through the evaluations, it is manageable to score the kids by name.
The League Directors or their designated volunteers will take the individual station score sheets and compile them into a master score sheet for the league, recording the height and each of the four scores for each player. An aggregate score will be totaled for each player. Click here to view and print a sample composite evaluation score sheet.
TEAM COMPOSITION
Some League Directors will opt for a draft among the coaches to create teams. At the younger ages, it may be more appropriate, and is suggested, that teams be created by an independent committee using the scores from the evaluations. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE COMMITTEE CREATING THE TEAMS NOT CONSIST OF ANY OF THE LEAGUE’S COACHES, ASSISTANT COACHES, OR PARENTS OF ANY OF THE PLAYERS.
Regardless of whether a draft is employed or an independent team creation is completed, the evaluation scores should be used to create equal teams. To the extent possible, particularly at the young ages, we should accommodate the car pool requests and other legitimate pairing requests, as long as we can do so while maintaining competitive balance.
In theory, with the above scoring system, each team would be comprised as follows, though some adjustment may be needed once the evaluation results are compiled:
Also, each team should end up with two "big men", five mid sized players, and three small players. Each team would also have a blend of the younger players and older players (for example, some 9s and some 10s in the 9/10 league). Click here to see the Team Creation Methodology recommended when an independent team creation strategy is employed instead of a draft. (A copy is also available online in Microsoft Word.)
FINAL STEP
Once the teams are created, they should be distributed to the coaches with instructions to call their roster as soon as possible. Once word gets out that some kids have been assigned to a team, people will start calling to find out why they haven't received a call yet.
The registration forms are a good source of volunteers since many people check off boxes such as "timer" or "concessions" indicating a willingness to commit some time; call them and solicit their help.
For each of the skill/evaluation stations, we typically use the following scale:
The total score per team (the sum of the ratings of each player on its roster) should be within one or two points of all of the other teams, somewhere in the 120 to 125 point range for a 10 man roster.