Cottage Grove United Soccer

Cottage Grove United Soccer Club uses independent evaluators who have multiple years of evaluation, coaching and training experience wtih all different ages and levels. Craig Mallace, Cottage Grove’s Director of Player Development will also provide an evaluation equal in score to the independent evaluators.  In some age groups if numbers dictate we will add additional evaluators. 

Every player is required to be at tryouts in order to make the highest team, or in certain cases players who do not attend tryouts may not be placed on a team.  No parents are to be involved in the tryout process, after initial check-in.  If parents decide to watch they will need to stay behind the fence in the main parking lot and will not be allowed to make comments to the players or evaluators.  Any parent that is considered by a Board Member and/or an evaluator to be a distraction or problem to the tryout process will be asked to leave the park. 

The Traveling Soccer Board offers the opportunity for players to tryout for one age group higher than their age, but it needs to be noted on the registration form.  Any player that does tryout for an older team will only make that team, if they fall into the ranking of the older team.  They also have to tryout for their own age group.  This will ensure that if they do not make the older team, they will have a roster spot on their age group team.  The decision to open this up for all players is done to encourage players with a higher level of skill to stay in our program.

There will be two tryout sessions, one on each day, and will be 1 hours long per session for each age group.  There will be no feedback on how each player did in tryouts, only what team they are on and in some circumstances, if they made a team.  You will be notified of team placement via the web site (www.cottagegrovesoccer.org) under tryouts. Each player will be listed by first initial, last initial, and birth date on the team for which they are placed.  Once tryouts are complete no refund will be given if a player decides not to play. Any player not making a team will get a full signup fee refund but not the initial fees.

Both days of tryouts will be made up of 1 v 1, small-sided games and large-sided games that will be assessing the four areas below:

• Technical Action (25%) First touch/receiving, Passing, Dribbling
• Tactical Action (25%) Decision-making with the ball, Positional sense, communication
• Physical Action (25%) Speed/agility, Ball winning ability, Strength
• Psychological Action (25%) Game Composure, Leadership and coachability.

This format is clear and directly reflects a real game environment.

At no time will a player be asked to play keeper during their tryout.

The evaluators score the players on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest on the four areas mentioned above.  All of the evaluation sheets will be entered into a master sheet to determine the final score and the final ranking for each player.  The team will be selected based on the ranking of each player. The Coaches appointed for each age group will be allowed to view the tryout process with an evaluation form in order to make their own assessment.

A complete listing of our rules can be found here:  Tryout Rules

See the tryout times listed by age group at this page. If you are unsure about your child’s age group birth year guidelines are listed on the registration page

Make sure you come dressed for soccer, with proper soccer equipment (spikes, shin guards and soccer ball) and a water bottle.

On-line registration is the only method of registration. 

Registration Information Pages

If you are already registered please come to check in 30 minutes before your tryout time.

If you are not registered, you will need to come 45 minutes prior to the tryouts. Register onsite and pay an additional $25.

The initial fee at registration is $45 which covers the tryout costs will not be refunded if you choose not to accept your team placement.  If you accept team placement then the $45 is applied to your overall program fees.

If you registered on-line after Thursday July 28th, please print your confirmation and bring it to tryout check in.

If you cannot make one or both tryout dates you must contact the club Registrar (Aaron Pust) at registrar@cottagegrovesoccer.org to notify him so that a tryout number can be assigned and it will be noted on the evaluation form. If you are unable to tryout due to an injury, you must contact the club Registrar and provide a Dr’s note.

Players not properly registered after the first tryout date will not be allowed to take the field on the 2nd date until all registration issues have been resolved with the club Treasurer.

Results will be posted 7 days after tryouts on the tryout results page of this website.

U9 & U10: U9 and U10 players will be evaluated in the weeks leading up to the tryouts. All players will attend training times on July 30th and 31st. All players will be offered a spot in either the academy program or the select program. The differences between the academy and the select programs are:

Academy: The academy will compete year round as maroon teams. The academy will train 2 times per week with the DOC in the off season. The academy will participate in 1 winter tournament. The academy will participate in 3 other tournaments throughout the year to be decided by the DOC.

Select: The select teams will compete year round as gold teams. The select will train 1 time per week with the DOC or Assistant DOC in the off season. The select teams will participate in 3 tournaments throughout the year.

The DOC will evaluate all players and place them either on maroon or gold based on their performance at all evaluations, their winter training evaluation and their coach evaluation (being completed currently by ALL coaches).

Hello everyone, here are the coaches we have in place for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012.  Updates will be added when new coaches are found.  Thanks a lot.

GIRLS

U11 C2 – Sarah Neitz

U12 C1 – Todd Abrahamson

U13 C1 – Erik Biscoe

U14 C2 – Natalie Cooper

U14 Premier – Johnny Engen

U14 C2 – Patti Diamond / Jim Gulan

U16 C1 – Jay Miller

U17 C2 – Erik Biscoe

BOYS

U13 C1 – Kevin Valento

U14 C1 – Dave Gutzman / Jim Bollback

U15 C1 – Justin Krasky

U17 C2 – Bob Bonacorda

U18 C1 – Steve Wilmes