BEST PRACTICES: Managing Tryout Rosters in DragonFly MAX

Tryouts are an important time of year for getting things ready for the upcoming season and evaluating incoming talent in a meaningful way. However, because these may be new athlete's to your team, it is important to ensure that they have been deemed healthy  before you risk letting them practice or play. So one question that coaches are beginning to ask us as spring begins is "How do I handle tryouts using DragonFly MAX?" 

DragonFly MAX is designed with that very goal in mind. And since we've been getting that question a lot lately, we wanted to put together some best practices for how to handle tryouts with our software. There are actually several options to choose from:

 

Option 1) Make a current team into a "Tryout" team.

If you are having an open tryout, then chances are that some of your current team members will tryout in addition to the new athletes. Simply changing the name of your current team allows you to quickly get a team setup for the tryout without having to move your current athletes around in the app. To make this happen:

1. Click on "Teams" -> "Manage Teams" -> "Edit" (On mobile you will swipe across the team name to see the "Edit" option.
2. Change the "Squad Name" (or "Level" on mobile) to another name such as "2018-19 Tryouts".
3. Click "Done".
4. You are all set. Now new athletes will select the Tryout team when signing up and your current team will already be listed in this team's roster.
5. Check the roster before tryouts begin to make sure each athlete is listed correctly and has completed their appropriate paperwork.

 

Option 2) Create a brand new "Tryout" team.

If you would rather start things from scratch, you can also create a brand new Tryout team. This might be useful if you don't want to change your current roster OR if only a few of the kids that tryout are likely to be added to your team. In this case, you will:

1. Click on "Teams" -> "Manage Teams" -> Then Scroll Down To "Setup More Teams" (On mobile "Add A Team")
2. Find the sport for the Tryout Team, then click "Other" and type your new team name, such as "2018-19 Tryouts".
   * On mobile, you will have to pick your sport from the list before seeing the next steps.
3. Click "Add Teams" (or "Done" on mobile) and you are finished.
4. Now your new "2018-19 Tryouts" team is ready for you to add your athletes.
   * Athletes that are new to DragonFly MAX will be able to select this team at sign-up.
   * For athletes already on your current team, you don't need to make any changes, but they will not be on the Tryout team roster.
   * Athletes already in DragonFly MAX, but not currently on your team will need to be added by you to this Tryout team
5. Check your roster(s) before tryouts begin to make sure each athlete is listed correctly and has completed their appropriate paperwork.

 

Option 3) Wait until tryouts are over before adding anyone to a team.

You can always wait until later to add the athletes who are trying out for your team. Waiting to do this does not keep them from signing up in DragonFly MAX or from completing their required paperwork prior to the tryouts. You will just have to be sure to approve each of these athletes into your school and check for the appropriate paperwork in their athlete profile before tryouts begin.

What About When Tryouts Are Over???

Once Tryouts are complete, you will need to decide what to do with your Tryout team in DragonFly MAX. If you chose Option #1 above, just follow the same process as above to change the team name back to its original name. Then remove any athletes who did not make the team from this roster (see how here).

If you chose Option #2 or 3 above, you will need to move the athletes that made your team into your old roster. Then you can delete the Tryout team (from Option #2) with it's remaining athletes. (Doing this will force you to put those athletes into another team...we recommend an "Archive" or "Not Currently Playing" team in your organization.)

 

Good luck with the Tryouts!

We hope this process is easy for you and can help improve the Tryout process. Remember that once these athletes are connected to your team, you can use our built-in scheduling and messaging tools to keep all of your athletes, parents, and coaches in communication during the tryout. Messaging in particular might be great for providing feedback to these athletes after practice ends.

Let us know how you are using DragonFly MAX during your tryout sessions. If you have an exciting and useful way of doing things, let us share that with the rest of the community. And best of luck starting to get ready for the upcoming season!