1.      Philosophy

a.      Eagan Lacrosse is dedicated to making the sport of lacrosse a fun, community based activity for all players regardless of skill and ability.

2.      Purpose

a.      The purpose of these policies and procedures is to establish a uniform process for evaluations and to provide a fair and impartial opportunity for players to demonstrate their lacrosse skills and athletic ability.

b.      The evaluation results will be used to form the U12 and U14 ‘A’ teams and balanced ‘B’ teams. Evaluations are mandatory for all U12 and U14 summer lacrosse players. Failure to attend both sessions will result in a lower weighted score and draft ranking.

3.      Evaluations Committee

a.      The Evaluations Committee shall be made up of the Boys Director (for Boys Evals), Girls Director (for Girls Evals), Summer Director, Treasurer, and an ELA BOD member that does not have a player being evaluated at the age level.

4.      Overview

a.      Evaluations will be organized and coordinated by the Evaluations Committee of the Eagan Lacrosse Board.

b.      Players will be evaluated over a three-day period to determine player ranking.

c.      The Independent Evaluators will tabulate the results, along with the ELA BOD member serving on the Evaluations Committee that does not have a player being evaluated at that age level.

d.      The Evaluations Committee will audit the tabulated results against the raw scores to assure accuracy. The evaluations committee shall not have the authorization to change player rankings.

e.      The ‘A’ teams will be selected based upon player ranking and paid coach selections (non-parent volunteer coaches).

f.       The ‘B’ teams will selected based upon player ranking and a blind coach draft conducted by paid coaches (non-parent volunteer coaches).

5.      Evaluators

a.      The Evaluations Committee of the Eagan Lacrosse Board will be responsible for hiring and training Independent Evaluators.

b.      Independent Evaluators shall have no stake in the outcome.

c.      Independent Evaluators must have previous experience playing lacrosse at the collegiate level and/or previous experience coaching lacrosse at the high school or collegiate level.

d.      Independent Evaluators will take direction from the ELA BOD and honor policy decisions where applicable (ie. player move ups only allowed to make a “B” team, etc.)

6.      Player Expectations

a.      Players should plan to arrive no later than 30 minutes prior to the evaluations to allow time for sign-ups and jersey assignments.

b.      Players should not wear shooter shirts or any other clothing with a visible name.

c.      Players are not allowed to wear elite team gear, apparel, and/or accessories (i.e. helmet stickers) during evaluations.

d.      Players must arrive at evaluations with appropriate gear: (helmet, gloves, shoulder pads, elbow pads, protective cup, and mouth guard). Goalie gear will be provided by Eagan Lacrosse.

e.      Players who do not have appropriate, non-elite, gear will not be allowed to participate in evaluations.

7.      Process

a.      Players will be placed in random pools according to alphabetical last name the first day (ie. A-M, N-Z – based on number of players), and pools will be adjusted for day two and day three based on “like-level” skill set.

b.      Day one – fundamental skills assessment, including: passing and catching (both hands), dodging, cradling, scooping, 3v2, 4v3, etc….

c.      Day two – live scrimmages to evaluate players in game situations to determine off-ball skills and tactics, communication, field awareness, and sportsmanship.

d.      Day three (make-up - if needed)  – live scrimmages to evaluate players in game situations to determine off-ball skills and tactics, communication, field awareness, and sportsmanship.

e.      Evaluations shall be open to the public. However, parents, coaches, and Eagan Lacrosse board members are not allowed to communicate with the evaluators during player evaluations.

f.       The lead Independent Evaluator shall collect the Evaluator Worksheets after the end of each session.

8.      Criteria

a.      Individual player scores will be assessed in accordance with US Lacrosse evaluation guidelines:
U12 US Lacrosse Evaluation Guidelines
U14 US Lacrosse Evaluation Guidelines

9.      Player Ranking

a.      The Independent Evaluators will tabulate the results after evaluations have been completed as follows:

                                                    i.     Players will be grouped and ranked according to position preference as indicated (A, M, D, and G).

                                                   ii.     Those players who did not indicate a position preference should be grouped and ranked according to the evaluator’s ‘best guess’ assessment with comment.

10.   Evaluations Committee Review

a.      The purpose of the Evaluation Committee review shall be to audit the evaluation results tabulated by the Evaluators against the players’ raw scores for accuracy.

b.      Player scores shall be considered final. The Evaluations Committee shall not have the authority to change individual player scores.

c.      Player scores shall be the confidential property of the Evaluations Committee. The results of the evaluations will be shared as follows:

                                                    i.     Individual results, including player overall ranking and player scores, may be shared on a case-by-case basis with the individual player/parent upon request.

                                                   ii.     Player overall ranking and evaluator comments will be shared with team coaches.

11.    ‘A’ Team Selection

a.      The top (1) goalie and top 13 players will automatically be placed on the ‘A’ team.

b.      The ‘A’ team paid coach (non-parent volunteer coach) shall be allowed to additionally select up to 4 more players (or more depending on team size) from the remaining top 24 players. 

c.      The Evaluations Committee will be the first to review the ‘A’ team draft.

d.      The Evaluations Committee shall not have the authority to revise or interfere with the draft process.

12.  ‘B’ Team Selection

a.      The ‘B’ teams will be selected based upon player ranking and paid coach selections (non-parent volunteer coaches). 

b.      The paid coaches (non-parent volunteer coaches) will build even teams based upon player grade level and rank.

c.      The Evaluations Committee will be the first to review the ‘B’ team draft.

d.      The Evaluations Committee shall not have the authority to revise or interfere with the draft process.

Addendum

Independent Evaluators will select the ‘A’ team and ‘B’ team(s) if the paid team coaches are unable to draft teams.  Independent Evaluators will select teams following the guidelines outlined in section 11 and section 12 above.