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GPYHA Travel Team Tryout Process and Procedure

Overview

The purpose of the GPYHA travel team tryout process is to evaluate a player's skating ability, hockey skills, hockey knowledge and commitment to teamwork, in order to place him or her on a team that will provide the best environment for his or her enjoyment of the sport of ice hockey.

The tryouts for Mite, Squirt, PeeWee and Bantam travel teams will be held March 15th-22nd prior to the start of the following season. Spring Tryouts are conducted because GPYHA has to buy ice time in the spring for the upcoming season.  Tryout dates and times will be posted on the GPYHA website.


Tryout and Registration Process

Registration with GPYHA must be completed to secure a player's position on a GPYHA travel team.

Tryout Process:

All players trying out for a 2024-25 travel team must register for tryouts and attend two of the assigned tryout sessions.

Registration can be accessed via the Tryout Registration Page and via the Registration Portal. Players must register for tryouts and pay the $50 tryout fee to be considered for roster placement.

If your player is unable to attend two sessions, please send a note to Mike Meech explaining the issue. 

Travel Team Roster Commitment and Season Registration:

Travel team roster assignments will be posted within 3 days of the final tryout session for each age level. Upon the posting of roster assignments, players will have 7 days to commit to the roster by registering for the 2024-25 season and making the initial payment for the 2024-25 season. Registration for the 2024-25 season can be done on the Registration Portal. After 7 days have passed, any roster spots that have not been secured will be considered open, and rosters may be adjusted accordingly.

GPYHA requires Registration within 7 days of roster posting to allow our organization to purchase the proper amount of ice time to keep our season registration fee as low as possible for our members,

Travel Team Season Payment Options:

Two travel team season payment options will be available:

  • Payment in Full: Payment in full may occur at the time of committing to a roster assignment and registering for the impending season.
  • Payment plan: Payments may be made in 6 equal installments. The first payment will be made at the time of roster commitment (within 7 days after rosters are posted) and the subsequent five payments will be billed monthly on June 1, July 1, August 1, September 1 and October 1.

Evaluation Process

Evaluators

The board will appoint 3-5 impartial selectors to evaluate tryouts. This group will consist of coaches or former coaches.  The board will also have a representative with the evaluators to answer questions and assure fairness.  The evaluators will be picked based on appropriate hockey knowledge for the level they are evaluating.   

Player Identification

All skaters will be given colored pinnies with numbers. Evaluation sheets are issued to the evaluators with pinnie colors, name and numbers. Some age levels may have to be split into multiple groups to accommodate large numbers of players.

Evaluation

Evaluators will assess skating ability, hockey knowledge and hockey skills at each age level during scheduled tryout sessions.


Team Selection

Team selection is based on a combination of player tryouts and player evaluations from the coaches from the prior season. The GPYHA Board will review each roster for final approval. The combination of both tryout scores and coach evaluations are important to provide as complete an evaluation as possible for each player. Second year players at a particular age level will be given priority over first year players in the event evaluations are similar. The Board may leave spots vacant on teams to allow for pre-season adjustments in the fall to account for unplanned circumstances.


Results

Team selections will be emailed to participants  as soon as possible and generally within 3 days of the conclusion of tryouts.


Grievances

Any parent who has a concern with the selection process and/or a player’s placement should contact the GPYHA Coaching Committee. Parents may choose to file a grievance with the GPYHA Board of Directors.


Conclusion

We hope that this summary of the tryout and team selection process has been informative. We understand that frustrations can arise as this process unfolds.  It is not an exact science and different people have different opinions about the skill and ability of a player.  Please keep in mind that we are doing our best to evaluate your children and place them on a team that will allow them to improve as hockey players and have fun.
 
If you have any questions about this process please contact mikemeech@gmail.com.