Some kids spent the summer training three times a week. Others barely touched a ball after school let out. Doesn’t matter, fall soccer tryouts in Vancouver are coming up fast either way, and the kids who walk in prepared are usually the ones who make the team.
So here’s a checklist we give players around this time every year: what’s actually worth doing in the next few weeks, what you can skip, and how to stay calm instead of stressed out before tryout day.
Start With Fitness, Not Skills
If you took real time off this summer, don’t start with ball work. Start with getting your body ready to compete again. Being technically sharp but gassed by minute 20 isn’t going to look sharp to whoever’s running the tryout.
Two or three weeks out, this is roughly what to focus on:
- Aerobic base: jogging, bike rides, pickup games, anything that gets them moving again after a slower summer
- Short sprints, not just running: soccer is stop-start, so throw in some change-of-direction work too
- Sleep: this is where the actual fitness gains happen, not in the session itself
None of this needs to be a formal program. It just needs to happen regularly. A kid doing 20 rough minutes most days is going to show up in better shape than one who does a single brutal session once a week.
Then Layer In Touches
Once conditioning is underway, bring the technical work back in. It doesn’t have to be complicated either. Fifteen or twenty minutes a day with the ball is going to do more than one exhausting two-hour session crammed in on a Saturday, especially with tryouts landing right at the end of summer for most Vancouver kids.
If you haven’t touched a ball much lately, keep it simple: first touch, passing accuracy, staying comfortable when someone’s closing you down. Save the fancy moves for once the basics feel automatic again.
For structured drills you can run alone in the backyard, see our post on technical drills for solo practice. No coach or partner required.
Know What Coaches Are Actually Watching For
Scoring the most goals in a scrimmage isn’t really what gets you picked. Coaches running tryouts around Vancouver are usually paying more attention to decision-making, effort level, and what a kid does right after they screw up, than to raw skill in that one moment.
We covered this in detail in what our coaches look for at tryouts, including why coachability matters as much as talent. Talent gets a player noticed. How they respond to a coach’s correction on the spot is what gets remembered.
Our own coaches run tryout evaluations the same way they run training: looking for effort and response, not just outcome.
Manage the Mental Side
For a lot of kids, the real obstacle at fall tryouts isn’t fitness or skill. It’s nerves. New team, new coach, a bunch of kids they’ve never played with before, and somehow they’re supposed to “perform” in the span of an hour. That’s a lot to put on anyone, honestly, let alone a 10-year-old.
Here’s what we tell players. Forget “winning” the tryout. Just focus on playing your normal game instead of making the team, because the second you start chasing an outcome you tend to tighten up and stop making good reads out there.
Mistakes are fine too, don’t make a big deal out of them. Honestly if you come off the field after a tryout and didn’t mess up a single time, that’s usually a red flag, not a good sign, it probably means you spent the whole session playing it safe instead of actually going for stuff. Coaches notice the player who tries a risky pass or takes someone on and it doesn’t work out. That sticks with them a lot more than a player who never put a foot wrong because they never really did anything.
And keep those last ten minutes calm. They matter more than you’d think. Save the tactics talk for later, in the moment you need calm, not another coaching point.
What to Do in the Final Week
By the last week, the actual training work is basically done. This last stretch is more about showing up fresh than trying to cram anything else in.
Ease off the intensity a bit, a light touch on the ball is fine but skip anything exhausting in the final couple days. Get the logistics sorted the night before too, cleats, shin guards, water bottle, where you’re actually parking, so tryout morning doesn’t turn into a scramble. And don’t just focus on the night before sleep-wise, the two nights before matter just as much, since sleep debt tends to show up a day or two late.
Honestly, it’s the small logistics stuff that wrecks more tryouts than people expect. Digging through the bag for a missing shin guard ten minutes before check-in starts the whole thing rattled before you’ve even touched a ball.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, tryouts are one evaluation on one day, not the whole story of where you’re headed. Honestly, how you handle the weeks leading up to it says almost as much about long-term potential as the tryout itself.
If you want another set of eyes on where you’re at before the season starts, our free player evaluations are open right now for youth and adult players across Vancouver.
Dipinder Kainth is a coach at South Van FC, working with players in the youth academy in South Vancouver. If you have questions about the programme or want to talk development, reach out at southvanfc@gmail.com.
South Van FC is a community football club based in South Vancouver, BC. We run a youth academy, an adult 18+ program, and a VMSL Men’s team, built around one philosophy: develop real players, technically sharp, tactically aware, and mentally tough. Learn more at southvanfc.com.