APMHA House Player Evaluation Process Novice, Atom, Peewee, Bantam and Midget

APMHA House Player Evaluation Policy Statement

The goal of the APMHA House Player Evaluation Process is to fairly and consistently evaluate players for the purposes of proper team placement. This will be achieved through the establishment and maintenance of an evaluation program consistent across the Novice, Atom, Peewee, Bantam and Midget categories. The APMHA House  Player Evaluation Process will be based upon the standardized scoring of skills against an established set of criteria augmented by evaluation of game skills during evaluation games.
Evaluations shall be based solely upon player performance during the evaluation sessions. Evaluations will not be influenced by player history or any other preconception that may affect the tiering process. 
House coaches will be selected only after the tiering of all players.  Coach selection will have no effect or bearing on the ranking of players and coaches will have no influence in the selection of the teams.
Either the President, Director of House Programs and Director of Hockey Operations shall oversee a given level during the sorting process in coordination with the appointed Convenor. 
 

A:  Level Convenors

The Director of House Programs will appoint a Convenor to each level to oversee the implementation of the APMHA Player Recreational Evaluation process.   
The Level Convenors will be responsible for the following:

1. Coordination of sort out scheduling and groupings
2. Communication of scheduling and processes for players assigned to that level
3. Evaluator Selection (see Section B)
4. On Ice Instructor Selection (see Section C)
5. Overseeing the implementation of the House Evaluation Process  (see Section D)

 
B:  Evaluator Selection

Evaluators must have an appropriate background to effectively evaluate player skills and performance. Preferable background characteristics can include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Experience with player evaluation and performance systems
2. Suitable background in hockey either as a player or as a coach
3.  Knowledgeable persons that are not stakeholders in the program
4. Players or coaches from higher level hockey programs such as Midget or Junior, for example
5.  A willingness to evaluate players in categories in which they do not have a child registered
6. It is desirable to have a consistent group of Evaluators throughout the entire process. Preference shall be given to Evaluators that are able to commit to the entire evaluation process for one level.

Enough Evaluators should be present to achieve an appropriate sample. It is recommended that at least 3-4 (minimum 2) Evaluators be prepared for each ice session.
A list of proposed Evaluators shall be submitted by the Director of House Programs and the President  no later than the 27th of August. Evaluators are subject to the approval of the Director of House Programs and the President.  Evaluators from the list submitted will only evaluate a level in which they do not have a child registered. 
Evaluators are expected to sit apart from parents in the arena during the evaluation sessions. Evaluators are expected to behave professionally and not to discuss the results of their evaluations with others in the arena. Experience has shown that innocent and off-handed comments made during the evaluations are often taken out of context and give rise to hard feelings on the part of some parents. On occasion, these comments later become grounds for appeal. Any Evaluator not acting in the spirit of fairness and honesty will be asked not to participate in future evaluations.

 
 C:  On-Ice Instructor Selection

The On-Ice Instructors fulfill a key role in the evaluation process. They are responsible for the organization of players during the skating sessions, explanation of the drills and demonstration of the drills. On-Ice Instructors should have the following background:

1. Previous coaching experience or experience communicating drills to young players
2. Adequate skating and athletic ability to demonstrate the drills correctly
3. Ability to quickly organize players and to stay on schedule during the evaluations.
4. Appropriate certification for level
5.  Indicate an interest in coaching at that level during the season if applicable.

 

D: House Player Evaluation Process

Prior to the sort out process, an Evaluator Information and Training Meeting will be held for all Evaluators and On-Ice Instructors. The meeting will be chaired by thePresident,  Director of Hockey Operations or the Director of House Programs  to explain the APMHA Housel Player Evaluation Process. The meeting will explain the overall role of the Evaluators and On-Ice Instructors in the program and will focus on ensuring the understanding of the evaluation methodology, drills and scoring criteria for each category. The following points will be covered at the meeting:

1. APMHA House Player Evaluation Process
2.  Expectations of Evaluators
   1. Duty to learn and understand drills and scoring criteria
   2. Duty of fairness, objectivity and impartiality
3. Role of On-Ice Instructors
   1. Control and organization of players
   2. Explanation of drills and skill being scored to players
   3. Demonstration of drill
   4. Spacing of players to allow sufficient time for the Evaluators to score
   5.  Ensuring that players alternate positions during scrimmages to ensure that all are given equal opportunity to play all positions
4. Standardized scoring system for skill based drills to review the need to score against established drill criteria as opposed to performance relative to other players
5. Scoring system and evaluation of game play skills relative to other players, game skill components and scoring
6. Review of Category drills and scoring criteria

 
The President, Director of House Programs or Director of Hockey Operations will work with the respective Level Convenor for notification of players, greeting and marshalling of players at evaluation sessions, distribution and coordination of jersey numbers and colors, distribution and gathering of scoring sheets .  Following each evaluation session, all evaluation score sheets will be taken by the President, Director of House Programs or Director of Hockey Operations assigned to that level and kept for verification and cross-checking of data entry.   Once all evaluation sessions are complete, the Convenor, President, Director of House Programs, Director of Hockey Operations and the Director of Coach Development  will assist in the final tabulation and ranking of players and the final list of teams.
 

E:  Goalie Evaluations

Goalies will be present in most evaluation sessions for participation in shooting drills and scrimmages. Goalie Evaluations, however, will be held separately in two goalie evaluation sessions. All Midget, Bantam, Peewee, Atom and full-time Novice goalies will be evaluated formally in these sessions. Novice players wishing to play goalie on a part time basis will be evaluated as skaters to ensure they are placed at a proper level for the games when they are not playing goal.
In the goalie evaluation sessions, goalies will work through a series of goaltending skill stations and will receive a score at each station based upon their execution of skill drills. Goalies will also be evaluated under game situations in the scrimmages to assess their skills in a game atmosphere.
 

F:  Absenteeism

Players missing any of the sort out sessions may be placed into groups at the discretion of the Director of House Programs -  Scores derived from partial sessions will not be extrapolated to give full scores as this is felt to be unfair to those attending all the sessions. Absentee players will be considered on a case by case basis.  Every effort will be made to accommodate these players at a level appropriate to their skill.
Any player that is injured or ill must notify the respective level convenor prior to tryouts. It will be at the discretion of the President, Director of House Programs and Director of Hockey Operations to place this player at a level appropriate to their skill.

Player Evaluation and Selection Guidelines

 

Skill Sessions:

Players will be evaluated on a series of 5 drills that encompass specific skills as outlined in the Hockey Canada Player Evaluation and Selection Guide.  Each drill will detail the skills being evaluated, the criteria the skills should demonstrate, a description of the drill and a drill diagram.  Each player will be evaluated on how they complete the specific drill and the skills within that drill.  The same drills will be assessed at 2 separate sessions.
The evaluation grading system will be as follows….
5 = dominate, meets all criteria
4 = above average, meets most criteria
3 = average, meets some criteria
2 = below average, meets little criteria
1 = completes drill, meets no criteria
0 = does not complete drill
 

Game Sessions:

Following the skill sessions the players will participate in an exhibition game for evaluation of game play.  Game play will be ranked on the 5 following criteria:
 

1. General game understanding
2. Work Ethic
3. Rank (top = 5, mid = 3, bottom = 1)

 
The evaluation grading system will be as follows….
5 = dominate
4 = above average
3 = average
2 = below average
1 = poor
 

Weighting:

 

Level	Total Sessions	Skill Sessions	Weight	Game play sessions	Weight
Novice	3	2	60%	1	40%
Atom	3	2	60%	1	40%
PeeWee	3	2	50%	1	50%
Bantam	3	2	40%	1	60%
Midget	3	2	30%	1	70%