Team Placement

GFLA is dedicated to fostering the growth of every player and their enjoyment of the sport by providing a playing environment with teammates and opponents of nearly equal skills.  Therefore, all registered players need to attend a player evaluation session if they are seeking placement on an advanced-level team, i.e., A or Upper B.

GFLA fields boys teams at the A, Upper B, or Lower B levels for the 10U, 12U and 14U age groups and A and Upper B (half field) level teams for boys at 8U.  We also have multiple levels of teams for girls in grades 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8 and a single level of play for girls at K-2 and boys at 6U.  We generally field more than one team at specific skill levels in an age or grade division.  In order to field equal-strength teams and maximize the experience for your sons and daughters, it is important that all players are evaluated so that we can develop balanced teams.  (Therefore, considerations like carpools are not a basis for determining team placement except at the K/2 and 6U level.)

Per NVYLL policy, player evaluations are required for all clubs that field an A-level team.  To be considered for an A-level team, your son or daughter must attend an evaluation session and may be asked to attend more than one session. 

A teams practice 2-3 days per week (coach's discretion) and players will be expected to attend all practices in addition to one weekend game.  If you plan on playing other sports or on club or travel lacrosse teams that will pull you away from practices or games, placement on an A Team may not be appropriate.  However, missing practices and game commitments is equally as disruptive to our B teams.

As an organization we expect our coaches to balance playing time as much as possible. However, in fairness to teammates, we also allow our coaches to use their discretion in limiting playing time (subject to NVYLL's league minimum requirement of 25% which can be modified) for any player who misses practices or games. 

Please see the tab "Player Evaluation Schedule" for information about tryout times. 

For tryouts, please bring:

Appropriate boys/girls equipment (see "Required Equipment" tab)

Water
Cleats or turf shoes are recommended.  Sneakers are fine too.
Dress for the weather, layers are recommend.  It will be COLD.  Lacrosse gloves strongly encouraged!  

In the case of inclement weather, all announcements will be posted on the Great Falls Lacrosse website http://GreatFallslacrosse.com

FAQs:  

Q:      There are more than one evaluation times for my son/daughter.  Do they need to attend both?

A:      No.   It is only required that a player attend one tryout.  However, players often want to attend both tryouts to get the maximum number of looks from the evaluators, which is fine.  Attending only one tryout is not considered negatively.

Q:      My son/daughter is playing on [insert name of club/select/travel team here].  Is he/she still eligible to qualify and play on the A team?

A:      GFLA’s official policy is that “If you plan on playing other sports or on club or travel lacrosse teams that will pull you away from practices or games, placement on an A Team may not be appropriate.”  We are committed to trying to get every boy or girl playing lacrosse with Great Falls who wants to do so.  This includes trying our best to manage our teams and roster sizes to enable all kids to play and to reduce the impact on the team of individual player absences.  Whether we can achieve this goal without negatively affecting the experience for all of our players depends on working together with the parents to try to reduce or eliminate conflicts.   On a case-by-case basis, if a player expects to have frequent conflicts between GFLA practices or games and another activity, GFLA may elect not to place the player on an A team, or may otherwise conclude that player should not continue with GFLA while such a conflict may negatively impact the team or the program.     

Q:      My son or daughter made the A team last year.  Does that means he/she will be selected again?

A:      No.  Placement is based on this year's evaluations and the evaluators do not know a player's placement last year.