Running Tryouts

This section highlights the screens used in running a tryouts workflow after players sign up. To summarize the typical workflow:

Players sign up and receive tryout information and instructions (based on the messages in settings).
Player checks in at one or more tryout sessions (Can utilize live Byga Online Live Check-in process described in Section 2).
Coaches evaluate players on the field and collaborate off the field to make selection decisions. Coaches can add annotations to a player so anyone collaborating in the decision can have the information.
In parallel, the system and / or the coach communicates with families regarding selection (e.g., if placed in an Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted bucket or Placed on a team).
Coaches place players on teams (note for players attending tryouts, it is highly recommended to place players on teams via the tryout workflow as other methods (e.g., importing them into a team) will invalidate the search filters that have to do with Placed players).

Once a player is placed on a team, this can be the trigger to start a new workflow (Placement Acceptance, Registration, payment) within Byga or with an external system.

A link to the most current Live Tryout Workflow will be on the Dashboard of users with the necessary permission. See #1 in the image.

Tryouts Summary Dashboard

The summary provides a high level overview of the tryout inquiries.

Provides quick access to message various inquiries, e.g., All, Checked in, Accepted, etc. With an option to view or message these groups.
Provides some demographic statistics.
Provides a quick access to various workflow controls
- Provides warnings
- Provides information on the pools the user is watching
- Provides quick control to the Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted group controls.

Tryouts Pool Management

The Pools tab shows the number of inquiries in each pool. The menu on the right enables various actions on each pool based on the user’s permission.

Users running tryouts can:

Subscribe as a watcher (or add someone as a watcher with Manage Tryouts permission) to watch various pools which lets them get a daily notification of new inquiries.
Email all users in a pool.
Auto-assign numbers to a pool.
Print check-in form with various form fields.
Export players in a pool for additional offline data manipulation for flexibility in print formatting / player sorting / emailing, etc.

Add a Watcher

Users Managing tryouts can add themselves or can add others as Watchers. Users Running Tryouts can only add themselves to Tryout Pools. A watcher of a Player pool will receive a daily notification of new inquiries to their subscribed pools. Below is an example.

Email Pool

This option facilitates sending an email via the Byga messaging system to the player contact listed on one Player Pool

Assign Numbers

Rather than adding a number one at a time to players, numbers can be assigned to a Player Pool. If the Override existing player numbers option is not selected, previously assigned numbers are maintained. By using the “Start at” option, additional sorting options can be utilized when sorting by number, e.g., distinguishing new players from existing players.

Print Tryout Check-in Form

The contents of each Player Pool can be printed with the following options:

Fields - Number used for tryouts - Player name - Contact name - Comments: blank line for evaluator to add some notes - Form fields from the tryout form: New in 3Q2021. This would include data that is important for the coach to have on the field (or important for check in personnel if printing forms for the check in). Review the print format when including custom field data.
Auto-fill the tryout numbers if numbers are not already assigned
Define how many rows to include: blank rows can be used for walk-on registrations
Sort by options: - Number - First Name - Last Name
Print template: -Default includes comments as a second line per player - Compact (in portrait and landscape) keeps comments on same line to fit more players

Export Pool

Depending on the tryout process used by the club, this printout may be sufficient. For more complex situations, the Player Pools can be exported to a .csv file, filtered, sorted, printed as required via a spreadsheet program.

Tryouts Player Management

The Players tab is where individual player inquiries are managed through the tryout process. There are three view options available

Default view
Compact view
Card view

Player Menu

A menu is available for each player with the following options:

View details: shows the date provided in the player submission. When a player’s tryout pool needs to be added, changed or deleted, it can be done in View details.
Optional link to Invoice for paid tryouts.
Email contact: places you in messaging in order to contact the specified player contact
Notify: if status (Accept, Waitlist, Reject) messaging is set up, this manually sends this player a notification with their status rather than waiting for the automated nightly script
Change contact: if the player contact needs to be changed to someone else.
+ Add to team: for placing the player on a team. Note, only teams in the same season as the tryout workflow will be available.
Delete: to delete the tryout workflow. This is typically used to deal with duplicates.

The following provides the View Details example where the player’s pool can be updated.

Default View

This view is the default view of a list of players for coaches to get an overview of the inquiries and take typical actions (add a note and take first pass action, accept, reject, waitlist).

Players displayed are based on filter and sorting selected.
- Various filters are provided which are relatively self explanatory.

Exclude Archived players: When viewing players in the Player’s tab via any filter, any archived players are not included. Archived players must be viewed in the Archived tab.
Not placed filter does not include Rejected players:
Warning: disconnected (shows a list of players disconnected from the form submitter)
Warning: unreachable (user is unreachable)

The signups can be sorted based on player name or contact name.
Three view options are available: compact, default and card views.
Tryout Workflow can be accessed.
Additional form questions are shown after the contact.
The view can be in Read only or Editing mode. This enables the additional form questions to be edited (text, multi-select and radio button questions).

Player ID is available in the default view, the card view and in the download.

Compact View

This view is the compact view of a list of players enabling a coach to see more players on each screen.

Select the view option here. This area also provides options for download of entries based on the filters being used.
Add a player note.
Sort by date added.
Archive filtered entries: In addition, each individual entry can be archived via the menu for each entry.

Action → Email Selected

Multi-select tryout submissions to message the player contacts.

Card View

This view is the card view of a list of players enabling a coach to see more details of each player and is typically the view used when adding players to teams.

Three view selection options
Player action menu:

View/edit details: enables the viewing all of the tryout data fields but edit only some of the fields
Email contact; sends email to the tryout contact
Notify: if the Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted messages have been set up, this enables the message to be sent manually rather than waiting for the daily job
Change contact: a way to correct the contact information in the tryout entry
Add to team: when used, the player will appear as Accepted and Placed (only available in card view)
Reset status: will reset the Checked In or Accepted/Waitlisted/Rejected or Placed status (in the case of a Placed player, only the tryout status is changed and the player is NOT removed from the roster). The player history is maintained.
Archive: moves player from Players tab to Archived tab
Delete: removes the tryout entry but not the player or user

Sort options: by number, by player last name, by contact last name
In each view, the player menu options may vary and other capabilities may be available:

Demographics statistics (based on the data collected in the form)
Add notes: lets user add a note to the player profile
Add player to team: when used, the player will appear as Accepted and Placed
Player selection options (Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted)

Custom question information is available with the profile photo is a scrollable area.

Archived Players

When running tryouts, sometimes it is desired to remove players where a decision has been made to reduce the clutter and focus only on the active tryout players. It is recommended that this not be done via an entry deletion as all the information and statistics of these players will then be lost.

Players that have been Archived will move from the Players tab to the Archived tab. When applying filters, searching, downloading or viewing statistics the following should be considered.

Entries in the Archived tab will not be included in the statistics in the summary page
Entries in the Archived tab will not be included in the Players tab
Entries in the Players tab will not be included in the Archived tab.

Archived players can be “Unarchived.”

Tryouts Online Live Check-in

For those that are checking in players that show up at a scheduled tryout, players can be checked in on traditional printed sheets. Alternatively, players can be checked in via online via the Byga app. In addition, when checking in, a photo of the player can be taken so the coaches can better remember the player during the evaluation.

Tryouts Online Live Check In User Setup

Byga users can be added in the Live tab. This enables them to check in players. We recommend users be added when they show up right before each tryout session and removed after each tryout session. This is because the check-in provides access to each user’s information which is needed for check-in and for correction of errors.

Replace existing Players’ Profile Photo

Some clubs use the opportunity to use the Tryouts to capture a more professional profile photo. The Check-in Settings tab now provides an option that, if selected, will replace any player profile photo with a photo captured during a Live Check-in. If this option is not selected, the photo at a Live Check-in will only be used as the Player Profile photo if the Player Profile photo is missing.

Tryouts Online Live Check in Launch

A user will see the Tryout on their mobile home screen. They click on the tryout to start the process.

On the mobile app, click on the “...” more menu. If there are more than one live tryout registration, select the one that you want. Note, the user may be asked to log in to the web application.

Alternatively, the user will find their Live Check in activation button on their home dashboard on the web version of the Byga app. Note if performing live check in on the web app, the photo portion is not available.

Tryouts Online Live Check in Player Search

Tryouts Online Live Check in Options

Once a player is selected, the following actions are possible:

Click on the player image outline to take a player photo
Click on check-in to check in the player
Click on Edit to correct information (including assigning a new number)

Tryouts Online Live Check in Submit

Hit submit to confirm the player has checked in. Once submitted, the player will show the last check in date. If the player has already been placed on a team, the check-in information is no longer displayed.

Reports

If payments are collected in the Tryout registration, a Reports tab will be included that provides payments and transaction reports. Permissions are required for these reports.

Invoice Management

Byga provides capabilities to manage the Tryouts Registration invoices. Invoice Management is documented separately in the Byga Invoice Management Module document.

Miscellaneous

Permissions

There is a couple of permissions related to Tryouts:

Manage Tryouts (for DOCs setting up and the Tryout in Byga): Permission to create, update, and delete tryouts and manage player tryout pools. (Also grants permission to run tryouts.).
Run Tryouts (for coaches managing players and placement in Byga): Permission to administer tryouts by watching tryout pools, modifying player information, and changing tryout pool memberships

Note these permissions are club-wide so should be provided to roles that require them and removed once the tryouts are completed.

Note, an admin (e.g., a director of coaching managing tryouts) should also have the appropriate permissions to administer players and users to deal with duplicates or corrections.

Separate permissions are required to manage payments.

Users that will help with the live Check-in will need to be added to the Check-in tab for access.

Tryouts Marketing

The signup link can be access and copies for email marketing and for website marketing.

Also, note that the most recently created and Live Tryout workflow will be the one that is shown on the user’s quick access dashboard. This will be visible to users with Roles that have Manage or Run tryout permissions.

Process Considerations

Future Season Teams

If players will be placed on teams via Byga for a future season, ensure that the season is created and the teams are created in the new season.

Player Signup Sources

While it is ideal to have all users come through the same tryout inquiry process, this is not always the case. In these cases, players can be uploaded into the tryout workflow. Some example cases:

If players inquired via a different source (e.g., Google Form) before starting the Byga Tryout Form.
Some clubs have added existing players (instead of just new players) via the upload players capability.

Care should be taken when uploading players to identify duplicates. This can be done by sorting by last name.

Paid Tryouts

The custom form based Tryouts can be used to collect a payment for Tryouts. See the Custom Form documentation for additional information on how to set up a paid custom form

Alternative uses to inquiry forms

Tryout inquiry forms are used by clubs for non tryout inquiries (from new and existing members) whenever collaboration is needed from various club admins. Please send questions on inquiries you would be interested to manage from new and existing families.