Tryouts are an essential step to building your esports program. Hosting them will allow you to scout potential players, determine teams, and provide insight to player leadership. Being prepared for tryouts will help maximize your time and establish roles that are best suited for each player. Our guide helps you prepare and plan for successful tryouts and a great season.

Before the day of tryouts, communicate with your students the proper information about your esports program. You can host an interest meeting, put up posters, build a social media page, make morning announcements, or use word of mouth. Students that are extremely passionate about gaming are great candidates for a student esports council or leadership for hosting tryouts.

Connect with your IT Department. Your IT department can verify which games can run on your school computers. Keep in mind that players can bring their own laptops from home as long as a reliable Internet connection is available. Work with your IT department to complete the necessary requirements for tryouts.

Scout potential players. As potential players sign up for your esports program, scouting may help determine starting drills and roles. Consider scouting a few of these areas before tryouts:

Utilize tryout results to organize your program with student leadership and management teams. Players with strong communication and rapport may be good candidates for team captains. Students that are passionate about esports, but don’t have the skill level to play competitively can support the program in other roles.

Competitive League of Legends is similar to the traditional sport of hockey in that there is heavy emphasis on momentum and area control. There are distinct skills within the game that are instrumental in gaining or retaking that momentum. Included below is a list of drills aimed at showcasing a player’s current skillset. It is recommended that coaches familiarize themselves with the objectives and vocabulary of the game prior to hosting tryouts.

1v1: This is a fantastic way for coaches to analyze players basic decision making skills and mechanics. A standard format for determining who wins a 1v1 is first to eliminate the opponent, 100 creep score, or first tower destruction.
Creep Score: Creep Score is important for League of Legends as it is used to see how players perform in last hitting minions in lane, a major element of the game. You may set a time limit or first to 100 creep score goal. This can be executed in a 1v1 or 2v2 format.

​Game Knowledge: Game knowledge is one of the biggest pillars of performing at a competitive level. By developing a high level of game knowledge players can contribute to strategy, teaching, and leadership. As with any skill, game knowledge comes with time. You can draw some conclusions on a player's understanding of the game by looking at their match history and observing how much time they invest in practicing and improving.

Shot Calling: An important role that should be filled by a player with a deep level of game knowledge and strong leadership qualities. This player must be able to communicate split second strategic decisions that steer his or her team to victory. During tryouts you may want this player to elect to sit out and pilot the match for one team to get an idea of their thought processes.

Rocket League mirrors traditional soccer. Teams have a limited amount of time to try to score the most goals. The skills required to be a proficient player parallel soccer: dribbling, shots, assists, and saves. Additionally, Rocket League adds aerial techniques.

1v1: This is a fantastic way for coaches to analyze players basic decision making skills and mechanics. A standard format for determining who wins a 1v1 is highest score at the end of the timer.

Dribbling: Use a custom training or free play for players to display their dribbling skills. Like traditional soccer, the goal is to keep control of the ball while moving down the field.

Goalie: Goal keeping is important since players are required to rotate positions. This individual training session provides an insight to players ability to block the ball from a canon. It gives a summary at the end of the training
Striker: Rocket League is fast-paced. Players need to make shots from around the goal area. Striker lets you see which players are able to hit goals from different positions and angles. This training gives a summary at the end.

Aerial: Aerial training showcases the player’s ability to accurately it shots while the ball is midair. This training provides a summary at the end.

Shot Calling: An important role that should be filled by a player with a deep level of game knowledge and strong leadership qualities. This player must be able to communicate split second strategic decisions that steer his or her team to victory. During tryouts you may want this player to elect to sit out and pilot the match for one team to get an idea of their thought processes.
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V2.0 - 02/01/22 // Removed outdated printable versions, updated formatting. - RG