Updated May 31, 2020: Our standard large-group tryouts for the 2020-2021 NTH-Tophat North Junior Academy Girls were canceled due to restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve scheduled a set of small-group evaluation sessions instead.
This page includes details about the small-group evaluations for the NTH-Tophat North Junior Academy Girls program.
Our program includes age appropriate girls (born in 2013 or 2014) who want to play out of Metro North Park in east Cobb, or United Quest Park in north Cobb. If you want information about tryouts for another NTH location or age group, please check here for contact info.
Current NTH Junior Academy players:
Does your daughter want to stay in the Junior Academy program for the 2020-2021 soccer year? She can do so without requiring a tryout. Here’s what you need to do to lock in your daughter’s spot:
- If you have not yet done so, please register your daughter for tryouts (even though traditional tryouts were canceled). This gets you in the NTH database for fall 2020 and triggers your coach to issue an invitation for your daughter to return.
- Expect an email invitation from NTH to register for a specific program. (This will likely happen late in the first week of June.)
- Accept your invitation.
Prospective NTH Junior Academy players:
Does your daughter want to join the NTH-Tophat North Junior Academy Girls program? If you have not yet done so, please register her for tryouts (even though traditional tryouts were canceled). Then contact coach Ward and let him know your daughter is interested. He will follow-up to arrange an evaluation.
Quick links:
- About the Junior Academy
- Registering for tryouts (registration opens May 1, 2020)
- Evaluation schedules
- Evaluation notes
- Evaluation questions
- Player invitations
- Summer schedule
- other frequently asked questions
- Information for families who move into the area after evaluations
Register for tryouts in advance (opens as of May 1):
All returning and prospective Junior Academy players should register on-line for tryouts, even if they are unable to attend. (This still applies even though tradition tryouts were canceled.)
- On-line registration is free and helps streamline the tryout check-in process. (Players can register at the fields, but it’s much quicker to do it on-line ahead of time.) You only need to register once, even if your daughter plans to attend multiple sessions.
- New to NASA Tophat? You will need to create an NTH website account in order to register for tryouts. Link: https://www.nasatophat.com/Default.aspx?tabid=179484
- Current NTH players (Junior Academy or recreational): You can register on-line using your existing NTH account. Once you log in, you should see your daughter’s name. (If not, select Back To My Account, and then select available programs, or logout / login and try again.) Select the 2020/21 Academy Tryouts program. If you have multiple children in the system, you can follow the same process to register them for tryouts, or select Skip, and then Continue.
- The next screen is a brief questionnaire. Enter your answers (you aren’t required to submit a player picture), and then select Continue.
- You may also see a screen about volunteer roles. You can select Skip, or enter your preference(s), and select Continue.
- You’ll see the registration summary page. Select Continue.
- You may be prompted about an NTH Capital Campaign donation. This is completely optional and has no effect on the tryout selection process. Select Submit Order to complete the tryout registration process. You’ll see a confirmation page, and the system will follow-up with a confirmation e-mail. Best wishes to your daughter during tryouts!
Financial aid:
- NASA Tophat offers confidential, needs-based financial aid. If you would like to apply, please submit an application before evaluations are complete. Link: financial aid application
Evaluation schedules:
NTH-Tophat North Junior Academy Girls: 2020 evaluation schedules
| Day / Date | Time | Park | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tues, June 2 | 9:45 AM | Big Shanty Park | 1. Addison K. 2. Wesleigh M. 3. tbd 4. tbd |
| Tues, June 2 | 11:00 AM | Big Shanty Park | 1. Ansley C. 2. Gianna A. 3. Sarah Kate R. 4. tbd |
| Thurs, June 4 | 9:45 AM | Big Shanty Park | 1. tbd 2. tbd 3. tbd 4. tbd |
| Thurs, June 4 | 11:00 AM | Big Shanty Park | 1. Alexandra C. 2. Carson J. 3. Phoebe M. 4. tbd |
| Sun, June 7 | 9:45 AM | Big Shanty Park | Full 1. Bates 2. Gracie K. 3. Lekha P. 4. Sofia B. |
| Sun, June 7 | 11:00 AM | Big Shanty Park | 1. London M. 2. Lucy V. 3. Mila C. 4. Wesleigh M. |
| Mon, June 22 | 9:00 AM | Big Shanty Park | 1. London M. 2. Madeline H. 3. tbd 4. tbd |
| Fri, June 26 | 9:30 AM | Metro North Park | 1. Finley C. 2. tbd 3. tbd 4. tbd |
About the location:
- Some of the evaluation sessions are scheduled at Big Shanty Park in Kennesaw. This is just the site of evaluations, not your daughter’s home park. If your daughter is selected to join the Junior Academy, she will be based at either Metro North Park or United Quest Park.
About the evaluations:
Who may attend?
- Evaluations are open to all age-appropriate girls (born 2013 or 1014), whether they currently play at NTH, another soccer organization, or are new to soccer. Link: soccer age chart. There is no fee required for evaluations.
What to wear / what to bring (players):
- Players should wear proper soccer attire, including shin guards covered by soccer socks. It’s OK to wear club practice shirts or game-day uniforms.
- Bring a soccer ball (size 3 for Junior Academy)
- Bring an insulated water jug, or a cooler with water bottles and ice.
- If a player has long hair, she should wear a headband or something to keep her hair out of her eyes.
- Please leave jewelry at home.
Bring lots of water!
- It’s likely to be hot! Your daughter should start increasing fluid intake before the session, and drink plenty of water during and after the session. This will allow her body and mind to perform at a higher level for a longer period of time. Link: hydration tips
To-do list (parents):
- Bring a chair.
- We recommend arriving 5-10 minutes early so you have time to find your group and get your daughter checked in prior to the actual starting time.
- Look for coach Ward on the far side of the upper field. He’ll be wearing black clothes, but colorful shoes, and there will be a pink mesh ball bag nearby.
- Walk with your daughter to the evaluation area. We’ll have cones marking spaces for parents’ chairs. Please observe social distancing guidelines.
- Check-in consists of verifying (or recording) player info on our evaluation roster, and explaining guidelines about any Covid-19 adjustments we are making, such as social distancing.
In case of storms or heavy rain, check the Junior Academy Girls Twitter feed for a status update: Evaluation questions:
What happens during evaluations?
- We’ll have a mix of soccer skill activities, movement activities and reaction activities. Depending on where we are in the Covid-19 pandemic “return to play” phases, we may or may not include scrimmages.
What do the coaches look for in a player?
- We’re looking for girls who love to play.
- More specifically, we’re also looking for three characteristics:
- Awareness: knowing what’s happening on the field, and reacting quickly as situations change
- Personality: desire, enthusiasm, creativity, competitiveness, self-motivation
- Athletic ability: coordination, balance, agility and quickness
- Current technical skill is a bonus, but if a young player has the other attributes, we believe she can develop technical skill through focused training sessions and by playing with and against strong players in training and games.
For players:
What can I do to make a good impression?
- Soccer is a game, not a job. You’ll learn, play your best and have the most fun if you follow three simple rules:
- Give your best effort.
- Be enthusiastic.
- Treat yourself and others with respect.
- There are two other things you can do to make a good impression:
- Be creative. When you have the ball, have a plan — don’t just kick it.
- Don’t get upset if you make a mistake. We all make mistakes! What matters is how you react after a mistake. Try to learn from it, and definitely keep trying your hardest!
For parents:
What can I do to help my daughter?
- Register for tryouts in advance. This will help speed check-in, which can be an awkward process for your daughter if she isn’t a tryout veteran.
- Make sure she eats healthy food and drinks plenty of water prior to the session. Links: Nesquick simple Game Day Eating guide / hydration tips
- Once the session starts, it’s her time to show her capabilities. Sit back and watch her and the other girls play! We ask that you not coach your daughter or otherwise try to participate. (It’s her evaluation, not yours.)
- If your daughter does well, outstanding! If your daughter struggles and fails, this isn’t permanent. Handled properly, it’s a great opportunity for her to learn resilience and develop self-motivation.
Player invitations:
After each session, coaches will meet to decide which players we’ll invite to join next year’s NTH Junior Academy. If practical, we’ll meet with each player’s parents after the session to offer our impressions. We’ll post newly invited players’ tryout numbers on the NTH web site and / or each Academy age group’s own web site or communication channel, and follow-up with in-person conversations, phone calls or e-mails.
- Link: Junior Academy Girls tryout results page
If we invite your daughter to join, please respond via phone or e-mail to the appropriate coach to let her/him know if you accept the invitation.
If we don’t invite your daughter to join, we strongly encourage her to continue playing! The NTH recreational program has leagues for players age 4-19, and participation doesn’t require a tryout. If she loves the game and sticks with it, she’ll always have a chance to achieve her goals. Players mature at different rates, and a player who isn’t invited this time around may blossom by this time next year.
Over the 19-year history of our Academy program, we’ve had many cases where a player wasn’t invited after her first tryout, but made it into the Academy the following year.
Summer 2020 schedule:
- We’ll have on-line player / parent orientation meetings shortly after evaluations are complete.
- The girls are then off to enjoy their summer break. We may have an occasional informal kick-around, but we won’t have any regularly scheduled team training. NTH offers summer training programs and camps for players who are interested in scheduled training. If the girls want to practice skills on their own, here’s a list of play at home activities.
- We start fall season prep with Academy Team Camp in August.
- We start regular practices the week following team camp.
- Weekly Junior Academy game days start the weekend after Labor Day and continue until the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Missed evaluations?
If your family moves into the area after our evaluation sessions, or if you have a vacation conflict, you can still arrange to have your daughter evaluated for the Junior Academy. Please contact coach Ward for more information. (Georgia Soccer rules prohibit in-season tryouts for players who are currently registered in an Academy program with another Georgia Soccer league.)