Director guide

How do I create my teams?

1. Open Teams and select New Team.
2. Fill in the age group, gender, team level and season.
3. Save. Repeat for each team.

• Free and Coach plans include one team. More teams need the Develop plan.
• On Develop, the Season Setup page (linked from Teams) creates several teams at once. Select its create button once and wait for it to finish.
• You can't delete a team, but you can Archive team. Archived teams are hidden and aren't billed.
• If you coach a team yourself, select I coach this team on its card. You stay a director, and a Coach Tools link appears in your menu.

How do I invite my coaches?

1. Open Staff and select Invite coaches.
2. Enter each coach's name, email and (if you like) team. You can also upload a CSV of Name, Email, Team.
3. Each coach gets an email with a link. If the email can't be sent, the app shows a link you can copy and send yourself.

• Tick Head coach for coaches who can send and accept coverage requests.
• The background check tick is used if you require a current check for coverage (Settings, Coach coverage).
• Co-Owner and Team Manager invites are on the same page. A team manager sees the roster, calendar, attendance and team chat for one team.
• Remove from club takes away a staff member's access.

How do I pick a plan?

Open Billing and choose a plan.

• Free ($0): one team, 1 tryout session, up to 30 prospect registrations, up to 20 rostered athletes. Attendance, calendar, team chat and the family portal are included.
• Coach ($49/month or $490/year): one team with the full development tools: IDPs, IDP meetings, reflections, coach rows and AI help. No free trial.
• Develop ($99/month or $990/year, plus $35/month or $350/year for each extra team): everything in Coach for every team, plus roster offers, season rankings, club analytics and the club IDP template. Includes a 14-day free trial.
• Clubs with more than 10 teams, or interested in the Founding Club rate, can write to sales@tryoutscout.com.
• If you cancel, nothing is deleted. The club moves to Free, and Settings → Export Club Data works on any plan.

Which settings should I look at first?

Open Settings. These are worth a look in week one:

• Club Branding: your club's color.
• Team Levels and Evaluation Phases: the names your club uses.
• Compliance Policies: agreements families sign in their portal.
• Communication: your time zone and chat hours. By default, players with their own account can read but not post from 9 PM to 6 AM.
• Coach coverage: whether a current background check is needed to cover another coach.
• Coach Sidebar — Tryout Tools: hide tryout pages from coaches outside tryout season.
• Saved Facilities: fields and addresses you reuse in the calendar.

How do I share my registration link?

1. Copy the link from your Dashboard or Settings → Tryout Registration Link.
2. Share it with families. They don't need an account to fill it out.
3. Each registration shows up in Prospects.

• There is also a shorter interest form for families who want to hear about your club. You can share those leads with a coach from Contacts.
• On the Free plan, registrations stop at 30 (all time, not per season).

How do I create a tryout session?

1. Open Tryouts and create a session.
2. Give it a date, age groups and at least one coach.

• If you are the coach, select I coach this team on the Teams page first.

How do I check players in on tryout day?

1. Copy the Tryout Check-In Link from Settings.
2. Open it on a tablet or laptop at the check-in table, and sign in there with a director or coach account.
3. The volunteer enters the player's date of birth, finds the player in today's session, and taps to check them in.

How do evaluations work?

Coaches watch the session and take notes on paper or the club's score sheet. They enter scores in TryoutScout afterward.

• Each player gets Above / At / Below for Technical, Tactical, Physical and Mental, plus a position, a team level and notes.
• When several teams share an age group, the 1st-team coach picks first, then selects Signal Ready to pass to the next team.
• You can see every evaluation on Tryouts and print a roster PDF.

How do I approve players and invite families?

1. Open Prospects and open a registration.
2. Select Approve & Assign to place the player on a team.
3. To invite several families at once, approve them and select Send Portal Invites.

• Each parent gets an email to set up their account, linked to their child.
• Settings → Auto-approve approves new registrations for you. Leave it off if you prefer to review each one.

How do I send roster offers? (Develop)

1. For one player: on the prospect's page, select Send Roster Offer.
2. For a whole session: on Roster Status, when coaches have made their picks, select Release Offers.
3. The parent gets an email, signs in and accepts or declines. You see each answer on Roster Status.

• Approve players and invite families first, so each family can sign in and answer.

How do I bring in an existing roster?

1. Open Roster Status and select Import Athletes.
2. Download the template, fill it in, and upload it.
3. Invite each family afterward. The template has no parent email column.

• Import each file once. Importing the same file again creates duplicate players.

How does an IDP cycle work?

An IDP (Individual Development Plan) is a seasonal plan for each player. Each row is rated Strength, Improving or Opportunity. These are development ratings, not grades. IDPs are on the Coach and Develop plans.

1. The coach starts a cycle and rates each player.
2. The coach releases the IDP: Release to Athlete for players 14+ with their own login, Release to family for everyone else.
3. The family fills in the self-assessment together with their child and submits it. Players 14+ with their own login do their own.
4. The coach compares their ratings with the family's and writes strengths, an opportunity and an action plan as talking points.
5. Every player has a 15-minute IDP meeting before publish, in person or by video call. The coach posts times and families book one.
6. The coach records the meeting as Complete, No-show or Family declined, then publishes.
7. The family sees the full IDP once it is published.

• Families never see the coach's ratings before the IDP is published.
• If a family hasn't sent their self-assessment by the due date, the coach can publish without it.
• Status badges: submitted shows in amber, published in green.

How do I shape the club IDP template? (Develop)

1. Open IDP Evaluations and select Club template.
2. Hide sections or rows you don't use, or add your own club rows inside the standard sections.
3. Select Save club template.

• Changes apply to new IDPs. IDPs already in progress keep their rows.
• Club rows show a Club tag. Reset to the TryoutScout standard undoes your changes.

How do I give a team a younger IDP template? (Develop)

1. Open Teams and edit the team.
2. Under IDP template, choose a younger band.
3. Save.

• You can only choose a younger band, never an older one.
• A younger player playing up keeps their own age template.
• Switching back to Standard works on any plan.

What are coach rows?

Coaches can add their own rows for the team or one player with Add focus row. These rows show a Coach tag.

• As director you can remove any coach row that hasn't been rated yet, for example after a coach leaves. Rated rows always stay.

How do I follow progress?

Open IDP Evaluations to see each team's progress. Open a team to see the same tools your coaches see.

How do I post an announcement?

1. Open Communications → Club Announcements and select + New Post.
2. Choose who it is for: Everyone, Coaches, Parents or Athletes.
3. Post it.

• Only the people who can see a post are notified, and attached files open only for them.
• Parents don't see athlete-only posts. Coaches and directors see every audience.
• Announcements appear in the app and the notification bell. They aren't sent by email or text, so for urgent changes ask coaches to post in team chat too.

How does the club calendar work?

Calendar shows every team. Coaches add their own team events, and you can add club events such as picture day. Club events don't send a notification, so mention them in an announcement too.

How do I read team chats?

1. Open Communications → Team Chat.
2. Pick a team.

• Team: coaches, players with their own account, and their parents.
• Parents & Guardians: coaches and parents.
• Coaches threads: one per family, between that family's parents and the team's coaches. Families see a notice that directors can read them.
• Players are never in a private chat with an adult.
• The Reports tab lists messages members have reported. Groups are adults-only chats you set up.

How does coach coverage work?

When a head coach can't make an event, they send a coverage request. Coaches ticked Head coach on the Staff page can accept it, and the team's families are told who is covering.

• Tick at least one head coach so requests reach someone.
• You can also assign a coach to an open request yourself.

Who can open club files?

Files open only for signed-in people who are allowed to see them. Registration documents are seen by directors and that child's own parents.

How do I change plans or update a card?

1. Open Billing.
2. Choose a plan to change it, or select Manage billing to update your card.

• Upgrades start right away. Downgrades take effect at the next billing date.
• On Develop, billing updates when you add or archive a team.
• Need help with a payment? Email support@tryoutscout.com.
• TryoutScout doesn't take a cut of your registration fees.

What does a season look like?

1. Pre-season: teams, staff and plan. Share the registration link and create tryout sessions.
2. Tryout week: check-in on a staff-signed-in device. Coaches enter scores afterward.
3. After tryouts: approve players, invite families, send offers (Develop).
4. Season start: families set up accounts. Coaches start an IDP cycle.
5. Mid-season: coaches release IDPs, meet each family, and publish.
6. End of season: an end-of-season IDP cycle, and season rankings (Develop).