Team Selection and Trials

Team selection

Playing squads will generally be set in advance through CAS training sessions and communicated to students verbally, or if necessary via email in the case of absence. Team members are expected to:

• Attend as many training sessions as possible

• Fully commit to the whole season (this may mean moving or missing other commitments such as tutoring, external training for another sport, or social events)

• Monitor the sports website for all fixtures and transport information

• Maintaining a dialogue with the coach or lead member of staff regarding playing and unforeseen circumstances which may impact availability

Trials

Prior to, and during the course of a season it may be required to conduct trials to assess students ability. This will allow for staff and coaches to assign players to a certain team and/or training session - this is particularly common for our most popular sports such as basketball, football, and badminton, and for other sports like swimming which require different levels of technical feedback. 

Trials may take place in the scheduled CAS session or at a one-off, standalone time or session. This information will be communicated through email to relevant students who have signed up to the CAS activity or through the student bulletin. 

After the trial a student may be allocated to a playing squad, but this is not permanent and there is the possibility of movement between two teams - for example if a student was playing U14 B team, it would in most circumstances* be possible to move to U14 A team over the course of a season. A student may also be allocated to a different CAS session than advertised due to the number of students signed up for an activity - whilst frustrating this is essential for safety ratios, quality of provision, and to maximise opportunity for students. 

*There are some specific conference rules regarding eligibility which vary from sport to sport, and may prevent or prohibit this from being possible.