Putting Players into groups
1. Use level over age!: Level of play is often a better way to group players. Try to use the concept
of “earned advancement” and give the players a chance to advance into a higher level or group
in case they were misplaced at the start.
2. Interview the kids: You will likely already know most of the players at your event so you will be
able to somewhat pre-group them. The key is to identify the new players right away. By
interviewing them and asking about their playing experience (during the warm up is a great
time), then you will be able to make a quick assessment and group these new players
somewhere close to where they belong.
3. Use age and gender: Grouping players by age and gender is just as important to a player’s
psyche as ability level. Players like to feel part of a team and have the ability to relate to their
group or teammates. So placing a 10 year old beginner boy with 7 year old girls will not be well
received by that boy. It is better to place him with the other boys or mix up the groups with
different levels every once in a while.
4. Sneak peek: It is especially difficult to place new kids correctly into groups. Therefore as kids
arrive, ask if they want to warm up with mom, dad, or a friend accompanying them and sneak a
peek.
5. Stations: Set up some serving stations as players arrive and ask them to try throwing, overhand,
underhand or a mix of serves to make a quick decision on who might fit where. Then set up a
couple of courts of team “beat the pro” dividing them up based on what you saw in the
“serving” warm up. If there are not too many kids, have each kid play a full point against the pro
and note how long of a rally then can sustain and use that as a way to group players. Kids that
look like they are a pre-rally level based on the serving work can be assigned to a court where
they play “beat the pro” or similar games so they can be doing skills they can do like toss/catch
or roll rallies.
6. Consider their friends: Since the Play Days are meant for the kids to have a lot of fun, it is
important to know some of the players may come with friends and they will likely want to stay
with each other regardless of ability level. A stronger level player may just want to play in the
lower level group because his or her friend(s) are in that group.
7. Use skills test: Start the event with a series of skills tests and games that allows the players to
earn advancement from red to orange based on passing a skills test from coach on red court.