C.O.E. Senior Tryouts

Tryout time is truly the "silly season" for a club like ours. Its "silly" because the movement of players, the players' uncertainties, and the inter club competition always generates some of the most remarkable, often-times comical statements, conversations and interpersonal dealings. Misinformation is everywhere and, sadly, outright defamation rears its ugly head from time to time. The prevailing practice in the New Hampshire club scene compounds all of this by breaking tryout time into two distinct time frames. June for teams U-14 and below and early November for high school age teams (U-15 to U-19). This year's high school age tryout phase is even crazier because of the recent announcement of an "alliance" between the Bedford Classics and the Phantoms. Senior Phantoms and Classics players face the uncertain prospects of what the new merged "A" team will look like, who will be coaching them and whether they will be on that team or some other "B" level "premier " team.

In the midst of all of this, the COE is, of course, holding its senior team tryouts. Which raises the good question that we get asked over and over again during this time of year -- what's so great about the C.O.E.? Why should a girl consider the C.O.E. over the Classics, the Phantoms, Seacoast or a top club in Massachusetts? In some respects, we can't answer the question. None of us has been directly involved in these programs as administrators, coaches or trainers. We certainly know many of the coaches, trainers, players and teams. They are good to excellent and they've been at it here in NH longer than we have. You can't debate the results that the Seacoast teams have achieved in the NH State Cup over the past few years.

And yet, in all of this, Granite FC is closing hard. Why is that? We can certainly speak to what we do and why we believe that, from a developmental perspective, we maximize what our players have to offer. Granite FC has superb trainers and coaches and they are focused intently on structured, year-round training in a team environment. We begin immediately in November and we continue into July. Throughout this time we strive for a 3 to 1 ratio between training time and game time which is optimal for maximizing development of older youth players. We provide each team full-field, non boarded training and playing opportunities even in the coldest and snowiest parts of winter. Each team works together to develop a thorough and disciplined understanding of each other and the systems of play that their coaches want to achieve. The coaches are in control of all important decisions about the players and their teams without interference from the other club officials or parents. The club is not large which means that players do not fall between the cracks. We know each player, as a person and as a player, and training focus is not dissipated through impersonal and diffused pool training.

All of this has created an environment in which our players have made some remarkable achievements. The rising U-18s, our original group, came together a mere four years ago. The group consisted of a group of girls who had been passed over or never noticed by the name programs. Within a year the girls made their way to the State Cup finals climbing over a couple of the programs that had overlooked the girls, in the past. Other teams more newly formed have advanced to the highest levels of the Massachusetts Area Premier League and have achieved notable successes in high level tournaments around the east coast and in Canada. We are optimistic that the growth and achievements will continue. Coming to the C.O.E. will give each player not only great training and playing opportunities but also the chance to be part of achieving results that no one would have thought possible only a couple of years ago. We hope to see lots of new faces at the tryouts that will start in November.

Senior Girls Tryouts for Granite FC Center of Excellence Teams

U-15 (born on or after 8/1/92)11/3 at 10:00 am -- 11/4 at 2:30 pm -- 11/11 at 3:00 pm
U-17 (born on or after 8/1/90)11/1 at 4:15 pm -- 11/3 at 8:00 am -- 11/4 at 1:00 pm
U-18 (born on or after 8/1/89)11/3 at 8:00 am -- 11/4 at 1:00 pm -- 11/11 at 3:00 pm

All tryouts will be held outdoors at the the Nashua Corp field in Merrimack, NH

Questions can be answered by Steve Hetherington at 603.204.9003