Player evaluations will be held Monday, August 2nd through Thursday, August 5th.

Evals for the 73, 83 and 93 lbs weight levels will be conducted at the Hubble Athletic Facility (603 S. Main Street, Wheaton, IL.).

Evals for the 103, 118, 133 lbs and Varsity weight levels will be conducted at Atten Park (1720 S. Wiesbrook Road, Wheaton, IL.).

Evaluations begin promptly at 6:00 pm. Players are advised to be at the appropriate field no later than 5:45 to ensure they are fully dressed and ready to go when things get underway at 6:00. There will be coaches and Rams board members on hand to help guide you to the proper area.

Players are required to have all of their protective equipment in order to fully participate. This includes helmet, colored mouth guard attached to helmet (clear mouth guards are not allowed), shoulder pads, rib guard, knee, thigh, hip and tailbone pads, as well as protective cup. It is strongly suggested that players wear football cleats as well. It is a good idea to have these broken in a bit in order to avoid blisters.

For any player who still does not have equipment, the equipment room at the Community Center will be open following evaluations from 8:30 PM until 9:30 PM, Monday and Tuesday. The equipment room will NOT be open during draft nights, Wednesday and Thursday.

All players, including Head and Assistant Coaches’ sons, must be present for evaluations. If a conflict arises, please contact Ryan Miller at 630-690-4880 or rmiller@wheatonparks.org.

So what happens at Evals?

All players are different in terms of skill, experience and physical development. That’s why it is important at the youth football level to build teams with players of similar abilities. During Evaluation Week each player will be tested and evaluated on speed, strength, agility and aggressiveness, as well as football skills. Each day, the coaches will begin by running the players through some warm up exercises. Then players will be divided up and coaches will observe them as they perform various football drills. Contact will begin on the third night of evaluations and will be a controlled, gradual process. Care will be taken to match players of like size and ability during contact drills.

Remember to bring plenty of water to Evals. Coaches will ensure that the appropriate number of water breaks are taken.

The Draft Process

Once the coaches have had a chance to see all of the players in action, it’s time to select teams. This begins after Wednesday’s evaluations when the Gold coaches will conduct their draft. Players not selected in the Gold draft will continue the evaluation process on Thursday. At the conclusion of Thursday’s evaluations, the Silver coaches will begin their draft process. All players will be selected to a team and will be contacted no later than Saturday by their drafting team. Draft results are final. There will be no movement of players from Gold to Silver or from team to team once the draft process is completed. Exceptions for weight transfers will be made as necessary to ensure players are participating in the proper weight class.

Once the draft is completed, each team will begin its regular practice schedule at the discretion of the coach.