Your kid is nine. Tryouts are tomorrow morning. He is at the dinner table. He has not eaten much. He is asking too many questions.

The eight-to-ten version is different from the five-to-seven version. He understands what tryouts mean now.

The dinner

Normal food. His regular favorites. Not anything new or fancy. Don’t try to make it a special meal.

Eat as a family. Don’t sit him down for a tryout-prep speech.

Don’t review skills

Tonight is too late to teach. Don’t go through positioning. Don’t drill technique in the backyard. Don’t pull up coaching videos.

The skills he has are the skills he has. Tomorrow’s tryout is about how he uses them.

Talk about what to expect

Tryouts have a flow. Warm-up, drills, scrimmage. Coaches watch. Some kids get pulled aside for individual evaluations.

Walk him through it. Tomorrow, you’ll get there at 8:50. They’ll do a warm-up jog. Then small-sided drills. Then a 7v7 scrimmage. Coaches will be watching the whole time. Some kids will get talked to individually.

The familiarity reduces anxiety.

What he should focus on

One thing. Not three. Tomorrow, your job is to hustle. That’s it. If you hustle, you’ve done your job.

Hustle is the only thing he fully controls. Skill is partial. Coach assessments are out of his hands. Hustle is his.

The confidence speech

Don’t oversell. Don’t say you’re going to make the team for sure. Don’t promise outcomes you can’t promise.

Say you’ve worked hard for this. You’re going to leave it all on the field. Whatever happens, we’re proud of you.

This is honest and supportive. He believes it.

The bedtime

Lights out at his normal time. Not earlier. Not later.

Earlier creates an anxious kid lying awake. Later means he’s tired in the morning. Normal works.

The morning of

Same routine as a normal Saturday. Don’t make him eat extra. Don’t put him in a new outfit.

Coaches don’t grade outfits. They grade play.

The drive

Music low. Calm. Don’t pep talk in the car. Don’t rehearse drills.

If he asks a question, answer briefly. Don’t over-elaborate.

The drop-off

Hug at the field. Have fun. We’ll be here at noon. Walk away.

Don’t watch through the fence. Don’t text the coach later about how he did. Trust the process.

The pickup

Don’t ask did you make it. He doesn’t know yet. Cuts come later.

Ask how was it. Listen.

The waiting period

Most cuts are announced two to four days after tryouts. The waiting is the hard part.

Don’t bring it up multiple times. Don’t speculate. Don’t text other parents to see if their kids heard.

When the announcement comes, it comes.

The result

Whatever the result, the eight-to-ten kid will need a calm response from you. If he made it, normal celebration. If he didn’t, normal acknowledgment of disappointment.

Don’t make either bigger than it has to be.

The next year

Tryouts at this age are the beginning, not the end. He will try out for many teams over many years. The skill of the tryout will improve.

Tonight is just one of those evenings. Eat dinner. Go to bed normal time. Tomorrow happens whether or not the dinner went smoothly.