Before the tryouts began I called over each of my players individually from last year and sat down with them. I told them that I was talking to everyone from the team
last year and this didn’t mean they were going to make, or not make the team. I told them how we were going to move up to A. Could they handle losing more than last year? I also said that we’ll be having some new kids on the team. Could they handle a new role? Obviously all the kids were going to say yes to both of these points, However, it was a pointed I wanted to start making early, as while it won’t sink in yet, I’ve planted the seeds to hopefully prevent a possible problem later on.
I started off by having them recap the highlights of what I was looking for. Not surprisingly they did a great job. I then also talked a little more about how tonight will be working, in terms of calling over each player individually and telling them whether or not they made the team. Then we got started.
I started off with them first running a full suicide and then a half suicide. This gave me some good information about their speed, something I hadn’t paid attention to yesterday. Next I gave them 45 seconds to get in order by height. Much to my surprise they did it in 30 seconds. I thought for sure that this would give me an opportunity to make them run again, instead I lavished praise on them for their accomplishment. We then did Animal Rebounding, basically with groups by height, though I did cheat some (for instance I had Scott go with the tall group, instead of David). Overall, as I expected, my players from last year did better than others, as they were more used to the physical nature of the drill. After the big guys took too long to go to 5 points I cut it down to 3 and it moved much more quickly. Following this we did a 3 man weave down, 2 on 1 back, which went better than I expected, though I very dumbly wasn’t making notes as it was going on so I can’t give specifics about it. I really regret that. After that it was time for some 3 on 3, followed by full court lay-ups to end the night. In the full court layups instead of a minute I gave them 45 seconds and with the exception of Rodrigo (1), Kevin (5), and Colin (5), everyone got 6 or 7, about the same as they got last night in a minute. The bad part is that overall things went really well. In my end of practice speech I told them how genuinely impressed I was and how some of them are going to just have bad luck, in that they were born in a year with a lot of talent. I went home in a real funk because of how tough I knew my job was going to be.
The Players
Here’s where we’re at with the players. I am not really going to comment, for the most part, on guys who have made the team, preferring to save that for my “Meet the Team” post that’ll come later. Players are classified as on my try-out sheet tonight as either black (made the team), green (almost for sure made the team), yellow (on the fence), and red (cut).
Cameron – Cameron showed he had the skills, but not the decision making. He passed up shots he shouldn’t have passed up and took shots he shouldn’t have taken. He showed that his skills deserve to be on the team, we’ll see if his attitude follows. He’d be a green, if not black, except for my concerns there, instead he’s a yellow.
Tom – Was not present last night. I really hope that he’s there tonight as he’s a green. I do know he was frustrated with himself (as so often happens) after the first night. My fear is that he cut himself when both Jon (for his talent) and I (for his heart) had marked him as likely pick-ups. I almost called him to check that he was coming back (as he and Gordie were the only two to show up Night 1 but not Night 2), but we’ll see. I really hope he didn’t cut himself. Green
Scott – Black
Brian – Black
Jack P – Black
Rodrigo – Slowest kid out there, with no real discernable skills. Red.
David – Black
Jack M – Ahh Jack M. Jack M is probably the 7th or 8th best player there. However, the chemistry issue is what is holding him back. While he could certainly earn a higher place, he’s likely to have a greatly diminished role this coming year. Not to mention we’re going to lose more. Both of these things are going to be hard on him. Evidentially, Jack has a football game tonight and Jack’s mom wants him to go to that, while Jack (sensing that he’s on the border) wants to be at the tryout. I frankly hope he’s not there so I can have some extra time to think about him.
Andrew – He was a for sure yesterday. However, he did not do well in the 3 on 3 or in Animal Rebounding. He’s still a green, but I have concerns about him being a tryout kid rather than a gamer.
Daniel – Daniel, by many accounts, should be cut. Except he’s a great kid. Oh and he finished first in his (short) group for animal rebounding. That counts for something. Just barely a yellow.
Matthew – His dad and I talked a little before practice. The kid loves basketball. Except he’s short. Matthew commented to me how frustrating it was that players were taller than he was. I remarked back that we’re going to be a short team compared to others. Red.
Justin – Black
Jake – He’s weak inside. He’d be a post player if he made the team, so that’s a huge negative. That said he’s got pretty good ball handling skills and speed given his size. He needs to show me he can play inside tonight.
Noah – My second heart breaking kid. Noah has improved so much since last March. I asked him, as tryouts were ending, if he’d practiced a lot during the off season. He said he’d played every day at camp. It showed. However, he’s not likely to be one of the top 10 players. He is very coachable, in that if you ask him to work on something he’ll work on it. Not to mention how grateful he is for every moment of playing time. Then there is the fact that tonight, during tryouts, he decided to try and climb up a wall. If he makes the team I know I will be spending a lot of practice time in management of him. There are quite a few pluses and minuses for him in both ways. The true definition of a yellow.
Dante – My third heart breaking kid. Dante is such a great kid, and, to my surprise, he finished second in Animal Rebounding. That said he is painfully slow, second slowest after Rodrigo. What I need from him most of all, is defense. We’re going to be playing some big kids and we’ll need to shut them down. If Dante can’t do that, his offense is less important. If he can do that, the fact that he’d be slowing us down on offense could be forgiven. In all likelihood he and Jake are competing against each other for a slot.
Miles – Speaking of speed, Miles seems to be faster with the basketball than without. He’s got a great sense of humor. I think if I were teaching his class, he’d be one of my favorite students. But he’s short and despite the desire and love of the game the skills aren’t there. Red.
Kevin – Kevin is a potential post player, except his ball handling and aggressiveness aren’t anywhere close to where they’d need to be to make the team. Red.
Colin – Colin is a big ole nothing. His skills aren’t poor but nor are they great. He’s very quiet so I have no sense of his personality even. Red.
Gordie – Gordie, along with Tom, was 1 of 2 not to be back for the second day of tryouts. I simply can’t imagine his skills are going to surpass others I’ve been looking at. Red.
Lucas – Lucas came in and played exactly the way I’d hoped he would. Black.
Tonight
So by my count there are 6 players on the team. I have basically resigned myself to taking 11, so we have 8 players competing for 5 spots. With this football game going on I am guessing that we’ll have fewer players tonight, which is nice because it will give me some flexibility on the players who aren’t there. Hopefully my Yellow players will be there to make the cases for themselves.
The plan for tonight is to do some 5 on 5 games. The teams, for the first gaeme, tentatively, are:
Team 1: Andrew, Jack M, Kevin, Rodrigo, Scott
Team 2 Brian, Jake, Lucas, Matthew, Noah
Team 3 Daniel, Gordie, Jack P, Justin, Miles
Team 4 Cameron, Colin, Dante, David, Tom
These teams should have a mixture of kids who are making it, not making it, and on the fence, with a variety of positions. The second game will be with teams made up of
Team 1 Andrew, David, Justin, Lucas, Scott
Team 2 Brian, Cameron, Dante, Jack P, Tom
Team 3 Colin, Daniel, Jack M, Jake, Noah
Team 4 Gordie, Kevin, Matthew, Miles, Rodrigo
These teams are not balanced, but instead giving me more of a chance to see how they interact with each other. The goal is to play 1 game with each of these teams for 5 minutes each game. That should take a tad over 20 minutes. I’ll then run, depending on what I need to see, either Animal Rebounding, or doing Full Court Jump shots.
And then it will be time for the 1 on 1 conferences. Last night after tryouts I stayed up late creating a notecard for each of the 20 kids. They will receive a notecard which looks like this (with better formatting)
Name
Thank you again for trying out. It is very hard to fully see a player in 2 or 3 hours but below I have given you an idea of what I saw as your strength(s) and as your area(s) for improvement. Whether or not you make the team I hope you work on your game this season and you choose to try out again in 6th grade.
Strength(s):
Area(s) for improvement:
I will bring each kid over, thank him for trying out, tell him if he’s made the team or not and hand him his notecard. I’ve pre-written out strengths and weaknesses for each kid, but am also prepared to revise, as necessary, tonight. While this is going on, I will have a game of continuous knockout going on in the other side of the gym. After the kid gets his notecard he’ll have the option of either rejoining the game or going outside to wait to be picked up. I have heard from someone who has done this before that a surprising amount of kids who get cut will want to stay. When I write next I should have a basketball team.
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