Well day 3 of tryouts is in the books and my decision has gotten harder. 7 o’clock rolls around and we have 8 players. Players were not exactly early to arrive so at first I was hoping for six, so we could do 3 on 3. Just what I was expecting and just fine with me. At 7:03, after they’ve shot around for a couple minutes, Sammy comes strolling in. 9 is even better than 8 with me, as we then have 3 teams for 3 on 3.
During the intro speech I ask the players to think of what their strength as basketball players is. I paused and then told them that hopefully they had showed me that nights 1 & 2, but if they hadn’t, now was the time to do it. I also explained that if a player was on the bubble, the tie breakers would be their attitude and their defense.
To back up that message about defense, we start off with defensive slides. Quintin, one of my bubble boys, isn’t there so I am focusing most of my attention on Leonardo and Jack. And Leonardo looks much better at this than does Jack. Overall their ability to do this drill is still limited. I still don’t get it. I should mention that we’re only practicing on half a court tonight because there are girl tryouts going on simultaneously.
After the slides we do animal rebounding. They are lined up randomly, and so they are placed into random groups. I put Sammy in the second group and task the players with explaining to him how it works. We played to 5, where there is less luck involved than a game to 3. But interestingly enough Michael, who had finished first in his group before, finished first again. So that bodes well for him. He did a particularly good job of managing to get a shot off inside even under pressure. I know from talking to his coach from last year that he sees himself as more of a perimeter sort of player and also a player who expects a lot of playing time. It seems like it might come down to the idea that if you want the playing time you should expect to be inside some of that time. In the first group Grant finished 2nd, Sammy 3rd, Seth 4th, and Jack 5th. This was Jack’s second last place finish, though to his credit he was in there mixing it up, he just couldn’t pull it off. In the second group it went Matthew, Austin, Mason, and Leonardo.
Next up was the triangle passing drill. With only 8 players there I decide to have them do the full rotation, so everyone plays defense twice, and each of the three offensive positions. One group does manage to get to 10 passes, so that’s good. Less good is that I can’t tell you who. Can’t do that, because the girls’ coach constantly had lines in front of where my camera was setup, so I have no footage from last night. Rather aggravating actually. It is during the triangle passing that Sammy starts to make a case for himself. It is also towards the end of this that Josh shows up. He was one of the football people, so I was definitely not expecting him.
After the triangle passing drill I have them run some relays, which I was not paying attention to, and thought I’d just pick up later on video. While these were going on I was making teams for 3 on 3. Before 3 on 3, I wanted to see some outside shooting, something we hadn’t done at all. I wanted to give them a lot of time for 3 on 3, so we played a game of “Golf”. The idea in golf is to make a jump shot from the elbow. If you miss you don’t want the ball to hit the floor. It’s a rebounding and shooting drill all in one.
We then spent the next 25 minutes doing 3 on 3. And this is where things got interesting. Leonardo made a strong case for himself with his defense. Sammy made a case for himself as well with some real aggressive defense, though doing so without getting beat due to his speed, and he made a surprising number of shots. I don’t exaggerate when I say he has no shooting form. So did he get real lucky? I dunno.
The group had gotten tired with 3 on 3, so we ended with a couple more games of Golf, to make sure I had a sense of their outside shooting, and then a game of lightening, which I ended half way.
I ended tryouts by thanking everyone, telling them how they had shown more and more each night of tryouts, and shaking their hands while thanking them for trying out. Here’s a recap of the players:
Yes
In rough order from who I see as most talented to least:
Alex: He’s going to be our center. Much of the offense ran through him last year and I anticipate something similar this year. Due to his inside strength, and our general lack elsewhere, I think we’ll run a 4 out 1 in offense.
Josh: Despite being short, he’s tough. He’ll be our starting point guard. In fact at the moment he’s the only kid who I trust to both pass and dribble. Now the bad news is that he choked, repeatedly, while shooting layups in 3 on 3. He must have missed 6 or 7 over the course of the time. At the 5B level that’s a lot of baskets to give up.
Michael: I don’t have a good handle on his personality yet. This is a kid who, while my back was turned, both shot at a basket while waiting for a drill (definite no-no), but also sprinted when I asked him to go do something, again with my back turned. He definitely had some negative words for his fellow teammates. So I think there is the potential to be a leader there, but he’s far away from it right now. Good news is that he can do all the big things, shoot, dribble, defend, rebound, fairly well making him a nice overall package. As I indicated he’s a possible 4 player for us.
Seth: This kid has real potential. He’s the second tallest player on the team after Alex, but doesn’t have the fortitude to play big yet. Hopefully that can be developed. What I really like about him is his good attitude & his ability to have explosive speed with the ball. If he can improve his shot, he has the ability to take over a game, something that Josh and Alex have, but Michael lacks. Jon, last year’s coach, said he got much better as the season went on, hopefully there will be similar growth this year. As a starter he would probably play the 3 position, or small forward.
Austin: Here’s a kid who doesn’t have that ability to take over the game, but he’s not going to cost you a game either. If we were playing tomorrow he’d be our starting 2, which as I tend to coach is less a shooting guard and more a release valve. I tend to like my most athletic players at the 3 spot, where they can work both inside and out, or at point directing the offense.
Grant: If Michael can’t cut it as a 4, it would likely fall to Grant. The kid’s ball handling isn’t terrific, but he does have a terrific sense of humor and seems liked by his peers, which is always good for a team. He’s good at lay-ups, which is good for a 4. He made extreme efforts to thank me at all the tryouts, which was a nice show of respect, even if it was most likely parent urged.
Matthew: Probably our back-up point or 2 guard. Prone to mental mistakes at times, he can still be a solid ball handler. He wore a hat the first day of tryouts which didn’t even register with me until I saw the video. Frankly I find something about him off personality wise, and if there were more options I wouldn’t take him on that basis alone. However, this wasn’t a huge group trying out so I will take what I can get.
Mason: Before last night I’d have placed him much higher. He’s definitely the shortest player on the team. There were times tonight where another player just took the ball away from him. In this he reminds me of where Jack, a player on my GL teams for the past two years ago, was when in 4th grade. By the time he was done in 5th grade he’d learned how to avoid giving up the ball purely because someone was bigger and stronger. Mason has a good deal of basketball IQ and can see the court well. I would prefer for him to be our backup point guard, so hopefully he start to figure out strategies, with some coaching included, on how to not be taken advantage of.
Bubble Boys
Leonardo: He’s willing to take risks on defense to get that big score. That can be quite problematic as it leaves us vulnerable. He has, however, probably the best court vision of anyone outside of Josh, and will frequently make that pass to make it happen. Jon mentioned that he grew a lot last year, as I don’t believe he’d ever played organized basketball at all before this. Before last night it was basically between him and Quintin, but he showed me enough during 3 on 3, to say I should take him. Particularly because I think he can play back-up center. He doesn’t have the height, but does have the bulk, and this helps free me to use Seth to better effect. He came through on defense, and I said I was looking carefully at that, so he has become a yes.
Jack: He was an almost for sure yes coming into night 3. However, I watched him closely and can’t see what he does well. That was the charge I gave at the start of the tryouts: think of what you do well and show it to me. He seems like a nice enough kid. But what role or purpose would he have on the team? I’m not all that enthused about a kid like Matthew either, but it’s clear that Matthew’s skills warrant being on the team. Not so with Jack.
Quintin: It was disappointing not to see Quintin there. Unlike with Jack, Quintin does have real strengths. Quintin has a good sense of the floor, on both offense and defense. He doesn’t have the footspeed to always do what he needs to on defense, but he knows how to be in help, for instance, something I didn’t see watching other kids. He’s not going to b e an attitude problem in anyway, and would likely be happy with whatever playing time he got. Someone like Jack might be a little more skilled than he is, which is why going into today Jack was the yes and Quintin the maybe. But Quintin has definite things he brings to the table, if not much of a perceived upside.
Sammy: I thought for sure he was going to cut himself and was not surprised when we got started and he wasn’t there. But he arrived late and gave a very good tryout. He uses his speed to excellent effect on defense. When we would press the ball, Sammy would be an absolute nightmare for the other team. Only problem is that once we got the ball, he becomes a nightmare for us. Even if his shot is better than his form suggests, and I’m not convinced that it is, his ball handling is atrocious and a liability in any type of fast break situation, like the kind created by his steals. He would be a project. Does he have the desire to improve and get better? I just don’t know. The upside that Quintin lacks, is here in spades, but Quintin is definitely the better basketball player at this moment. Would that still be true in February? I dunno.
So me and my big pen talk about how my decision has been easier than in years past. And if Sammy doesn’t show up last night and perform the way that he did it is. I take Leonardo & Quintin, and cut Jack. Now though, I’m in a much stickier situation. I have until 4 today to make up my mind and I’m going to use all the time I have to sort it out, as who I think I should take changes by the hour.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tryouts Day 2
Day 2 of tryouts is in the books. Sammy and Brandon, the two likely cuts from yesterday, weren’t there, leaving us with 11 players. We started off with dribble suicides, which didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know. I have a pretty good feel for who can dribble, Josh foremost among them, and who can’t, pretty much everyone else. After this we did Animal Rebounding, my absolute favorite drill. It’s my favorite because it teaches aggression, it teaches rebounding, it teaches how to get a shot off with three guys in your face. In Animal Rebounding you want points. You get a point every time you get a rebound, make a shot, steal the ball, block a shot, or cause two jump balls. Normally we play to 5, but to expedite things during tryouts we played to three. At three there is some definite luck involved, but upon watching the video the winners of our three groups, Josh, Seth, and Michael, were all worthy winners. We’re going to do this again tonight, and due to a football game I’m only expecting 8 or so, and we’ll play up to 5. Between the two games, I should have a good feel for their abilities in this game. I was encouraged that I heard a couple of players say they felt the game was fun. That’s a good thing.
After Animal Rebounding we did full court lay-ups. Basically everyone got the same range of scores, of 5-7, making it worthless. We did it for 45 seconds and it tells me that 45 seconds just isn’t long enough it seems to get a range. Though the drill was useful, since when I watched it on video I was able to get a sense of the kids’ layup form, most of which was poor.
I’ve ragged a little on their fundamentals, which in some ways is unfair. They are a B-level team and B-level team are going to have problems with fundamentals. And while I intellectually know the importance of teaching good fundamentals, I haven’t done the greatest job in the world of actually doing so. I have some structure changes to my practices that I think will encourage them to be used better, but I still recognize this as an area where I can coach better.
After full court lay-ups we did a 3 man weave, which was our first passing sort of drill. This was where a few kids showed some good basketball IQ, or at least good previous instruction, as they knew some of the subtle things to do, like running wide, to do the drill well.
We then ended with some extended 5 on 5, with some no dribble 5 on 5 in the last few minutes. They did it without complaint and did it in many ways more effectively than my 5th grade team did it at the END of last year, so that was all good.
Basically I have a team at this point and a fairly good sense of their strengths and weaknesses. I know I said that I was going to go kid by kid, but I don’t think it would change much from where I’m at today, to tomorrow. So when the team is finalized I’ll start going over the players.
So I have 8 definite yeses. I have one almost definite yes, Kevin, who just rubs me the wrong way in some sense. Not sure why, but as I watched the video last night he went from a maybe to a yes. But something about him & Grant, who does well on all of the objective stuff we do and when I watch him does well subjectively, raise flags for me. And they’re both nice kids, or at least can appear so at tryouts, so it’s not an attitude thing.
That leaves basically 1 spot for two kids. The two kids on the bubble or Leonardo and Quintin. Right now I’m leaning pretty strongly towards Quintin. I watched everything these two did very carefully on video and they each have their strengths and weaknesses, but overall it seems like Quintin slightly outshines him. In particular I like two things about Quintin. One is he’s always trying to play defense. I’d say Leonardo has better defensive skills, but he’s also less likely to hustle back, and he’s more likely to leave his man to attempt to make a steal. The second is that Quintin seems to have a good sense of how to move on offense. He was always moving around doing something productive, whether it was a cut or a screen, or balancing the court. I would say the biggest plus for Leonardo is his passing. It would appear to be top 4 or 5 of the whole group. I haven’t done a lot of passing stuff, but this has seemed true from what we have done. Hopefully both will be there tonight so I can gain that much more information on them. But unlike in the past two years I don’t feel the same dilmena about the final players I’m going to choose.
After Animal Rebounding we did full court lay-ups. Basically everyone got the same range of scores, of 5-7, making it worthless. We did it for 45 seconds and it tells me that 45 seconds just isn’t long enough it seems to get a range. Though the drill was useful, since when I watched it on video I was able to get a sense of the kids’ layup form, most of which was poor.
I’ve ragged a little on their fundamentals, which in some ways is unfair. They are a B-level team and B-level team are going to have problems with fundamentals. And while I intellectually know the importance of teaching good fundamentals, I haven’t done the greatest job in the world of actually doing so. I have some structure changes to my practices that I think will encourage them to be used better, but I still recognize this as an area where I can coach better.
After full court lay-ups we did a 3 man weave, which was our first passing sort of drill. This was where a few kids showed some good basketball IQ, or at least good previous instruction, as they knew some of the subtle things to do, like running wide, to do the drill well.
We then ended with some extended 5 on 5, with some no dribble 5 on 5 in the last few minutes. They did it without complaint and did it in many ways more effectively than my 5th grade team did it at the END of last year, so that was all good.
Basically I have a team at this point and a fairly good sense of their strengths and weaknesses. I know I said that I was going to go kid by kid, but I don’t think it would change much from where I’m at today, to tomorrow. So when the team is finalized I’ll start going over the players.
So I have 8 definite yeses. I have one almost definite yes, Kevin, who just rubs me the wrong way in some sense. Not sure why, but as I watched the video last night he went from a maybe to a yes. But something about him & Grant, who does well on all of the objective stuff we do and when I watch him does well subjectively, raise flags for me. And they’re both nice kids, or at least can appear so at tryouts, so it’s not an attitude thing.
That leaves basically 1 spot for two kids. The two kids on the bubble or Leonardo and Quintin. Right now I’m leaning pretty strongly towards Quintin. I watched everything these two did very carefully on video and they each have their strengths and weaknesses, but overall it seems like Quintin slightly outshines him. In particular I like two things about Quintin. One is he’s always trying to play defense. I’d say Leonardo has better defensive skills, but he’s also less likely to hustle back, and he’s more likely to leave his man to attempt to make a steal. The second is that Quintin seems to have a good sense of how to move on offense. He was always moving around doing something productive, whether it was a cut or a screen, or balancing the court. I would say the biggest plus for Leonardo is his passing. It would appear to be top 4 or 5 of the whole group. I haven’t done a lot of passing stuff, but this has seemed true from what we have done. Hopefully both will be there tonight so I can gain that much more information on them. But unlike in the past two years I don’t feel the same dilmena about the final players I’m going to choose.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tryouts Day 1
Yesterday were the first day of tryouts. Going in, I decided that I pretty much liked my plan from last year and would be following something similar this year for Day 1. It was a little nerve racking since 2 minutes before tryouts were to begin we didn’t even have 10 players. Fortunately, 4th grade tryouts ran a little long and so we got a late start with 13 players. I will be taking 10 of the players.
The first thing I do is deliver my speech. I deliver the same speech as last year, with a few tweaks. I think it introduces things quite well.
Our first drill is dribbling. And right away it becomes clear that one kid, Sammy, is not just a BAD dribbler, but is nearly incapable of doing so. We do both left and right handed. And then for kicks we do two handed dribbling. Several kids really stood out. Unfortunately, I don’t quite have names and faces down yet, so I can’t say all of the kids who did well or struggled. I can tell you that, Josh, who was the point guard last year, did well with it. So did Alex, who is going to be the center. Austin, was able to mostly do it, and besides being a lefty, seems like a really fun kid. This year I will be videotaping all of the games and so filmed tryouts. Upon video review I also discovered that Mason hadn’t gone particularly fast, but was slow and steady and in accomplishing it. Having players who can play with-in themselves is always a tricky thing so that’s a definite plus for him.
Following 2 handed dribbling, we do 45 seconds of lay-ups. The best at the layups were Austin, Grant, Seth, and Quintin. Grant doesn’t have the athletic skills that I’ve had on previous teams, but it seems like he might have the basketball skills and personality to be a valuable member of the team. Quintin was one of the favorites of last year’s coach.
At this point, I’d already identified two kids who were likely cuts, which is making me feel pretty good and giving me a fair amount of time to spend thinking about what kind of team we could be, rather than just who has the skills, or not.
Following the layups, and a water break, we did two drills which caused a lot of confusion. The first was just 1 on 1 dribble zig-zag up the court. This is a standard drill, one I know last year’s coach did, and so it amazed me that so many had problems with it. On the other hand, triangle passing, was one I expected to cause more problems and it did. Due to the confusion with zig-zag, I was spening a lot of time remediating and so once again the video came in handy in seeing who could do what. Except that because I’m not super solid on who kids are yet, I couldn’t always tell from the video who was who. Definitely lessened its helpfulness there, but I think I have a way of correcting that for tonight.
After this we played some 3 on 3. One of the things I didn’t like was the fact that a Josh and Michael always called for the ball and acted as point guards for their teams. I’m sure this is a relic of last year’s coaching. While I don’t believe just anyone should dribble the ball up the court, I also think that waiting for one particular kid, especially off rebounds, is not the best idea. I understand why Jon, their coach last year did this, because there is some weak ball handling, but I think I’m going to try and do otherwise. We’ll see how it goes.
The standouts for 3 on 3 were Alex, who is a definite yes at this point, and Seth. Seth, in particular, used ball fakes to his advantage. Overall I was impressed with the help defense that was played.
We then ended with some hardcore running. I don’t normally run them to the extent that we did here, but it lets me see how they act when they’re tired. With only 2 or 3 hours of tryout time per kid, some short cuts are required.
Then it was time to go home where I reviewed the tape. Since I don’t have good impressions of all of the kids right now, I’m going to hold off with a kid by kid run down for the moment. I will say that my two probable cuts are Sammy and Brandon. Sammy was the fastest and most agile kid at practice. He also worked hard on defense. But at the moment he’s a HUGE liability with the basketball. If a kid is better off not with the basketball than with, they can be ok with the assets Sammy brings. But if a kid has the basketball and it’s going to end up with the other team through a missed shot or turnover, that’s no good. The other probable cut is Brandon. He’s a touch slower than most of the other kids, he didn’t shine in any of the drills, and like Sammy, was super confused by much of what we did. A general bad combination. The definite yeses at the moment are Alex, Seth, Josh, and Michael. Michael’s attitude is questionable and if there was more talent to be had, I’d look for a reason not to take him. However, even factoring in the attitude, I think he’s going to end up being one of the 10 best this year.
And that is my overall first impression. They are a definite B level team. Probably a .500 B level team. Basically they are this year what they were last year. Hopefully we’ll have a good season, learn lots of good stuff, and have fun.
The first thing I do is deliver my speech. I deliver the same speech as last year, with a few tweaks. I think it introduces things quite well.
Our first drill is dribbling. And right away it becomes clear that one kid, Sammy, is not just a BAD dribbler, but is nearly incapable of doing so. We do both left and right handed. And then for kicks we do two handed dribbling. Several kids really stood out. Unfortunately, I don’t quite have names and faces down yet, so I can’t say all of the kids who did well or struggled. I can tell you that, Josh, who was the point guard last year, did well with it. So did Alex, who is going to be the center. Austin, was able to mostly do it, and besides being a lefty, seems like a really fun kid. This year I will be videotaping all of the games and so filmed tryouts. Upon video review I also discovered that Mason hadn’t gone particularly fast, but was slow and steady and in accomplishing it. Having players who can play with-in themselves is always a tricky thing so that’s a definite plus for him.
Following 2 handed dribbling, we do 45 seconds of lay-ups. The best at the layups were Austin, Grant, Seth, and Quintin. Grant doesn’t have the athletic skills that I’ve had on previous teams, but it seems like he might have the basketball skills and personality to be a valuable member of the team. Quintin was one of the favorites of last year’s coach.
At this point, I’d already identified two kids who were likely cuts, which is making me feel pretty good and giving me a fair amount of time to spend thinking about what kind of team we could be, rather than just who has the skills, or not.
Following the layups, and a water break, we did two drills which caused a lot of confusion. The first was just 1 on 1 dribble zig-zag up the court. This is a standard drill, one I know last year’s coach did, and so it amazed me that so many had problems with it. On the other hand, triangle passing, was one I expected to cause more problems and it did. Due to the confusion with zig-zag, I was spening a lot of time remediating and so once again the video came in handy in seeing who could do what. Except that because I’m not super solid on who kids are yet, I couldn’t always tell from the video who was who. Definitely lessened its helpfulness there, but I think I have a way of correcting that for tonight.
After this we played some 3 on 3. One of the things I didn’t like was the fact that a Josh and Michael always called for the ball and acted as point guards for their teams. I’m sure this is a relic of last year’s coaching. While I don’t believe just anyone should dribble the ball up the court, I also think that waiting for one particular kid, especially off rebounds, is not the best idea. I understand why Jon, their coach last year did this, because there is some weak ball handling, but I think I’m going to try and do otherwise. We’ll see how it goes.
The standouts for 3 on 3 were Alex, who is a definite yes at this point, and Seth. Seth, in particular, used ball fakes to his advantage. Overall I was impressed with the help defense that was played.
We then ended with some hardcore running. I don’t normally run them to the extent that we did here, but it lets me see how they act when they’re tired. With only 2 or 3 hours of tryout time per kid, some short cuts are required.
Then it was time to go home where I reviewed the tape. Since I don’t have good impressions of all of the kids right now, I’m going to hold off with a kid by kid run down for the moment. I will say that my two probable cuts are Sammy and Brandon. Sammy was the fastest and most agile kid at practice. He also worked hard on defense. But at the moment he’s a HUGE liability with the basketball. If a kid is better off not with the basketball than with, they can be ok with the assets Sammy brings. But if a kid has the basketball and it’s going to end up with the other team through a missed shot or turnover, that’s no good. The other probable cut is Brandon. He’s a touch slower than most of the other kids, he didn’t shine in any of the drills, and like Sammy, was super confused by much of what we did. A general bad combination. The definite yeses at the moment are Alex, Seth, Josh, and Michael. Michael’s attitude is questionable and if there was more talent to be had, I’d look for a reason not to take him. However, even factoring in the attitude, I think he’s going to end up being one of the 10 best this year.
And that is my overall first impression. They are a definite B level team. Probably a .500 B level team. Basically they are this year what they were last year. Hopefully we’ll have a good season, learn lots of good stuff, and have fun.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Catching Up Part 2
So unlike in past years where there was a break between baseball and basketball seasons, this year indoor baseball practices had already begun before basketball ended. This was the difference between doing travel and house league. So after the disappointment of basketball, I’m not exactly firing on all cylinders as we get ready for baseball. And the weather makes things worse. We played our first tournament at the end of April and we had exactly 1 outdoor practice before then. We’d seen kids hit a live baseball twice and never in any sort of game situation. At several practices we’d done pitching so I thought I’d had a good feel for that. And we spent a LOT LOT LOT of time working with groundballs so I thought we’d be OK there.
We come to our first tournament and it’s like 8 year olds playing 9 year olds. Except that our opponents were also only 8. In that first tournament we faced teams that play year round and boy did it show. That said we were on the short end of the talent stick. And it was painful. Our best pitcher in the first game pitched two innings of lights of pitching. And after that we were lost. We went through 4 pitchers in one inning at one point. It was not good. And our hitting didn’t have a chance against their pitching. And while our groundballs were OK our throwing resulted in error, after error, after error.
On the other hand, the house league team we were coaching overflowed with talent. It didn’t hurt that we had the best player that we’d seen in the 4 years of doing it. The kid pitched almost nothing but strikes and he could hit homerun after homerun. And half the team could pitch. We won only about half of our regular season games, but that was OK, or at least we thought it was. However, in the last couple of games we tried to switch on to playoff mentality. This was all similar to previous years. And our team couldn’t make the jump. We lost our last game, closely, a game we should have won easily. And in the first round of the playoffs we lost to a team we’d beaten handily the first two times we played them. It was a disappointing end to the season.
But the real thing was that while the travel team was struggling and struggling mightily it was good to have this other team in our pocket. Of course the house league season ended well before travel and so then it just became all about a team who hadn’t won a game. If I had to assign responsibility I’d say 80% of it lay with a lack of team talent. Most of the kids belonged on a B or C level travel team. We played nearly all A level teams. They simply couldn’t expect to match-up and they didn’t.
But that other 20% is the fault of Steve and I. Some of it is that we didn’t step up our coaching. We had many more opportunities, but we didn’t really take advantage of them until later on in the season. Not coincidentally as our coaching improved so did our team, though we did get an assist by playing teams who were B rather than A on a more regular basis. A good example is a player who we had who dropped his shoulder. First there is the issue that I am simply a poor hitting coach. Steve is much better than I and recognizing faults with hitting. But Steve, while able to diagnose the problem, isn’t very good at fixing it. So we had this kid who dropped his shoulder and we knew it. Finally during the last tournament of the year, I really started doing 1 on 1 work with him where we would do soft toss, meaning I was throwing to him from the side. If he would drop his shoulder, he’d have to step-out and do five practices swings, correctly. Good practice swings too not just half-hearted ones. And he made progress. It was good. But it also came too late.
Then there were the parents. Losing teams are almost always going to have difficult parents and our team was no exception. And, as I’ve already stated, we do bear some responsibility for the poor performance, which never helps. Much better to have irrationally irate parents since it’s much easier to wave off (though that’s still what Steve and I did to a large extent).
All this wasn’t too great, but what pushed me over the edge from being a long painful season to one filled with anger was what happened with Eric and Brian, who run the program for the Park District. The big issue came when Mark, a parent who was the team’s logistics guy, wanted to schedule an extra game. Except Steve and I weren’t available. I because of a genuine commitment, Steve because his commitment to a team waxes and wanes with the success of the team. I’m sure mine does as well, it’s just easier to notice in someone else. So we told Mark that we didn’t want to do the game. He then absolutely goes off on us, but more so me, in an email. Steve wants to call Mark that night and tell him off, but I convince him to call Brian instead. It appears that Eric and Brian have our backs. Except they don’t and the game ends up getting scheduled, after much consternation. Essentially we get left out to dry. Steve and I were particularly opposed to the game since we hadn’t won a game, but knew this would be a team we’d have a chance against. Sure enough we won. Certainly didn’t help our image with some of the parents. I gave serious consideration to resigning on principle, but decided that there was only a month left in the season so it wasn’t worth the hassle.
So we finished the season. And overall it was a positive end to the season. In particular we played very well in our last tournament and actually had a chance to move out of bracket play, so that was pretty cool considering how few games we were competitive, let alone won, the whole season. It was nice after a terrible season to end on a high note.
Our season ended with a July 4th tourney, as the team was designed to let people go to overnight camp. And when baseball ended my whole outlook lightened up. During basketball I gave serious consideration to officiating rather than coaching this fall. And I’ve gone through the process of becoming a patched basketball official. However, I felt that I needed to give coaching one more shot. I hope it’s a good experience. I know I’m a better coach now than when I started. The question is whether I’m good enough. And I simply don’t know. So we’ll see.
Try-outs are on Monday and it has occupied nearly the same mental space as it did last year. Last year I would think about it constantly. This year I’ve done a lot of work on improving my skills, but when I’m not doing that basketball hasn’t crept into my thoughts or sleep like it did last year. I don’t know if this is a good thing, as I learn how to better develop the stress, or a bad thing signifying that I’ve emotionally tuned out. Like I said we’ll see.
We come to our first tournament and it’s like 8 year olds playing 9 year olds. Except that our opponents were also only 8. In that first tournament we faced teams that play year round and boy did it show. That said we were on the short end of the talent stick. And it was painful. Our best pitcher in the first game pitched two innings of lights of pitching. And after that we were lost. We went through 4 pitchers in one inning at one point. It was not good. And our hitting didn’t have a chance against their pitching. And while our groundballs were OK our throwing resulted in error, after error, after error.
On the other hand, the house league team we were coaching overflowed with talent. It didn’t hurt that we had the best player that we’d seen in the 4 years of doing it. The kid pitched almost nothing but strikes and he could hit homerun after homerun. And half the team could pitch. We won only about half of our regular season games, but that was OK, or at least we thought it was. However, in the last couple of games we tried to switch on to playoff mentality. This was all similar to previous years. And our team couldn’t make the jump. We lost our last game, closely, a game we should have won easily. And in the first round of the playoffs we lost to a team we’d beaten handily the first two times we played them. It was a disappointing end to the season.
But the real thing was that while the travel team was struggling and struggling mightily it was good to have this other team in our pocket. Of course the house league season ended well before travel and so then it just became all about a team who hadn’t won a game. If I had to assign responsibility I’d say 80% of it lay with a lack of team talent. Most of the kids belonged on a B or C level travel team. We played nearly all A level teams. They simply couldn’t expect to match-up and they didn’t.
But that other 20% is the fault of Steve and I. Some of it is that we didn’t step up our coaching. We had many more opportunities, but we didn’t really take advantage of them until later on in the season. Not coincidentally as our coaching improved so did our team, though we did get an assist by playing teams who were B rather than A on a more regular basis. A good example is a player who we had who dropped his shoulder. First there is the issue that I am simply a poor hitting coach. Steve is much better than I and recognizing faults with hitting. But Steve, while able to diagnose the problem, isn’t very good at fixing it. So we had this kid who dropped his shoulder and we knew it. Finally during the last tournament of the year, I really started doing 1 on 1 work with him where we would do soft toss, meaning I was throwing to him from the side. If he would drop his shoulder, he’d have to step-out and do five practices swings, correctly. Good practice swings too not just half-hearted ones. And he made progress. It was good. But it also came too late.
Then there were the parents. Losing teams are almost always going to have difficult parents and our team was no exception. And, as I’ve already stated, we do bear some responsibility for the poor performance, which never helps. Much better to have irrationally irate parents since it’s much easier to wave off (though that’s still what Steve and I did to a large extent).
All this wasn’t too great, but what pushed me over the edge from being a long painful season to one filled with anger was what happened with Eric and Brian, who run the program for the Park District. The big issue came when Mark, a parent who was the team’s logistics guy, wanted to schedule an extra game. Except Steve and I weren’t available. I because of a genuine commitment, Steve because his commitment to a team waxes and wanes with the success of the team. I’m sure mine does as well, it’s just easier to notice in someone else. So we told Mark that we didn’t want to do the game. He then absolutely goes off on us, but more so me, in an email. Steve wants to call Mark that night and tell him off, but I convince him to call Brian instead. It appears that Eric and Brian have our backs. Except they don’t and the game ends up getting scheduled, after much consternation. Essentially we get left out to dry. Steve and I were particularly opposed to the game since we hadn’t won a game, but knew this would be a team we’d have a chance against. Sure enough we won. Certainly didn’t help our image with some of the parents. I gave serious consideration to resigning on principle, but decided that there was only a month left in the season so it wasn’t worth the hassle.
So we finished the season. And overall it was a positive end to the season. In particular we played very well in our last tournament and actually had a chance to move out of bracket play, so that was pretty cool considering how few games we were competitive, let alone won, the whole season. It was nice after a terrible season to end on a high note.
Our season ended with a July 4th tourney, as the team was designed to let people go to overnight camp. And when baseball ended my whole outlook lightened up. During basketball I gave serious consideration to officiating rather than coaching this fall. And I’ve gone through the process of becoming a patched basketball official. However, I felt that I needed to give coaching one more shot. I hope it’s a good experience. I know I’m a better coach now than when I started. The question is whether I’m good enough. And I simply don’t know. So we’ll see.
Try-outs are on Monday and it has occupied nearly the same mental space as it did last year. Last year I would think about it constantly. This year I’ve done a lot of work on improving my skills, but when I’m not doing that basketball hasn’t crept into my thoughts or sleep like it did last year. I don’t know if this is a good thing, as I learn how to better develop the stress, or a bad thing signifying that I’ve emotionally tuned out. Like I said we’ll see.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Catching Up Part 1
My last post was a rather despondent post about losing Glencoe. It’s been a rocky coaching road I’ve had since then.
Long story short, that post proved not to be an overreaction. Later on in the month they played in the HP tournament, where they were knocked out in pool play (recalling that they were the defending champions). I had hoped that was going to be a wakeup call, but instead just further lost the team. And when I say the team, that’s not really fair. I really lost two of the triplets who played for me. They were 3 of the 5 best players on the team and the team leaders and caused some bad habits in a couple of the other players. The ethos of our practices was not good. And I accept full responsibility for it. I’m still learning and growing as a coach and to succeed need to invest time. I simply did not invest the time in the team, really either of the teams, that was needed to be as successful as I’d like. Part of that was coaching two teams. Part of that was a new job. Part of that with GL was the players I had and my failure to maintain a tone at practice that was needed. The management aspect of a team should be a strength. It’s very disappointing that it turn out otherwise.
In the end GL finished 3rd in league play, and bombed out in the second round of the playoffs, exactly what I thought they’d do. I nearly didn’t arrange for an end of season dinner, but I decided that no matter how the season had gone (and by some objective measures accounts it had gone well) I should have one. I announced there that I wouldn’t be coming back to the team. I received far more thanks than I was expecting. For instance, Lucas had slid into the bad habits group, but his parents both talked to me individually about how much they appreciated all I’d done and how I’d had the right priorities. This was, of course, an issue because my focus on player development over winning was not what the triplets’ father wanted. He wanted them to win. And win big. And if we’d have played zone, he would likely have been on board. But I think zone doesn’t teach the defensive skills that will help players at the next level.
Of course this goes back to one of weaknesses as a coach. While I say I value player development, I’m really not nearly as good as I’d like at teaching it. My real strength is on teaching team fundamentals as opposed to player fundamentals. So it’s not like individuals are ignored, but because I coach by myself I’ve tended to try and focus on things that have as many players as possible involved at a time to maximize our very limited practice time.
So that was GL.
And then there’s HP. While things weren’t going so well with GL in early February, I was pleased with where HP was at. While we weren’t winning a ton of games, we were competitive. And then Small Fry happened. Small Fry is an even more select program than the one I’m involved in and a whole bunch of my team’s players made that team. We had played well in group play during the HP tourney, coming from behind to almost win a game against an undefeated team (NF for those with good memories) and coming from 12 points behind with 3 minutes to win by 4, a nearly unheard of turnaround at this level. But that was with the whole team. Come Sunday and bracket play we lost more than half the team to Small Fry leaving us high and dry. And this is what it would be like going forward as the whole team placed more of a priority on Small Fry than HP. So we lost the next day, but not by a whole lot. I still felt good about things.
Until Brian and Eric, my bosses, talked to me. They wanted me to slow down play. Get the kids more in control. So I did what they said. They were the bosses after all. And we were not competitive in any of our remaining games. But I had decided that come the playoffs I was going to coach to give us the best chance of winning. Regardless of what they said.
So of course Small Fry had to strike again. There wasn’t supposed to be a conflict between the two playoffs, but there was. And so when this all came down I said I needed one of two kids, Zach or Danny, because I needed a ball handler. So Brian and the Small Fry guy divide up the players and I was supposed to get Danny. This would have been OK. Of course Danny decides to go to Small Fry instead. So we play a valiant effort, but lose. And that’s that. It was dispiriting, in a whole different way than GL.
I ended basketball in a really bad place. I needed the change of sport. I needed to go through it with another person, something I’d have with my co-coach Steve. I needed some success. I will cover baseball in my next update.
Long story short, that post proved not to be an overreaction. Later on in the month they played in the HP tournament, where they were knocked out in pool play (recalling that they were the defending champions). I had hoped that was going to be a wakeup call, but instead just further lost the team. And when I say the team, that’s not really fair. I really lost two of the triplets who played for me. They were 3 of the 5 best players on the team and the team leaders and caused some bad habits in a couple of the other players. The ethos of our practices was not good. And I accept full responsibility for it. I’m still learning and growing as a coach and to succeed need to invest time. I simply did not invest the time in the team, really either of the teams, that was needed to be as successful as I’d like. Part of that was coaching two teams. Part of that was a new job. Part of that with GL was the players I had and my failure to maintain a tone at practice that was needed. The management aspect of a team should be a strength. It’s very disappointing that it turn out otherwise.
In the end GL finished 3rd in league play, and bombed out in the second round of the playoffs, exactly what I thought they’d do. I nearly didn’t arrange for an end of season dinner, but I decided that no matter how the season had gone (and by some objective measures accounts it had gone well) I should have one. I announced there that I wouldn’t be coming back to the team. I received far more thanks than I was expecting. For instance, Lucas had slid into the bad habits group, but his parents both talked to me individually about how much they appreciated all I’d done and how I’d had the right priorities. This was, of course, an issue because my focus on player development over winning was not what the triplets’ father wanted. He wanted them to win. And win big. And if we’d have played zone, he would likely have been on board. But I think zone doesn’t teach the defensive skills that will help players at the next level.
Of course this goes back to one of weaknesses as a coach. While I say I value player development, I’m really not nearly as good as I’d like at teaching it. My real strength is on teaching team fundamentals as opposed to player fundamentals. So it’s not like individuals are ignored, but because I coach by myself I’ve tended to try and focus on things that have as many players as possible involved at a time to maximize our very limited practice time.
So that was GL.
And then there’s HP. While things weren’t going so well with GL in early February, I was pleased with where HP was at. While we weren’t winning a ton of games, we were competitive. And then Small Fry happened. Small Fry is an even more select program than the one I’m involved in and a whole bunch of my team’s players made that team. We had played well in group play during the HP tourney, coming from behind to almost win a game against an undefeated team (NF for those with good memories) and coming from 12 points behind with 3 minutes to win by 4, a nearly unheard of turnaround at this level. But that was with the whole team. Come Sunday and bracket play we lost more than half the team to Small Fry leaving us high and dry. And this is what it would be like going forward as the whole team placed more of a priority on Small Fry than HP. So we lost the next day, but not by a whole lot. I still felt good about things.
Until Brian and Eric, my bosses, talked to me. They wanted me to slow down play. Get the kids more in control. So I did what they said. They were the bosses after all. And we were not competitive in any of our remaining games. But I had decided that come the playoffs I was going to coach to give us the best chance of winning. Regardless of what they said.
So of course Small Fry had to strike again. There wasn’t supposed to be a conflict between the two playoffs, but there was. And so when this all came down I said I needed one of two kids, Zach or Danny, because I needed a ball handler. So Brian and the Small Fry guy divide up the players and I was supposed to get Danny. This would have been OK. Of course Danny decides to go to Small Fry instead. So we play a valiant effort, but lose. And that’s that. It was dispiriting, in a whole different way than GL.
I ended basketball in a really bad place. I needed the change of sport. I needed to go through it with another person, something I’d have with my co-coach Steve. I needed some success. I will cover baseball in my next update.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Looking Back on Last Year's Tryouts
An update is long overdue. And perhaps this short update will cause me to write the full explanation of what has happened with my coaching since February. I hate the idea of losing that history, and hate the fact that I can’t go back and reread things in the future to see where I was at then as a coach.
This year I will be coaching the 5th grade team for GL. This is the rubber year. I expect, shortly, to become a qualified official. If I don’t like how I do as a coach, I can’t imagine I would do anything but officiate next year. I plan on umpiring for sure come the summer.
Rereading my posts from tryouts last year brought back a few things. First, it showed that first impressions are either often correct or often lasting (or both). Most of the players who made the team I had a good handle on, or knew what I didn’t know. I correctly pegged the team as a very good A team, and considering they finished 3rd in league play, I had that right. So that’s the good.
The bad? It pains me to read how I cut Noah. I completely failed to live up to the standard I had set. I’m not one to regret something, but I sure as hell regret that. That was a big disappointment. It is also upsetting to think back on how much time and effort I put into the preseason and my inability, due to work and the second team, to follow through on that all season long. I had definite deficiencies as a coach, and I need to put in time to overcome them. With one team this year, and not being new to a job, hopefully that’ll happen.
This year I will be coaching the 5th grade team for GL. This is the rubber year. I expect, shortly, to become a qualified official. If I don’t like how I do as a coach, I can’t imagine I would do anything but officiate next year. I plan on umpiring for sure come the summer.
Rereading my posts from tryouts last year brought back a few things. First, it showed that first impressions are either often correct or often lasting (or both). Most of the players who made the team I had a good handle on, or knew what I didn’t know. I correctly pegged the team as a very good A team, and considering they finished 3rd in league play, I had that right. So that’s the good.
The bad? It pains me to read how I cut Noah. I completely failed to live up to the standard I had set. I’m not one to regret something, but I sure as hell regret that. That was a big disappointment. It is also upsetting to think back on how much time and effort I put into the preseason and my inability, due to work and the second team, to follow through on that all season long. I had definite deficiencies as a coach, and I need to put in time to overcome them. With one team this year, and not being new to a job, hopefully that’ll happen.
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