Tryouts ... Day 2

Unfortunately I was unable to stay for the entire tryouts today as I had other work obligations ... that being said the first half of tonight's tryouts went fairly smoothly we had about 12 new players wishing to tryout for the team and a couple who were unable to make it or just didn't want to come back ...

For me I don't mind if they choose not to come back just makes it easier for me to cut them ... well actually they cut themselves but it also shows me that they did not have the heart or desire to be a part of what we are trying to accomplish here at Seneca and that is a championship!

It may not happen this year or the next but by the time this coaching staff is finished we should have built a great program here and hang a banner from the ceiling ...

Ok back to the tryouts ... again we did not do anything out of the ordinary we again showed them a continuation of the drills or sets that we were teaching the first day and then allowed them to work on learning it ... the we played 3 on 3 giving them rules that they could only use the teachings from the two tryouts to score ...

While walking around the gym it was evident which players 'got it' and which ones were close and which ones just had no idea what was going on ... some players tried to show their leadership skills in their groups while other just took the direction from the leader even if he was wrong and way off base ... At one point in the tryouts ... just before I left ... coach pulled them all to the baseline and let them have it ... one thing that all of us can not stand is people not playing as hard as they can ... especially in a tryout ... I have always said what you put into practice you will put out in a game ... and I believe that if work slack in practice and give 50% of what you can do in a game you will do the same because your body and mind do not know any better... Micheal Jordan was inducted into the basketball hall of fame tonight and even he said that he came out with the same fire and passion in a practice as he would in a game and if a teammate came out with less then what they can he would let them have it ... this is coming from a player that people believe is the greatest to play the game ...

As was preparing to leave we gathered and I provided them with the players that I liked and the reasons why ... we were just moving into the 5 on 5 phase of our tryouts and wanted to begin cutting some of the players that just don't have what it takes to play at this level ...

I hope it went well as we have horror stories from last year with this one guy that just couldn't take the word 'cut' he showed up for four additional practices trying to show he belonged ... this man even told us he played ball professionally in England ... let's just say if that was true I wouldn't be here in Canada as I would be the Micheal Jordan of the English league ...

but back onto the original topic ... I am sure that they made the first wave of cuts tonight and they went well. I look forward to seeing a slimmer group of players on Monday and seeing what they can do as we narrow our team down to the final roster.

Until then ...