Coaches Blog: Try-Outs
It is hard to remember the day when cuts were made until you see the expressions and reactions of those players that did not make their chosen team. It’s a look of disbelief, anger and in some circumstances, unscripted disappointment. Of course, the same holds true for those players elevated to a level only their coaches saw them capable of achieving. At our school, a freshmen made the varsity. It was a well-deserved recognition and appraisal and when we ran into each other on campus and celebrated, it was a joyous occasion. Another player, a sophomore, also made varsity but in his case, though congratulations were in order and given, we were both in a state of somewhat disbelief. Again, the varsity coach saw something this player is capable of beyond his current ability.
In regard to my team, we are still in the process of determining the roster. Other sports at the school are in play, including x-country and soccer as well as the pervasive tentacle of club sports, in this case lacrosse. Players are testing the waters in a few sports, determining their best course of action, and until the end of next week we won’t know for sure the full team.
We have started our analytics process, however. In practice we are charting each shot attempt and make over the course of 160 shots per player. The repetition has done us well, and hopefully will translate into better open shooting during games. Until then, we’ll keep up with the training and conditioning while slowly but surely implementing our offense, building the concept of tough, hard-nosed defense, clearing the boards, sharing the ball and limited turnovers. Determining the value of each player starts now – both with the eye test and statistics.