Now for the reason that I write this post. Over the past year, I've done several one on one tryouts. Each time I'm quite excited to see who's coming, because according to their parents, their son is the next Michael Jordan. They tell me in their email that their son is tall, very athletic, a great shooter, learner, listener, and so on. But they never even come close to measuring up. Little do their parents know just how good these kids get, playing competitive basketball over several years, compared to recreational ball.
All of these kids that I've watched in tryouts, have only played recreation basketball. While some of this is good, I believe it handicaps them. In our recreational league they are forced to wear a colored wrist band, and guard only the opposing player with the same color. You can not steal the ball, but you can walk all over the court, and never hear the whistle being blown. I remember a player picking up a ball and running all over the court. Are you kidding me. And I'm not a yeller, but I will admit I was getting irritated. All of this to slowly help them, and be as fair as possible (everyone gets a trophy). But in the end the opposite occurs.
We have taken the same boys, in the same grade and put them into competitive ball. They are forced to learn the rules and abide by them. They must learn how to protect the basketball while dribbling, and passing, otherwise a turnover will occur. And they have to learn how to break a press, keep their head up while dribbling, and work on the fundamentals of the game. In this manner, these kids grow by leaps and bounds.
Now back to the latest tryout. Micheal Jordan was suppose to show up. I was excited as we were needing a big, polished player. And according to his mother he was just the man for the job. In his first layup attempt, he dribbled down the court with his head down, he launched from just inside the free throw line, and almost missed the backboard. No problem I said to myself, lets give him another shot. His mother had told me that he was a great three point shooter. So I tested his shot. The shot was a two handed shot, starting under the left hip. During his windup, it appeared he almost did the letter "O" with the ball. His release was under his chin, both hands crossing each other, and then quickly falling to the floor. We kept shooting so I could bring out the good three point shooting in him, but to no avail. I was absolutely astonished. So we did some more drills so it looked like I was taking a hard look at him, and then it was time to face the mother.
I told her that I could see some good things in him, but there was no way I could put him on the floor against these veteran players. They would eat his lunch, and send him crying home. I recommended that he really work on the fundamentals. I gave her a homework basketball sheet, and told her to consistently do it, 3-4 times a week. She was saddened, and just like any good mother she tried her best to sell him. Luckily afterwards she told me that she teaches dance, and she understands the different levels. I told her that her son could come and work with us to try and get better, and after a while we could try and get him on somebody's team.
In summary, I applaud all the mothers that think their boy is the best. But I have learned not to get my hopes up too much. If your boy is almost 6 feet tall and is in fifth grade give me a call. We'd love to have him on our team. Recreation basketball is good at times, but very damaging as well to those that want to move on. But in the end, those that are most consistent in all that they do, will win out. If you want to give you boy or girl the edge in any sport visit http://www.fourthquartersports.com. Soon this store will have many different tools for improving ones game.
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