TRYOUTS!!

Tryout results will be coming out tomorrow for most of the teams.  The following is an e-mail for both players and parents I wrote last year about the tryout process.  I've been asked by a few if I could send it out again.  So here it is:


Hello players and parents,

I have been asked a lot of questions at practice by the girls about tryouts and I wanted to answer them so everyone is on the same page.  Whether a player makes a team is determined by both their performance during the year and by the tryout.  Everything is taken into consideration.  The best performing 5 or 6 black team players throughout the year are put into the "A" category for the beginning of tryouts.  The 5 or 6 remaining players are put into an "A-B" category along with the best performing 5 or 6 "B" team players from the prior year.  The rest of the "B" team players are considered "B-C" along along with any new players coming to tryouts.

As the tryout progresses, players either move up or down in categories based on their play.  Toward the end of the final tryout, players that are A-B or B-C have carefully been moved to either one group or the other.  Any players on the fence are put on one field to determine how they look against each other... giving the evaluators the best chance to compare players apples to apples.      

If there are any players that can not be sorted between, the tie-breakers go to players that have been in the program, attendance at practice the prior year, and of course attitude.

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Now for some of my thoughts and requests: I have been through a lot of tryout processes, as a player and as a coach, and I have learned from every one of them.  Tryouts are stressful for all involved, and in stressful situations we are all given the opportunity to build character.  There was no favoritism or politics involved in these tryouts... I know because I was there and a part of the process.  If your daughter did not make the team she wanted, it was not due to bias... it is because she needs to improve in one or many areas.  If the emphasis is taken off that fact, that improvement needs to be made, the opportunity to build character is lost.  Allow your daughter to take ownership of her situation and change it if she chooses.  I am always here to talk if they need advice, information, or guidance.  Also I would strongly encourage you to allow your daughter to come talk to me if they have questions or want to express their feelings or thoughts.  If you do it for them, we have again missed the opportunity for them to take ownership and grow from the situation.

For the parents:
The teams will change... there will be different players and parents in your immediate circle.  Please go out of your way to make the new parents feel like part of the team.  If there are any parents that naturally enjoy getting people together, please put that hat on... make some calls and get people together to have some fun and get to know one another better.   On the flip side to this, any parents that have left your team, moving up or down... this was not their choice.  I would encourage us all to take more of a club friendly attitude than a team friendly one.  We are all trying to encourage and develop these kids to be happy and strong young adults... it helps when all the parents, no matter what team, stick together.   

For the players:
If you are not on the team you want to be, you have an amazing opportunity ahead of you.  You have been given a setback.  Now what you do with this is up to you!  
  
You've probably heard it before... but Michael Jordan was cut from his sophomore basketball team.  He developed a winning mentality from his setback simply by making the decision to work harder.  He decided not to give up, and after years of hard work... as most of you know, he became the best basketball player of all time. 
 
I myself am no Michael Jordan, but when I was 11 years old I too was cut from the U12 team in my town.  At that time there was no club team for my age group, so this team was my only option.  I definitely know what it feels like to be disappointed at a tryout!  I really was very upset by it... but I really learned a lot from this disappointment.  I ended up earning a starting spot in high school over most of the same players that beat me out for that team.  I also went on to play in college, unlike the majority of the players in my town.  All of this was simply because I made a decision and put more work in over the years.

You have been given this same chance to develop a winning mentality... and all you have to do is make the choice to not give up.  

For those of you that have made the team you want... congratulations!  However, as you saw at tryouts, there are a lot of people that want your spot and a lot of them are willing to work very hard to get it.  Are you willing to work harder to keep it?  

SEE YOU ALL ON THE FIELDS!!

Coach Eric