quote:Originally posted by BobbleheadDoll:
To me part of the job of preparing your son for college was to develop a confidence in him so that he would never feel uncomfortable when trying out for a team with new coaches and layers he had never met.
We were tryout junkies as I have mentioned in other threads. I would purposly take my son to several elite team tryouts and he would go out each time and meet these guys he had never met before. It was amazing to watch him meld into the group. By the time the tryout was over he had guys talking to him like they were old buddies. He was never uncomfortable with players or coaches.
One day when he was a 16U player I saw an add for the tryouts for the provicial team. I called and the secretary told me this was a final and only those who had been selected from 15 previous tryouts held all over the province could attend. I wangled an exception and was told to say she said it was okay. We got there and the best 16U players from across Ontario were there. My son walked out like he belonged there and made the final cut. He was not intimidated nor uncomfortable because that was part of my job to prepare him. He knew what he had to do and knew that he could do it. When he got to college we made ourselves scarce because he wanted it that way. We went with him to the field house to meet the coach and incoming players for the 1st time and we were on the outside looking in. I knew he was prepared and din't have a moment of concern. No home sick calls but calls of a happy guy with a bunch of new friends. When we had dropped him off at the dorm we unloaded the things we bought locally for him, met his roommates and a few teammates, said our goodbyes and were on our way home.
All the BB tryouts were a learning experience for him. 4-5 years of playing elite ball and going to various tryouts seemed strange to some people but it had valuable lessons and introduced him to a variety of coaches and players. He played on several different teams over those years and was never nervous. I considered his development just as important as his BB development. I have said many times I never talk to coaches he played for but I did mount the recruiting campaign. That was what I was good at. To me his personal development was just as important as his BB development and he had nothing to prove to me about talking to caoches. He went to UNLV on his own for an unofficial visit set up by me. The coaches loved him and he walked all the way from his hotel to the campus. He was shown around and gave them his DVD which they couldn't respond to until the dead period was over. The 1st legal day we got the call at about 4:30 pm when they figured he would be home. He wasn't and the coach talked to me for over an hour and the recruiting began.
I enjoyed reading that post. Learning how to compete may be the most important thing to learn.