I have full confidence in my son and his prep for the tryouts, as well as the other baseball players that are working out over the winter to be prepared.
I am not sure I have confidence in the process, there are a**kissers, lobbyists, politicians everywhere. Can only hope the coach can see through these bs'ers.
Again, cannot worry about what we cannot control!
quote:Originally posted by Coach May:
There is no way you can know how hard anyone outside your group is working. So work as hard as you can and do not limit yourself by those around you.
Good stuff Coach May. How often do we hear people say, "my son works harder than anyone I know".
How would one know how hard another player works at being better than anyone else?
3finger, it says he played JV as a soph and attended the camp the following summer. That would be before his Jr year. Straight from Jordan's own website...
"He tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year, but at 5 feet 11 inches, he was deemed too short to play at that level and Laney’s basketball coach, Clifton 'Pop' Herring, decided that Jordan could improve his skills with more playing time on the junior varsity team. The following summer, however, he grew four inches and trained rigorously. He then attended the nationally renowned Five-Star Basketball Camp during that summer. There, Jordan met legendary University of North Carolina (UNC) coach Dean Smith, who began recruiting Jordan for college. Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster, Jordan averaged about 25 points per game over his final two seasons of high school play. In November 1980 Jordan signed a letter of intent to attend UNC. As a high school senior Jordan led Laney to 19 wins. As a senior, he was selected to the McDonald's All-American Team after averaging a triple-double: 29.2 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 10.1 assists."
As I said...that wasn't the point anyway.
"He tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year, but at 5 feet 11 inches, he was deemed too short to play at that level and Laney’s basketball coach, Clifton 'Pop' Herring, decided that Jordan could improve his skills with more playing time on the junior varsity team. The following summer, however, he grew four inches and trained rigorously. He then attended the nationally renowned Five-Star Basketball Camp during that summer. There, Jordan met legendary University of North Carolina (UNC) coach Dean Smith, who began recruiting Jordan for college. Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster, Jordan averaged about 25 points per game over his final two seasons of high school play. In November 1980 Jordan signed a letter of intent to attend UNC. As a high school senior Jordan led Laney to 19 wins. As a senior, he was selected to the McDonald's All-American Team after averaging a triple-double: 29.2 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 10.1 assists."
As I said...that wasn't the point anyway.
I can understand some parent's concern. Here's a question to possibly affect poster's view of the situation. How many of you have son's where he's been visible enough at every level where you weren't concerned about him getting overlooked?
Mine: I knew my son would make JV over the freshman team as a freshman. He was the best player on the middle school team. As previous posted the varsity coach scouted the team. The only question was if he would make varsity. He was one of the last cut. He placed himself high on the radar screen for soph year.
Coming out of LL into middle school the coach didn't know much baseball. He didn't know the players. My son ran out to short at the first tryout and was never moved.
Mine: I knew my son would make JV over the freshman team as a freshman. He was the best player on the middle school team. As previous posted the varsity coach scouted the team. The only question was if he would make varsity. He was one of the last cut. He placed himself high on the radar screen for soph year.
Coming out of LL into middle school the coach didn't know much baseball. He didn't know the players. My son ran out to short at the first tryout and was never moved.
Tx-Husker,
The Encarta link I provided has a different timeline than your quote, which you can verify by actually reading the link. The text you quoted seems to come from mjordan23.com. Why would you think that is Jordan's own website?
Anyway, your point seems to be that coaches are no more perfect than anybody else, and they make mistakes. I agree that coaches make mistakes, but I do believe that Jordan being held to the JV team as a sophomore was not a "mistake".
The Encarta link I provided has a different timeline than your quote, which you can verify by actually reading the link. The text you quoted seems to come from mjordan23.com. Why would you think that is Jordan's own website?
Anyway, your point seems to be that coaches are no more perfect than anybody else, and they make mistakes. I agree that coaches make mistakes, but I do believe that Jordan being held to the JV team as a sophomore was not a "mistake".
quote:Jordan being held to the JV team as a sophomore was not a "mistake".
I don't see the problem with that at all, In fact it maybe just maybe made him into the player he became??
EH
Jordan thinks it was a mistake. I have heard him talk about this a few times. The coach also thought he made a mistake and is embarrased to be the coach who cut MJ. This happens all the time.
quote:The coach also thought he made a mistake and is embarrased to be the coach who cut MJ.
Thats hindsight by the coach.
There must have been something he did not like at the time.
MJ might not have become the most dominating player in the NBA if not for that setback.
EH
No way to prove that but I doubt it.
Does it really matter? It worked out pretty well in the end right? Coaches make mistakes all the time. Players do as well. And as a parent I have made my share of mistakes and I am sure I will make some more. So whats the point of all of this?
Use anything you want for an excuse not to succeed. The coach , etc. You still fail right? Does it really matter why? The players , coaches and parents that choose to look for reasons to fail will continue to fail. The players , coaches and parents that look for solutions and refuse to fail will continue to succeed.
Use anything you want for an excuse not to succeed. The coach , etc. You still fail right? Does it really matter why? The players , coaches and parents that choose to look for reasons to fail will continue to fail. The players , coaches and parents that look for solutions and refuse to fail will continue to succeed.
That is the point. Stuff happens all the time and you keep going. There are more people who had set backs that go on to do well than those who had no set backs.
Very true.
Thank you for posing this TPM:
My son has grown to 6'5". He is working hard to make sure he stays in shape for tryouts.
I'm not going to deny that height gets a player noticed. But if you can't play, you can't play. No matter what your height.
quote:There's a weird perception that bigger kids get those scholarships and first round picks because they are simply bigger. Did anyone ever think that they didn't work hard for those opportunities?
My son has grown to 6'5". He is working hard to make sure he stays in shape for tryouts.
I'm not going to deny that height gets a player noticed. But if you can't play, you can't play. No matter what your height.
Players that look the part have to prove they can't play. Players that don't have to prove they can. Life is not fair. Deal with it and overcome whatever you have to overcome.
MJ is an exception to every rule IMHO. I think that every HS in America has an MJ story, at a different level of coarse, where a player has persevered and then succeeded. However, I'll bet in most those cases there was a parent who played a part in the promotion of their kid to a coach as the initial post asked. Whether that "promotion" involved face-2-face contact with a coach or a more subtle plan of putting the kid in the right place at the right time, it is still promoting a kid to a coach. I think there are more situations than the obvious ones where mom/dad are the promotional agents.
Does that make me guilty? I think so. When my son was in 8th grade I knew when the varsity would be at the public cages, so were we, but nothing was said, he was there to get his swings. We knew where the coach lived and the kids road coarse went by his house but he never looked that way when he passed. We knew when the varsity team was playing and went to many of those games. We knew when the summer team was playing and went to many of those games. Was I promoting him, Yes, but he did not have a license to get to these places without me, and more importantly he did not have an understanding of what an adult coach looks for in players. When all was said and done he knew what coaches looked for and more importantly he developed a work ethic that any coach would want in a player.
Promoting your player does not have to be for a** kissing only, it can an alternative motive.
Does that make me guilty? I think so. When my son was in 8th grade I knew when the varsity would be at the public cages, so were we, but nothing was said, he was there to get his swings. We knew where the coach lived and the kids road coarse went by his house but he never looked that way when he passed. We knew when the varsity team was playing and went to many of those games. We knew when the summer team was playing and went to many of those games. Was I promoting him, Yes, but he did not have a license to get to these places without me, and more importantly he did not have an understanding of what an adult coach looks for in players. When all was said and done he knew what coaches looked for and more importantly he developed a work ethic that any coach would want in a player.
Promoting your player does not have to be for a** kissing only, it can an alternative motive.
Introducing ones self and their high school age kid to a coach is wrong. It's kissing fanny. The high school kid should know the schedule for tryouts, workouts and practices. If not, they can go to the athletic dept themselves. I never did it so neither should amyone else.
The only involment should be just the administrative and medical forms and parent meetings called by the coach and when they're upperclassmen that are being sought out by colleges there's interaction with the hs coach, Other thsn that, there's no point to it.
The only involment should be just the administrative and medical forms and parent meetings called by the coach and when they're upperclassmen that are being sought out by colleges there's interaction with the hs coach, Other thsn that, there's no point to it.
Cleveland Dad - I guess my tongue was not inserted firmly enough in my cheek. There should be no "edge" except the play of his son.
Now that I read the postings, I remember the high school jockeying for position. There was nothing fun about it - the coaches resent it, and the other parents talk about it.
Now that I read the postings, I remember the high school jockeying for position. There was nothing fun about it - the coaches resent it, and the other parents talk about it.
quote:Cleveland Dad - I guess my tongue was not inserted firmly enough in my cheek. There should be no "edge" except the play of his son.
Sorry about that brod!
I thought that sounded out of character for you
55Mom & TPM
I did not mean to imply that big kids do not work hard and are given breaks they do not deserve. There are many kids who work hard, big and small. Both of your kids sound like players any coach would want on their team.
I have recieved a lot of great advice on this topic, while my son is not one of the "big kids" (at least not yet!), he is working hard every day to prepare for those tryouts. If he is fortunate enough to make the team, the hard work will have paid off. If he does not make the team he will be better off anyway for working hard to achieve a goal.
Good luck!
I did not mean to imply that big kids do not work hard and are given breaks they do not deserve. There are many kids who work hard, big and small. Both of your kids sound like players any coach would want on their team.
I have recieved a lot of great advice on this topic, while my son is not one of the "big kids" (at least not yet!), he is working hard every day to prepare for those tryouts. If he is fortunate enough to make the team, the hard work will have paid off. If he does not make the team he will be better off anyway for working hard to achieve a goal.
Good luck!
Every inch of growth in a kid requires 2-3 months to re-connect. Meaning the ability to perform with some measure of cordination. I think the advantage goes to the kids, big or small who establish their height and topped out early at 5.7 , 5.10 , 6.0 whatever.
It affords them the opportunity to build muscle and maintain timing without re-inventing themselves during growth spurts.
My son grew a litle over a foot between his freshman and sophmore year. Played pretty well, under heavy sniper activity.
It affords them the opportunity to build muscle and maintain timing without re-inventing themselves during growth spurts.
My son grew a litle over a foot between his freshman and sophmore year. Played pretty well, under heavy sniper activity.
My son grew six inches in six months during his 14U season. By fall ball and even into the next spring, his swing wasn't right. But, I'm sure he's glad he's now 6'1" and probably still growing (grew an inch in ten days over vacation ... we're eye to eye now) rather than topping out at 5'7".quote:Every inch of growth in a kid requires 2-3 months to re-connect. Meaning the ability to perform with some measure of coordination. I think the advantage goes to the kids, big or small who establish their height and topped out early at 5.7 , 5.10 , 6.0 whatever.
We had a kid on the travel team grow rapidly before the 14U season. He had a tough year in the field. He didn't have a feel for where "down" was on a grounder. He didn't grasp his arm had turned into a rocket. It wasn't safe to sit behind first base. He was much better the following year.
It's has to be really frustrating to those kids who have had a big growth spurt and can't fiqure out what happened. They put in a tremendous amount of time in the cage hitting, tee work ,soft toss fielding, throwing and they suck.
My son would fall down running into the dugout ( sniper) and throwing from a mound was always an adventure.
I have to laugh when I hear how easy the big kids have it.
My son would fall down running into the dugout ( sniper) and throwing from a mound was always an adventure.
I have to laugh when I hear how easy the big kids have it.
Don't recall anyone saying big kids have it easy.
Good point. Nobody has made the statement in this thread. Just what I hear in the stands.