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| | |  | The Offseason, The Tryouts, And Looking Ahead To The Great Season That Awaits |
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| Posted By: Dillon Rand on 2007-11-26 01:32:28 EST | Email Story | Flag As Spam | Comments (0) |
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Even Cross Country doesn't prepare you for the running we do in tryouts. Its rough, but I think with the right attitude you can get through it a lot easier. I was blessed to have a friend and longtime teammate whose grandfather used to work at a school nearby us, and so they let us use the entire basketball gym whenever we need it. It was helpful to take advantage that, we would go a couple nights a week to do drills, running, and I was with 3 other teammates, so we did some 2-on-2. All of this is similar to the kind of stuff we did in the tryouts. We did this the last 3 weeks before tryouts started because we were all playing fall sports and except for one of us, and he has a job so there were time commitment issues that prevented us from getting a real... "early jump" on things. I think it really got me in better shape come the end of the tryouts.
I got through the 2-a-days we had the two days following Thanksgiving, and like anyone else, even with much stretching, I'm really sore. Time to suck it up, tomorrow's Monday and we got more tryouts, cuts are on Tuesday, and then the real deal starts. I can't wait for this season. It's been a great offseason and I've really taken a lot from the camps and summer leagues I participated in. The main thing I took from all of them, is that no one is perfect in basketball, even the pros don't make every shot or hold their man scoreless game by game. It's the work ethic that coaches notice, and its the work ethic that makes you better as a player. I dont think another big man is beating me down the floor this year, I'm ready to run, I'm ready to work.
Another thing, when I went to the Sixers Camp in the Poconos, Shavelik Randolph was one of the guest speakers. And I'll never forget what he said about rebounding, because thats sort of my job... ya know... being 6'4 and all. He asked the campers what the most important part of rebounding was. And you would hear answers like "boxing out" or "jumping" or even "timing your jump". And he said, "Yes, yes, those are all important fundamentals but what the most important part of rebounding is... you gotta want that ball more than anyone else on the floor." When he says that, naturally being a kid in New Jersey and a Nets fan I think of Jason Kidd, the point guard who steals rebounds from forwards and centers coming out of virtually nowhere, and when someone else on his team gets the rebound, he comes to the ball faster than lightning, doing it all because HE WANTS THE BALL.
So in closing, combining all of the wisdom I was given and the things I've learned this summer and worked on in the offseason, my mentality for this year is to outwork the opponent, and want the ball more than anyone on the court. I think as a team we can accomplish a lot this year and I can't wait for the first game against Don Bosco Prep at home. Its a big test for how strong our team is physically and mentally. |
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| Tags: tryouts |
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| Posted in basketball, high school sports, men's athletics |
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