Winter Tryouts! Show them what you’ve got

There are a lot of components in a tryout. Ability and skill level are very important but work rate, intensity, and intangibles are also extremely important as well.

Cut down day, if it has to happen, is the toughest day. You want all kids to have a great experience, so it has to happen but with so many great kids it can really be a down day. The best part is seeing the kids at the end of the season and all the growth and progress they have made. As a coach, the record is less important than the growth you see in the student athletes.

All the great coaches I had growing up in total but my love of sports came from my father. It was a great way to spend time with him and make a strong connection. Coaching allows you to make a positive impact on kids’ lives in another way besides teaching.

Happy Gilmore

Of course I always evaluate skills at tryouts, but I always look for hard work and determination during drills.  I also look for players who are respectful to the players around them and those who uplift.  If a player has those qualities but may not necessarily be the most skilled, I will take them.  Skills are taught, but character is not.

The hardest part of being a coach is communication to your athletes.  I always work hard to give as much feedback as possible.  I always want my kids to know what they are doing great and what they can work on.  There is always a lot to balance because everyone is so different! But when you can do this, it is so rewarding!

My inspiration for being a coach is my love for the sport and the competitive nature of the game! I want to help athletes reach their highest potential by pushing them to their limits, while encouraging and allowing athletes to make mistakes and grow along the way!

I have two! I love Miracle on Ice because it is an amazing and inspiring story of the 1980 Olympic hockey team! My other favorite is a rugby movie called Forever Strong. It is about a troubled rugby player who must play against the team his father coaches at the national championships.  It is so inspiring! I love it!

Work ethic, sportsmanship, focuses on the we–not the me; willingness to learn and take criticism; if they’re a good person, they will make a good teammate.  Of course they have to have the skills and fundamentals to participate.  I am lucky enough to coach two sports where the student scores put them on the team… (Girls Golf and Boys Bowling)

The hardest thing hands down is making cuts.  Second would be dealing with parents with unrealistic expectations.  The reward to me is appreciating the journey of the season.  Of course everyone wants to win, but you have to be able to put that into perspective.  What goes on in a sports season a lot of times sort of mirrors what happens in life…. In the end, we all just want to teach the kids to be good people and good, productive members of society.  Athletics is a great avenue to accomplish this.

I look at coaching as an extension of what I do during the school day.  You get to teach and share your expertise with your team…I cannot say anyone in particular has inspired me to be a coach.  I can say, there are coaches that have inspired me to become a better coach and improve.  Gene Tundo is one, for example.

Not in any order: Slapshot, Major League, Miracle, Hoosiers, The Natural… I’m a coach. I can’t just have one.

It’s always beneficial if the player has experience in the sport. It’s great to bring knowledge and a background to the team.

I feel the hardest part of being a coach is seeing a player struggle (not having their best day in the sport) is always hard. I want to make it better for her. On the flip side, it’s so rewarding when they are working hard, practicing, and improving. It’s great to see how happy they are when they succeed and accomplish their goals.

I truly enjoy teaching the players and wanted to become more involved by coaching and leading the girls in bowling. We are not just a team, but a bowling family.

When having a tryout, one of the most important qualities that I look for is how hard an athlete plays and how much effort he is willing to bring in everything that we are doing whether he believes that he is being “watched” at that time or not.… I also think coachability is a huge character trait that I am looking for in all of my athletes.  The ability to take and utilize constructive criticism to become a better player is a really important thing that I believe all athletes should possess.  I don’t have time to deal with egos and a “me over we” mentality.  Wanting to be coached to become a better player both individually and for our team’s success is one of the most important traits a player can have in my opinion.

One of the hardest things about being a coach is an inability to give every athlete that is a member of your team equal playing time at the varsity level when they are coming to practice and working hard each and every day…. Unfortunately, it is not always realistic to equal out playing time for every member of the team each and every game.  I also really dislike having to cut kids when they take the time and effort to come out and try out for a sport at the beginning of the season.  I never want to turn away an athlete that is indicating that he is willing to work really hard for me as their coach…. The most rewarding aspect of being a coach is watching your athletes succeed on the court or on the field when you know how much time and effort they have put in both in practice and on their own to improve their skillset and execute a gameplan to achieve success.  I tell my team all the time that wins are always on my players and losses are always on me as a coach.  I try to work as hard as I possibly can to help my athletes to achieve success as a member of my teams and to also help them to possibly one day play at a higher level if that is a goal that they have for themselves as well.

My inspiration for becoming a coach was through a combination of things.  I was fortunate to have some very influential coaches during my time as an athlete playing sports who I was able to learn a lot from both about how to become a better player individually, but also x and o wise as well.  I also have felt that some of my coaches who I had were some of the most influential people in my life and helped shape who I am today as a person so I wanted to be able to provide that for the individuals that I worked with as well.  I also am a very competitive person and knew that being a coach would allow me to continue to be involved in the sports that I loved even after my playing days were over.

My favorite sports movie is Miracle because it is based on a true story and personifies the underdog mentality that if you believe in the group that you have around you that group can achieve more than anyone outside of it could potentially believe possible.

I coach Unified sports so we do not really have tryouts.  Everyone is welcome to join and to be involved. I look for athletes and partners that want to work with others to learn about the sport and helping others. I think it is important to be committed to the team so connections can be made.

Unified sports are amazing and have so many benefits.  Hardest would be the time away from a coach’s own family especially when there are scheduling conflicts at home.  As a parent you hate to miss your own kids concert, sporting event, etc.

The most rewarding- watching athletes wand partners connect and watching kids that do not normally get to participate in a high school sport get involved.

The students.  Watching people learn to work together and grow as a team.  You can see a different side to people in the sports arena than you do in a classroom. When I think back to my own high school career, my coaches were there for me and helped me develop into the person I am today.

Rudy

So wrestling is very unique in that we don’t actually have tryouts and never make any cuts. Every year we always have a bunch of athletes (both male and female) that have never wrestled before that want to give it a shot. The ones who are hardworking, coachable, and have a desire to improve usually are the most successful. New York State is on the verge of adding Women’s Wrestling as a varsity sport. We had 4 female wrestlers last year and are hoping to have even more this year. I give the girls a lot of credit for breaking gender stereotypes around the sport of wrestling and proving some of the naysayers wrong.

It is certainly difficult to manage a team of 40+ wrestlers, especially when you have such a mix of talents and experience levels. I have wrestlers who are completely new to the sport on the same mat with wrestlers that are legit vying for a state title. There are many rewarding parts of being a coach but building positive relationships and seeing the wrestlers achieve success are a few of the most fun for me.

I had a few amazing coaches growing up that I would say helped shaped me but honestly it’s the character and resilience that the sport of wrestling teaches that is inspiration enough for me.

Who doesn’t love a good sports movie?! The one that immediately pops into my head is Remember the Titans. That movie had it all.

The biggest qualities I look for in a player is having a positive attitude, a willingness to learn, and will be a great teammate.

The hardest aspect about coaching a varsity level sport is the fact that my athletes eventually graduate and leave the program. It is always tough to fill their shoes. This is also rewarding because the reason they are so hard to replace is due to all of their growth over the years. It’s a vicious cycle.

We all have talents and abilities we are born to share with the world. I believe one of mine is the ability to know and understand how to coach marksmanship sports. It’s a blessing to be able to help develop young rough talent into a polished precision marksman.

I love stories of underdogs who overcome adversity through grittiness, hard work, and determination. That being said I have to go with the football classic, Rudy.