It is the time of year of the cash register ringing. It is the summer camp tryout season and every year I still amazed at what I see.
It is amazing to me the number of player that still follow the summer camp circuit, who fail to educate himself on his real prospect of making the team. More amazing is to listen to the parent talk about how many camp they will attend the summer.
It is the most shocking to me though to watch the camp, knowing what has been paid to attend, and to see the player not compete as though his career depend on making the team! Because the player career actually do depend on making the team in many case.
It is really disgusting to see the player think he can go through the motion and still make the team. The parent just pay and pay. Then the wonder of why he do not make the team always come later.
The blaming of the coaches, the scouts, the other player not being able to keep up with him. It is the failure to take responsibility for you own compete level in camp. It is the excuse maker.
No one want player with no compete level, and no one want excuse maker. He may sneak on the team once in a while because the natural skill and talent he have, but eventually he is gone.
Friday I see the player who is highly skilled, big, powerful, and experienced. For years he has made it through because of these thing. This year though, team talking about him only to trade him to team that is not aware he has no compete and little heart.
Yes, team talk like this in their room during the tryout all the time. You have no idea all thing talked about among the decision maker. Acquiring the “asset” to get the “asset” they really want is also part of the process.
It is important to remember at the next camp that this is you job interview. You do the job in the half hearted way, you unlikely to be hired, or you might only get the job for the part time. You want the job for the career, you do you best no matter what. It is called having pride in what you do. If you do not care, why should anyone else?
Coach
