@nwaters26[/author_info] [/author]
A sports team is one of the most competitive environments a person can experience in their lifetime, whether it’s fighting for a starting position or even making the team’s roster.
During a team’s offseason or early practices, players must showcase their talents, hard work, and dedication to prove to their coaches why they deserve to become a part of the team.
“In the offseason you find out who’s really going to the gym all the time, who’s playing, and working on their game,” said head of the men’s and women’s tennis team at The College of New Jersey Scott Dicheck. “In the end, when you start to determine lineups and roster spots, you can see who really wants it.”
Dicheck has accumulated a wide variety of success heading into his 16th season with the Lions, as he holds a 204-56 record coaching the women’s team (77-0 in New Jersey Athletic Conference matches) and leading them to the NCAA Division III Tournament in each of his 15 completed seasons. On the men’s side, Dicheck holds a record of 150-69, leading the team to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last eight seasons.
Although the head coach has the final say on the roster of the team, the decision is on his or her players aren’t necessarily always easy ones to make. Coaches must go through extensive evaluation and analysis in building their best available rosters.
“My coach was tough,” said TCNJ alumnus Kyle Burke, referring to former head basketball coach John Castaldo. “He didn’t tolerate half-ass effort. He didn’t tolerate mental lapses.”
In his time at TCNJ, Burke dedicated a huge portion of his college career playing basketball for the Lions from 2001-2004 (Nationally ranked in 2004). There, he was an influential component to his team as he earned the starting shooting guard position heading into his freshmen year and his first season with the Lions.
Burke then acquired several, all-time three-point shooting records at TCNJ, holding the crown for most three-point field goals in a single season each year he played for the Lions – records that have been kept to his name ever since.
“It’s very competitive,” said Burke. “The people who played well in practice are the ones who played in games. I worked my butt off, every day in practice, before practice, after practice. I wanted to be the hardest worker on the court. Our team had a lot of talent, so I had to bring it every day in practice, and during every game.”
Player mentality also plays a large role in a coach’s process of sculpting a team together. Talent and athletic ability can only go so far if a player possesses a negative or selfish mindset within a team’s atmosphere.
Not so long ago, Mario Balotelli was considered to be a part of a bright future of the Italian National Soccer Team. Balotelli proved his potential world-class talent and threatening skillset in the 2012 European Cup, scoring three goals for Italy (tied for most in the tournament) and was a large impact in Italy’s offensive scheme and their advancement to the final.
Balotelli’s career took a turn for the worse following 2012, as he began phasing out at the international and club level as well due to off-field issues and continual problems with his coaches. Though some still have hope for the young forward to regain control of his career, his reputation of refusing to learn from his coaches and lack of overall effort to become a better player has deprived him from seeing any time on Italy’s recent squads and made it difficult for him to find club teams to play for. One of Balotelli’s previous coaches (current Chelsea skipper Jose Mourinho) even went to the lengths to call him “uncoachable.”
Coaches typically avoid the type of player that makes the team more about his or herself to prevent a “cancer” from plaguing the locker room and causing more issues amongst the team as a result, regardless of the amount of talent they possess.
“What I look for in a player is desire,” said John Terreri, head coach of the Aviators Soccer Club, a Bergen County, NJ based youth-soccer club. “The desire to be better to learn. The desire to play a team game. I want them to accept that team concept, but still express their creative individuality on the field. When a player limits themselves due to greed, stubbornness, or fear, they have already lost.”
Terreri has coached multiple teams on different age levels for the Aviators Soccer Club for over a decade and despite experiencing a large variety of players through his time, his coaching style and techniques have remained the same.
“When I coach, not only do I make it a soccer lesson, but a life one as well,” said Terreri.
Being consistent off the field or court is just as important in a player compared to in-game or practice performances to many coaches as well. Athletes, especially at higher levels, must keep a positive consistency in academics and prevent themselves to from getting into situations with law enforcement, and drugs or alcohol.
“We look for someone that really wants it,” said Dicheck. “Someone that is a Division I [caliber] player, but is willing to go Division III and deal with the academic part of it and still put in all that time.”
There have been numerous accounts when it comes to professional sports especially, where an athlete may be physically gifted and a hard worker on the field, but will fail to reach full potential due to off-the-field issues.
Ex-New York Giants wide receiver, Plaxico Burress is one of the many perfect examples. After being traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Burress took the league by storm with the Giants, becoming an elite player and large factor in New York’s victorious Super Bowl run in 2007.
In the midst of his success, however, Burress was jailed after shooting himself in the leg with an unlicensed firearm. The wide receiver attempted to gain a second wind with the NFL after he was released, but as expected, his professional football career was as good as dead at that point.
Other examples can be found in former NFL first round picks, Ricky Williams and Justin Blackmon who despite holding a great deal of potential and talent, wound up phasing out quickly in their careers due to consistent issues with drugs or former Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice, whose successful career has currently been put to a halt after a domestic abuse incident arose with his wife (with disturbing video evidence).
Not only does this affect the athlete, but it can also be an unnecessary distraction from the team’s goal. Coaches hold their players to a high standard and trust them to carry themselves under professional behavior, whether it’s on the team or in the real world, and if coaches cannot trust a player off the field, how would they expect to trust them in the locker room?
“My senior year, two of our starters got in trouble off the court,” said Burke. “We had a big game that week, but [my coach] sat them anyway. They didn’t play at all, they learned their lesson, and the people who played in their place performed really well to help us win.”
Coaches can utilize a selection of different outlets in analyzing players, the most common being film study in practices or games. Along with film, coaches capture a great sense of an individual player through interaction with the coaching staff and fellow teammates as well.
Film study allows coaches to gain a complete and accurate visual of an athlete’s performance in how well they complete their game assignments and how they react in certain situations in playing time. This is successful in correcting a player’s mistakes or comparing different players through their performances.
“We would watch and analyze,” said Burke. “As they say, ‘the film doesn’t lie’, so you can’t hide your mistakes. The good players used film time to learn and get better, the other ones sat in the back of the room and didn’t pay attention.”
Burke also noted that his coach was “big” on statistics and percentages, and would also keep a close eye on player-to-player matchups against their opponents.
Although the approach may differ from coach to coach on different teams or in different sports, the evaluations and demands remain similar in nature. Each coach will have a different style or set of techniques that they will employ in their coaching strategies, but the ultimate goal remains the same: to build a team that will give them the best overall advantage to win.