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Are coaches that lazy that they can’t spend a few minutes to write an evaluation and tell a player what they need to do to be better? I mean, I was thinking about my entire amateur playing career, and during that 14 year span I think I only got one written eval! How pathetic is that!
Let me think back, ok, so I grew up in Oak Ridge, TN (no, surprisingly enough, that’s not where the Oak Ridge Boys are from) and my dad was my first coach. The game was pure: oranges at halftime and Capri Sun at the end of the game. When I outgrew my dad’s coaching, I joined my first travel squad. I’ll leave all names of the coaches out except for the exceptional ones. Perhaps in a future blog I’ll write in more depth about them...
But as I moved from team to team, camp to camp, from Oak Ridge, TN to Knoxville, to TN ODP, then finally down to IMG Sports Academy in Bradenton, FL., I never once got any written feedback on ways to improve. I mean, I got a camp eval that said, “Good week at camp. Keep kickin’!” But seriously, that’s absolutely pointless. Save the paper dude.
But where I ran into two of the finest coaches the US will ever see was down at IMG Sports Academy in Bradenton, FL. Let me introduce you to the one and only Ivo Wortmann. If you don’t know who he is, I suggest you go to a place called google and check him out. For this blog’s sake I’ll spare you his bio, but let’s just say he was magic. What’s funny is that he spoke a little more english than I knew portuguese. And for all of you who don’t know, basically I’m a professional swearer in portuguese! But let me tell you, he could communicate better than the most eloquent speaker. I felt like I was getting better by just being in his presence. He was phenomenal. I remember being 17 playing aginst MLS teams when they were in preseason, and he would pull me aside and break the game down in such a simple way. He would give you a “job” for the game, and you knew that at the end, if you did your job well, you played a good game. So, after games he was so fantastic and giving specific examples of plays during the game where I did my job well. But, like all good things, they must come to an end. But for every ending, there’s a new beginning and that was Tom Durkin, who for my money is arguably one of the best coaches in the states right now.
And it was from Tom that I got my first eval. I still remember eval day at IMG. There were numerical scores for everything: passing, receiving, shooting, dribbling, defending, etc. It was very thorough. But what I took away most were the comments. You could tell that he had taken some time to address parts of my game that needed some work and some that I was doing well at. He went over the eval with all the players one at a time, and gave each a copy. I know I still have it saved in some box somewhere in my parents house.
But I guess what’s most remarkable about this is that if a simple evaluation made such an impression on me, I’m sure it would do the same for all the other players out there. So there you go coaches. It’s been 12 years since Tom gave me my first eval, and I still remember it and most importantly I remember Tom. So, I ask you coaches: will your players remember you?
Let me think back, ok, so I grew up in Oak Ridge, TN (no, surprisingly enough, that’s not where the Oak Ridge Boys are from) and my dad was my first coach. The game was pure: oranges at halftime and Capri Sun at the end of the game. When I outgrew my dad’s coaching, I joined my first travel squad. I’ll leave all names of the coaches out except for the exceptional ones. Perhaps in a future blog I’ll write in more depth about them...
But as I moved from team to team, camp to camp, from Oak Ridge, TN to Knoxville, to TN ODP, then finally down to IMG Sports Academy in Bradenton, FL., I never once got any written feedback on ways to improve. I mean, I got a camp eval that said, “Good week at camp. Keep kickin’!” But seriously, that’s absolutely pointless. Save the paper dude.
But where I ran into two of the finest coaches the US will ever see was down at IMG Sports Academy in Bradenton, FL. Let me introduce you to the one and only Ivo Wortmann. If you don’t know who he is, I suggest you go to a place called google and check him out. For this blog’s sake I’ll spare you his bio, but let’s just say he was magic. What’s funny is that he spoke a little more english than I knew portuguese. And for all of you who don’t know, basically I’m a professional swearer in portuguese! But let me tell you, he could communicate better than the most eloquent speaker. I felt like I was getting better by just being in his presence. He was phenomenal. I remember being 17 playing aginst MLS teams when they were in preseason, and he would pull me aside and break the game down in such a simple way. He would give you a “job” for the game, and you knew that at the end, if you did your job well, you played a good game. So, after games he was so fantastic and giving specific examples of plays during the game where I did my job well. But, like all good things, they must come to an end. But for every ending, there’s a new beginning and that was Tom Durkin, who for my money is arguably one of the best coaches in the states right now.
And it was from Tom that I got my first eval. I still remember eval day at IMG. There were numerical scores for everything: passing, receiving, shooting, dribbling, defending, etc. It was very thorough. But what I took away most were the comments. You could tell that he had taken some time to address parts of my game that needed some work and some that I was doing well at. He went over the eval with all the players one at a time, and gave each a copy. I know I still have it saved in some box somewhere in my parents house.
But I guess what’s most remarkable about this is that if a simple evaluation made such an impression on me, I’m sure it would do the same for all the other players out there. So there you go coaches. It’s been 12 years since Tom gave me my first eval, and I still remember it and most importantly I remember Tom. So, I ask you coaches: will your players remember you?
