Somewhat OT - rec league follies

[Mark Padgett]

Our "no-cut" tryouts for our local kids rec league begin tonight with the 3rd thru 6th grade girls. These are just skills drills so coaches can take notes for next week's team drafts. The kids display their skills in dribbling, shooting (jumpers, FTs and layups) and passing. We also run some 3 on 3 drills so they can show off their defensive skills.

The older kids have their tryouts later in the week and the beginning of next week. It looks like we'll have just under 1000 kids in the program this year in grades 3-12. The most we had was when we were combined with a neighboring town when we had over 1700 and that was before we added HS level so it was just grades 3-8!

Oh yeah, I always remind the little kids not to hang on the rim when they dunk during layups. They get a kick out of that.

[grunewar]

I'll give you credit Mark, you use the word "skills" while referring to 3rd - 6th graders! Our "draft" is next week....

I had a partner once tell 7th grade girls captains he had put a silver dollar on the back of the rim and the first one to jump up and get it could keep it......well, we lost a couple of the girls attention right there (if we even had it) as they stared intently at the basket thinking of a way......

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by grunewar

I had a partner once tell 7th grade girls captains he had put a silver dollar on the back of the rim and the first one to jump up and get it could keep it.

Gimme the ball,
I'll go one-on-one against the world, left-handed,
I could stuff it from center court with my toes,
I could jump on top of the backboard, take off a quarter, leave fifteen cents change,
I could dribble behind my back,
I got more moves than Ex-Lax,
I'm bad,
I could dribble with my tongue,
Here I go down court, try to stop me,
You can't stop me 'cause I got a Basketball Jones,
Here I come,
That's my hook shot with my eyebrow,
Yeah, I could dunk it with my nose,
I'm bad as King Kong,
Gimme the ball I'm hot.

[Mark Padgett]

In the section I was running last night, I split the girls up into four teams for 3 on 3 play. First, I had the 3rd and 4th graders. I gave the teams these names:

The Giggle Girls
The I Forgots
The Whatchmacallits
The Can't Date Yets

I just called the 5th and 6th graders Teams 1, 2, 3 & 4. It was a lot simpler.

[bradfordwilkins]

I coached a youth team of 8-10 year olds and for some reason a lot of the "stars" from other teams weren't present at the "tryout" and thus I didn't know to draft them -- whereas others were picking these kids in like the 7th and 8th round and they're 6 inches taller than anyone in the league.

Left a bad taste in my mouth.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by bradfordwilkins

I coached a youth team of 8-10 year olds and for some reason a lot of the "stars" from other teams weren't present at the "tryout" and thus I didn't know to draft them -- whereas others were picking these kids in like the 7th and 8th round and they're 6 inches taller than anyone in the league.

Left a bad taste in my mouth.

Reffed a summer rec league once, B11-12. Only four teams, so each of the teams played each other often. Coach told the league that he had a bunch of kids who played together for a while and wanted to know if they could stay together for the summer. League said sure.......

Coach submitted EIGHT names! Turned out they played on the same AAU Team together. They won every game by ~ 30 points. Other coaches, parents, players were none too excited about this turn of events!

Shenanigans!

[Mark Padgett]

Our league rule is that any kids that don't show up for tryouts are automatically "hat picks" - that means that after the other kids are drafted, they are chosen at random to fill up the teams. No exceptions.

Of course, the HC and AC get their kids on their team. Oh yeah - we do have a "siblings rule". If two kids live in the same house (or apartment - not just apartment building), and they are in the same league, they automatically go on the same team if they want. We have had some parents in the past who specifically wanted them on separate teams and that's OK.

[Mark Padgett]

Had 7th and 8th graders last night. During the 3 on 3 drills, one kid yelled at another, "Hey what'syourname- I'm open!".

BTW - a few years ago, one kid's mom insisted he be placed on the team of a coach who lived across the street from her because "that's the only way he can get to practices". She claimed she didn't have a car to take him to the gym. We told her that coach would have to draft her kid to get him on his team - period. That's the rule. She was pi$$ed.

Here's the kicker - her husband owns a bunch of car dealerships in this area!

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Had 7th and 8th graders last night. During the 3 on 3 drills, one killed yelled at another, "Hey what'syourname- I'm open!".

How appropriate at Halloween time!