Not a whole lot to report after the first day. The boys showed up and overall worked hard. I did expect them to be a little more rowdy than they were…they were pretty well behaved. I did end up with more on the team than came to the preseason meeting or than the boys that were there thought would play. There is about 16 boys. I wouldn’t be surprised if I lost 1 or 2 in the next couple of days though. I’d hope they wouldn’t quit, I told them several times that the first little bit is going to be rough but it will get easier and easier every day. I’m going to see how many in each grade I have today.
We started out with the very basics of the read and react. It was a little rough for them, but by the end of the quick drill about 2/3 of the team seemed to have a good idea how the first level is done. I’m expecting the ones that seem like they are having the most difficulty are the 7th graders, but we’ll see today.
So far, their attitudes are good and the skill level is around what I expected. Lots of them need to work on shooting though…they are still doing the grade school shoot from the face or neck technique. they need to realize they are older and stronger so that ball needs to move over their head. That will take some time and dedication on their part. It’s always tough to change something that someone perceves as “working”.