I recently had the privilege of working out a JUCO player by the name of Gerry Simms. Gerry flew in from Las Vegas to work with me and all I knew about him was that he was going to be playing JUCO ball in California next year and I had to pick him up at the airport at 5 o’clock in the morning. I had never seen him play, so needless to say, I didn’t know what to expect.
Whenever I work out a player for the first time, regardless of skill level, all I can hope for is that they work hard, they aren’t afraid to make mistakes, and they are coachable. To this degree I couldn’t have been more pleased with Gerry.
From the get go we got after it. About an hour into our first workout Gerry had to leave the gym to go throw up. When he came back into the gym we started right where we left off and Gerry went back to working his tail off. After a few hours rest we got back into the gym for our second workout. We did so many ball handling and shooting drills that his right arm began to cramp up! Again, he never made excuses and pushed through the workout with hard work and persistence. The next day we had another two hour workout and Gerry was cramping in his legs. When I asked him if he was alright he always responded “Yeah, let’s go.” His persistence was a testament to his toughness and desire to become a better ball player.
Not only was Gerry’s work ethic tremendous, he was also very coachable. He listened diligently whenever I was talking and he asked questions. He was extremely focused and put great emphasis on executing each move and drill we did to perfection. He wasn’t afraid to make mistakes and challenged himself to do things he had never done before.
I couldn’t have been happier with the time I had with Gerry. I think all players can learn from the way he worked, listened, and learned. I wish Gerry the best of luck as he works toward his goal of playing Division 1 basketball. I can’t guarantee that he will achieve this goal, but I do know that if he keeps working as hard as he did with me, he is going to put himself in the best possible position to be successful.