With the end of the season right around the corner for many high school teams I thought I should touch on the subject of player evaluations. When I was coaching we used to do them at the beginning and end of each season with individual player meetings throughout the year. If your coach doesn’t provide you with an evaluation, ask him or her for one.
When I played one thing I always looked forward to was being evaluated at the end of the season or at a camp. I think the reason why can be summed up in two sentences I picked up from a great book, Winning, by Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE. I couldn’t say it any better than this.
“Maybe some information is hard to swallow at first and yes, “bad” news often hurts, but soon enough, like all knowledge-it’s power-in fact, it’s liberating. When you know where you stand you can control your own destiny, and what is more fair than that?”
So the question is, “What are you going to do now?” Are you going to sit around and feel sorry for yourself because the coach said you needed to work on your jumper or get in the weight room? Or are you going to form your organized plan of attack and get to work?
On a side note, if you are a coaching a team, I highly suggest reading books outside of the basketball world. I have read several books regarding management and leadership by executives in the business world and they give great examples of how to manage and lead your team, which is essentially what you are doing with your players.
Winning, Jack Welch
The Big Idea, Donny Deutsch
Developing the Leader Within You, John Maxwell