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Parents are always asking National Scouting Report scouts what their young athletes can do to improve.
My answer always has been that if athletes are willing to hold up the mirror and be honest with what they see, they have taken the most important step. But as essential as that step may be, it’s what happens in the next two steps that separates the athletes they are from the athletes they want to be and the athletes they become.
Admitting one’s weaknesses for most people is like taking a mouthful of nasty medicine. You don’t want to do it, but to get better you have to. So the question begs to be asked: Do you do it? Only you can decide whether to swallow the medicine or suffer through the illness.
Well, the answer should be clear.
Once I scouted a 6-foot-4 high school junior girls basketball player. Good kid. Worked hard. Always showed up on time. Great attitude. Supportive parents.
However, the girl barely could put one foot in front of the other. She was getting practically no attention from college coaches although her parents sincerely believed their daughter would be an NCAA Division I recruit.
They approached me at a tournament. “What can we do to help our daughter take the next step?” the dad asked.
“Before you do anything else,” I said, “take her to the Exercise Science department at Western Carolina University and ask them to teach her how to run.”
They looked at me completely confused.
“Look, she is a great kid who wants this, but she can hardly run up and down the floor,” I said. “No coach will take her seriously because she cannot do the most basic thing necessary in basketball which is to run the court end to end. When she can do that, then maybe a coach will take a flyer on her and hope she progresses by the time she is a junior in college.”
They looked at me as though I had just explained Einstein’s theory of two colliding black holes causing space waves. I never heard from them again.
The moral?
Every athlete should go through the very tough process of self-examination. Give yourself credit for all the good things you do and be hard on yourself for the shortcomings you have. It can be as simple as drawing a line down the center of a piece of paper, putting a plus at the top of one side and a minus sign at the top of the other. Then go to it. Be honest with yourself. Ask your teammates, parents and coaches to add their opinions.
Once you have all those written down, study them. Are the things listed on the paper accurately describing you?
Then turn to the minus column. That’s where the extra work every day at practice, in the weight room or on your own come in. Those are the things you want to focus on.
For each one, make a plan. It might be to hit 100 backhands a day, dribble with your left hand for a half hour, bunt 100 baseballs between the first-base line and the pitcher’s mound or circle, or take 50 corner kicks with your offside foot. Whatever it is, do it every day for a month. You will improve.
You might even take on two weaknesses if you have the luxury of time. Regardless, practice those skills until you can confidently say they are no longer weaknesses.
What about hiring someone to help? If you have the money, time and transportation and need to added motivation of an instructor, go for it. If you can do it alone and have the self-discipline to do it every day and complete your objective, do it. If you need a partner, ask a friend who is willing to be there for you every day and won’t be a drag on your attitude.
In the final analysis, improving is on you and no one else.
But before anything can happen, you must have the intestinal fortitude to face yourself, admit where you are, set a goal for where you want to be and work your tail off to get there.
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.