Hi Fierce Families,
The recruiting season for the 2019 Select Basketball Season is upon us. We are looking at tournaments, new curriculum, expanding philosophy and possibly staff to increase support for your players’ goals.
We have lost Hayden back to Wildcats and also Riley to soccer. As of this time that means we have two openings that we know of. It is essential I know who is committed at this point if I am to protect positions. Meaning… Fierce is currently committed to the players we have if they are committed to development, effort, coachability, and attendance. The girls remaining all exhibit that in my eyes. I prefer to recruit around committed girls rather than recruit a bunch of girls (including some who might be better than ours) at positions we already have players for.
Our current wish list as we currently stand is a post player. 6 feet or taller. Athletic with basketball as her number 1 sport and schedule that matches that priority. Ambitious and at least curious about playing college basketball. Coachable. And that fits our culture and family values of both strong and kind.
If we are losing guards to other sports, other teams etc… then that wish list would change. Get the picture?
In order to shore up the commitment, then a wish list and a recruiting action plan for me I am asking that to hold your spot on Fierce you make a $200 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot on Fierce. This ensures your child does not have to try out this year. They will need to come and participate in tryouts, but will not be evaluated as to making the team. It will just facilitate a tryout environment for newcomers.
We do plan on playing more tournaments this year… the goal is ten. And we may not invite a player we don’t think will help the team. Meaning, if we have attendance commitments from ten players for all our tournaments, and we are not blown away in the recruiting and tryout process, we may not pick up a player for the sake of picking up a player. That would present more playing time for our players. The negative of this scenario would be less productive practices and higher costs for team members. (More tournaments add to team costs too.)It is becoming obvious that some of our girls (mine for example) need some focused help on strength development. We plan to offer an a la carte option for that. The summer strength and conditioning programs offered by the schools do not appear particularly safe or effective in general terms to me. Either I, or I will hire/outsource a trusted advisor to lead this.
The jump our players will be forced to make next year is considerable. For some of our players… the jump will be from up to 20 freshman players to trying to be one of 7 that make JV (average number of spots avail for a given class on JV). For others it will be an expectation to produce at higher level on Varsity. Roles and expectations will increase for all and we want to properly support that.
Please submit your payment by this Friday to hold your spot.
Call me with any questions or concerns between the hours of 7am and 4pm and I will make as much time as you need. 512-921-4444.
