Basketball: 30 Days to Tryouts

If you read my first book, Buy a Game, you know what happened: I finally made the team my senior year, and the rest is history. I walked on in college, got recruited to another college after my freshman season, and played nine years of professional basketball in eight countries.

During this process, in 2006, I began publishing videos to a new site called YouTube. Over the course of more than 7,000 videos, many players asked questions about a shared challenge that has kept myriad players from advancing in basketball: performing at tryouts.

Some of the most common questions:
• How can I best impress the coach at tryouts?
• What can I do to stand out?
• What position should I play at tryouts?
• What if I'm not allowed to play my normal position during tryouts?
• How can I get the returning players to respect my game?
• What mindset should I have during tryouts?
• What can I do to better my skills with only a week's time before tryouts?
• Should I get hyped up before tryouts or remain calm and steady?
• I didn't make it this year. Can you tell me exactly what I should do to get ready for tryouts next season?
• I feel like my career will be over before it starts if I don't make the team-can you please help me get ready for tryouts?